Cash -Euro in France

There are ATMs all over France. No need to do currency exchange until you get here.

You will find lots of contributors to this subject in various posts. My
summary:

• if you are unsure of yourself after a long flight or just want to have some Euros to hold on to, get some in the US. It will most likely cost you more than at an ATM in France, but for a small amount of EUR the difference will not be that large.
• if you will be spending a large amount of time in the countryside, get a little more, so you don't run out and not have an ATM handy if you need cash, considering establishments in the countryside are a bit more likely
  to not take cards.
• as noted, there are ATM's in the airport and everywhere in cities/towns. Just use your bank debit card and not a credit card to avoid cash advance charges. From that perspective, getting EUR in France is the way to go.

Since you don't provide any info on what you plan to do or where you are
headed to in Bordeaux, it's hard to estimate a specific amount.

It's easy to get cash at an ATM. Avoid any machine with an Ex in the name and use ones with Banc in the name. The "Ex" machines (e.g. Travel Ex) are exchange booths posing as ATM's. They charge exorbitant fees. Unfortunately, they're all over the airports now and often in tourist centers downtown.

There is no advantage to carrying cash with you.

Ditto to Travel Boss. Only use banc ATMs. Looking for the "ex" in the name to avoid is a great hint.

You never take more cash than you can afford to lose. There’s been a couple of posts on this forum where people lost their money. I think some of them got lucky and got it back, but you might not get lucky

so cash is limited to how much you could lose without your vacation being ruined.

That said I was in Paris to spring and probably over the course of a week. I used €50 in cash and I think I had to work to do that. I got 100 and I had some with me and II checked the other day i still have enough euros to take the taxi from the airport to the hotel.

Check with your US bank and find out which bank(s) they partner with in France and use those ATMs. Our daughter did a semester abroad a few years ago, and she could use her BofA debit card at the BNC Paribas ATMs without any issue. Before I go in December, I'll check to see if any policies/fees have been added, but at the time it was an easy exchange with no additional ATM fees.

I do carry the cash on me, a good amount, not concerned at all about getting picked let alone losing it. ....ie, won't happen. Several advantages in doing that. I get the cash from my bank prior.

You can pay the WC by using the tap function, I've done it and have seen it quite often. What if that tap function is taped over it, (saw that a few times too) ie the guy is saying it's out of order, who knows.....maybe, maybe not. The attendant is un-co-operative , says only coins permitted in order to use the WC. What then?

If you're just relying on the tap function, it won't work. I saw Americans in Berlin HBf totally ticked because the tap function was taped over, out of order and had to get coins which they obviously did not have nor planned for

Thank you all for the info. I forgot about WC in Europe, that usually costs 1 to 2 Euro?

Hi,

The WC cost from 50 cents to one Euro. The lowest I've seen is 50 cents , the highest is one Euro and anything in between.