Canadians with Currency Advice??

At an ATM, use your debit card. The rates will be better. If you use a credit card at an ATM, they consider it a cash advance. There will be a cash advance fee and interest will accrue immediately. If you plan to use you credit card at POS, know that Europe is still substantially a cash society and plastic wont be accepted everywhere.

Question: Should I withdraw from my savings account at ATMs? Reply: Have to wait for Canadians to answer but, given the limited access we're getting on the site right now, I thought I'd better mention that, for US travelers, I believe most if not all find they can access only their primary checking account from ATMs in Europe, not their savings account. I do not know if it is the same for Canadians.

I only have a savings account with my bank and from what I have read via the fine print on the bank's website, the withdrawal automatically come from your chequing, if you don't have chequing it withdrawals from your saving, then to your credit card, etc. Or if you have no money in the first it goes to the next.

Hi MD, When traveling I usually bring some Euros to start out with, that way I don't have to look for a bank immediately. When that money is spent, I use bank machines. My family and I have used bank machines all over Europe and never had a problem. We also find the exchange rate favorable. We only use our Visa for hotels, we pay cash everywhere else. I hope this is helpful and you have a wonderful trip. Paula

I have used my Royal and PC cards for bank machines in Europe and haven't had any issues. Royal charged $5 per transaction, PC $3 so try to limit the number of withdrawals by taking more cash out at a time. The exchange rate has a bit of a premium but not bad - similar to credit cards. If you do online banking, you could post-date transferring payments to your Visa before leaving to keep some room on the card.

MD You have to use a checking account not a savings account and use a 4 digit PIN.

MD: Make sure you can access your savings account from ATMs. We are with Scotiabank and my wife only has a savings account. We had the bank designate it as a chequing account for ATM purposes so that it could be accessed overseas. I cannot access my savings account at an ATM overseas (though I can in Canada). To ensure fees are as low as possible, go to your bank and they should be able to give you a booklet with a list of banks all over the world where you can make no fee withdrawals and when possible use them in Europe. Sometimes you have to use another bank and be charged the fee, but look for one they list if you can. Although it is true that Europe is more cash centred than we are, we have seldom had a problem using our credit cards there. American Express and Diners are not as popular, but Visa and Mastercard are quite common. You may find some hotels or restaurants may give you a discount for cash, which, in my experience, is rare in Canada.

MD: It would be a good idea if you read the one sentence post from Norma, twice. You gotta know that. Otherwise you can have a big problem getting money when you are over there.

Ahhh, nothing like conflicting information. I've made an appointment at my bank to confirm info on their website. Thanks for your help, everyone.

MD, I'm getting into the discussion a bit late, but have a few comments to add. It's good to hear that you'll be checking with your Bank regarding use of the ATM card. Hopefully the person you speak with will be somewhat "knowledgeable" (not all Bank staff are familiar with travel matters). Most ATM's in Europe will not provide you with a choice of which account to access. These typically default to a chequing account, but if you only have a savings account I'm not sure what the result will be? In any case, it would be a REALLY good idea to pack a backup ATM card as well as at least one credit card. I use Credit Union ATM cards primarily when travelling, as they've always worked well. However on one occasion my primary card wouldn't work for about 10 days so having a backup card was crucial. Happy travels!

MD - I agree with you and we always take Euros (or Pounds) with us. I do not want to look for an ATM upon landing, we already know that we will need cash anyways. We also had our transation amount raised on our cards so that the exchange rate would not effect the amount we can receive - ie $300E rather than just $200E.

Good info and I very much agree with the others. Ironically, last year and for some reason I couldn't pull cash on a Raiffeisen ATM kiosk using my TD or Scotia card and I was in Switzerland??? I had to find and use a Credit Suisse kiosk.

Thank you all for sharing your experiences. Its good (and bad!) to hear of when what cards don't work where! I'll be traveling with a credit card and a debit card. I also have a minimal amount of Euros to take with me.

I'm on that always has starter currency, and then I made most of my purchases with pounds drawn from Barclay's ATMs using my PC Financial debit card. I called them in advance of travel to let them know when/where I'd be. I also withdrew Euros without a problem, can't remember what bank. I made a few larger purchases on my RBC Visa which has a chip, and had to enter the pin on the keypad. Again, I'd called them to let them know about travel. Cash, and options are good.

On my trip last fall I took my debit card, on a chequing account, from BNS, and a Visa card from CIBC. I also took several hundred Euros cash( I was going for 6 weeks) to get started. Had no problems anywhere with the debit card, and only used the credit card for specific items such as car rental, some hotels. No problems there either. When I did need to make withdrawals on the debit card, I took out a 4-500 Euros to limit the fees. Daily spending money in a zippered pocket in my pants, and the rest, with my other important stuff, in my money belt. No hassles, no worries, and a thoroughly enjoyable and trouble free trip!

To all those folks who chose to take $ with them to Europe: if you ever forget to get some $ ahead of time, be assured that there are plenty of ATMs at every place I have ever landed in Europe since the Euro came into being, and I have landed at most major cities in Europe over many years.

I had a problem on my first attempt trying to withdraw cash using my debit card at an Italian ATM. I tried several different machines without success. Another traveller suggested trying an alternate amount, and it worked. I had tried 200 Euros at several machines, and it wasn't until I used 180 Euros that it worked. Still dont know why, but if for some reason you can't withdraw, try another amount.

MD...depending on where you're travelling, Bank of Nova Scotia won't charge you the out-of-system transaction fee if you use affiliated banks in the UK (Barclay's), France (BNP Paribas), and Germany (Deutsche Bank.) That can save you about $5 a transaction. They're the only Canadian bank with such overseas alliances. [Kathleen....that may have been becaused the value of the Euro you wanted to withdraw exceeded your transaction limit in Canadian dollars back home. When the Euro was up above 1.60 Cdn, 180 Euro would have been about $300....possibly the reason, especially if you had made other withdrawals during the day (the day, that is, according to your bank back home.)]

Norm & Kathleen, we have found that some banks (or ATMS)have a lower limit than your bank allows. Can't remember teh amount, but I had a similar experience in Villefranche-sur-Mer and I know the original amt was less than my daily allowance from BNS.

Iain...yes, that's true...but I've never run into an ATM that's given out less than 200 Euro at a crack.

Hey, i use BMO and it worked at most bank machines in italy and paris, but i did have some issues in smaller towns with older bank machines because i didnt have a chip in my interact card. I do now, which i think most banks in canada are switching over. We have quite a bit of Euros saved up because the exchange rate was so great, but otherwise i would just bring enough euros for the first few days, in addition to your VISA, your debit and if possible have an extra bank card in case the other doesnt work.

Make sure you let your bank know your exact dates of when you will be travelling; for your Visa card and for your ATM card. I always have a few hundred euro with me to start, then use my credit card for those places that will take it, to get the points. Then ATM after that. I also bank with Royal. If you use an ATM abroad, use it at a big bank, during opening hours, so that if your card is eaten, you can go in and get ,hopefully; some help. ALWAYS wear your money belt!! Under your clothing. Have a great trip!