ATMs in France

Per card is your bank. You can march up and down the street/terminal until your shoes wear out stuffing your pockets up to each machine's limit.

Local ATMs do have their own limits, which may or may not match your bank's limit. But it is up to each individual bank, it is not regulated by country.

It may be worth it to order euro through your bank before you leave, since you may have to pay a fee per ATM transaction in France. Your bank will have the euro fedexed and you can pick it up at the bank within a couple of days. This also gives you the option of ordering some €5 bills which will be the easiest to use for a small purchase.

Some ATMs at Charles de Gaulle airport are operated (or were) by HSBC which has a fairly low limit. You can easily find other machines once you are in Paris. But you may need to have your own bank raise your daily limit to cover a large deposit for an apartment. Or you could open another account at a different bank, which is a good backkup anyhow. And be sure to give your trip itinerary to all your credit and debit card issuers before you leave.

Getting Euros in advance from your bank is fine but you may pay a higher exchange rate for the currency over what you'd get if you withdrew funds from an ATM over there. Consequently, you may end up paying more than the fee the bank charges when you factor in the higher cost of the money. I'm not a fanatic about this. My advice is to get it in advance if it makes sense to you and makes you more comfortable. Getting funds in advance actually might be a good plan should you be one of the unlucky ones who have trouble getting your ATM card to work. I've had that experience once when one of the financial institutions I frequent failed to put through my request to authorize my debit card for use in Europe (it was fixed with a phone call, but that takes time and has to be done during business hours in the U.S.). That's one reason why I carry three cards from three different institutions. I did also have the experience of using an outdated PIN on one of the accounts that I just don't use all that often. That problem couldn't be fixed until I returned home. Thank goodness it wasn't my only card.

Our credit union charged us a flat fee of $8.00 to provide us with any amount of Euros we needed for our upcoming rental payment in London. The only drawback is that you have to carry that cash with you, but at least I did not have to wander from ATM to ATM to get the $$$$$.

Eight bucks for one withdrawal??? Would it have been the same eight bucks if you'd only pulled a hundred?

I read $8 for buying Euro from his bank...not out of line, esp. if it was shipped to him.

Ed: $8 for getting euro from your bank, not for an ATM transaction fee. Most of that is the Fedex charge.

I've enrolled myself in reading lessons.

Just remember that the exchange is not an equal amount. If your bank allows you to take out $300 a transaction, you can not ask for 300 euros. That will be more than $300 out of your account. Figure out what the most euros is you can ask for and still be within your bank's rules. Always take out as much as your bank will allow so you don't have as many transactions and save on charges.