Best way to change money and buy things in Euros

Fees, if any, are levied by your bank, so check there to see what you can expect.

Some credit unions and internet banks charge no fees and you can open an account with them for traveling purposes.

Don't use credits cards, because that gets treated as a cash advance and is subject to high interest rates (charged by your card issuer).

As the other poster noted, fees are charged by your bank, not the ATMs or the European banks. These fees can be as low as 0 or as high as 5%. My WaMu Mastercard charged 1.5% which I felt was reasonable.

If doing a large purchase, consider using a credit card from Capital One who charge NO fees at all. If getting cash (euros), ATM withdrawal in Europe, using a debit card, is the way to go.

Withdrawing cash from ATMs is the best way to go, especially if your bank or credit union doesn't charge a fee. I just got back from two weeks in Germany and Italy; I used cash to pay for hotels and most everything else, so I withdrew cash 5 times. My credit union doesn't charge anything, but I had a backup ATM card from another bank in case the first one didn't work for some reason. That backup card would have cost me $2 plus 2% for each transaction, but I knew that in advance. Luckily I didn't have to use that card. Check with your ATM card issuer for any possible fees. Have a great trip!

Just wanted to say that I used my credit union debit card yesterday to buy Bahn tickets. The charge went through at very close to the actual exchange rate, so if anything, they charged maybe .5%...maybe. I was shocked, as I expected a percent or two extra charge. I personally plan on using cash as much as possible, pulled from two different credit union accounts at ATMs once I am over.

Don't forget to notify the providers of your ATM cards and your credit cards that you will be in Europe. If you don't, a computer may freeze your cards for what it recognizes as unusual and therefore possibly fraudulent use.

Good point, Tim! I found out how much was charged to my card, because I got a call to verify my purchases a couple hours later!

I agree with the others that ATM card is the best way to go. Plus if you bank with BOA, they have deals with certain foreign banks that let you withdraw money without any fee. We were just in Paris and it worked for BNP Paribas branches and in London with Barclay's banks.