Cash now or ATM in europe

I don't know how it could be any simpler. The cheapest and most convenient way to obtain local currency is a debit card at a bank owned ATM. Even with the fees added by your bank it will be cheaper than buying Euro I in the U.S. Don't know why that is hard to understand. Banks in the U.S. Will add a min of 5% and maybe as much as 10 to 12%.

I made the mistake a few years ago of getting euros from my bank in the US before my trip to Europe. I will never make that mistake again. The exchange rate was terrible! Have subsequently used my debit card to withdraw cash at the ATM in Europe, which as Frank states, is definitely the preferred method. I now always come back to the US with some euros, so I have some on hand to use for the next trip.

It is your bank that is adding fees. Get a bank that doesn't change fees. That is being smart.

Maybe you are. The constant theme for all the prior postings is a debit card at an ATM. Not a lot of discussion on that point.

Yes, in purely financial terms it costs less to get at an ATM in Europe. I have never seen a bank for which this isn't true.

BUT sometimes people value the convenience of having a hundred or two Euros on arrival more than the fees. This is me. It has been very helpful a couple times where ATMs were hard to find, broken, or in closed sections of the airport. It's not strictly necessary, but I find it worth the fees to hit the ground running. I then get more from ATMs in a few days.

I am most comfortable doing as Mira does. I get a couple of hundred (or now that I've been a couple of times I make sure I have a couple hundred left at the end of my trip) to start with so I can manage transportation from the airport in to whatever city, plus a couple of meals. Then the next day when I am not so jet-lagged I stop at an ATM. I travel solo, so I sort of want to be at the top of my game when dealing with an ATM. I would not get a thousand changed, just a couple of hundred.

Losing some money on purchasing Euro here makes me much less anxious than landing at my destination and not having any money in my wallet. YMMV. Do what feels comfortable to you.

I used to take lots of euro with me, but now I just land with enough to get me through the first day. Worth the fee for peace of mind.

My ATM card was eaten by the machine at the Warsaw train station on a Friday night. I retrieved it on Monday (it was a bank-owned ATM). I had euro with me but no zloty.

Exchange a few hundred before you go. Find a bank at home that offers zero international transaction fees on debit card withdrawls. Get two debit cards, you and spouse or add another non traveling person if you are solo and take both cards. Notify the bank of your travel plans and request maximum daily withdrawel limits.

Rsucci,

You may want to refer to this thread which answers your question:https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/does-one-really-need-to-have-some-euros-before-one-actually-arrives-in-italy.

• I like to take at least €100 from the U.S. just in case I need to take a taxi, buy train tickets upon arrival, a snack or whatever.
• I always try go to a bank ATM during business hours just in case the ATM machine swallows my debit card ( it happened to me in Greece)
• Make sure you notify your bank regarding your travel plans (countries you will be visiting & dates)
• I also increase my daily cash withdrawal limit so I can take €500 per transaction (Wells Fargo only charges me $5 per transaction)
• I also take 2 debit cards (separate accounts) just in case.... Also recommend taking 2 credit cards.
• Keep all your valuables ( CC's, debit cards, extra cash & passport) in your money belt ( under clothing) to avoid being pick-pocket.

Safe travels!

I brought 100€ home with me from my trip last August, so I'll have that as a "starter kit" when I head over there again next week.

... Of course, I outsmarted myself because those 100€ have lost 15% of their value since then compared to the USD.

As I haven't been to Sweden before...so no left over Kronor from another trip, I went to AAA and obtained a few hundred dollars. If you get $200.00 worth there is no fee. The rate they quoted to me was the same as the rate for the day on the internet so I'm not seeing any loss here and I'll be more comfortable having some back up before I get to a bank ATM in Sweden, particularly as this is a solo adventure. I'd rather have some money than have to worry about it. A little cost is worth piece of mind sometimes. Of course, you have to be a AAA member.

I always bring back Euro from a trip anywhere from 100 Euro to 500 Euro, much better to have it around than to land cold turkey over there. It's not just the fees when getting Euro here but the running around and the hassle, ie, another chore to do prior to departure, better to avoid all that by having sufficient Euro or GBP handy.

We found AAA to be a great deal for us too. We took a River Cruise 2 yrs ago and it was our 1st trip to Europe, we didn't know about these forums at the time - but our AAA travel agent recommended we take some Euros w/us . . . we ended up taking out well over $1000 worth of Euros with no fees . . . that was 2 yrs ago and not sure if things have changed, but we are going to Italy in October and I plan on inquiring about it again. If it doesn't cost us anything, we will most likely do it the same way . . . as our bank only allows $300/day which is more than enough for some days, but not enough for others. We are paying cash for all hotels/B&Bs to get a 10%discount. We liked having the extra cash on us . . . while in the bigger cities, we had no trouble finding & using ATMs, but in some of the smaller towns along the Danube that our cruise stopped at - there were no ATMs to be found . . . we had to wait a few days to find ATMs . . . the extra cash came in handy . . . as some of the smaller, local restaurants wanted cash only - this was a Christmas Market River Cruise & many of the vendors only wanted cash too - so we were very glad we had it.

"...the smaller local restaurants wanted cash only." True, if not cash, then the only credit card accepted is one that you don't have. In 2011 while in Berlin I decided to veer off on a day trip towards Poland to the eastern side of Küstrin an der Oder, ie. the Polish side, came upon a nice small restaurant to have lunch. No English menu there, only a bilingual one in Polish and German. I thought my US Mastercard would be accepted...it wasn't, but the waiter said, "do you have an Eurocard? Only Germans have those. Since I had some Polish cash left over from the last real trip there, not just a border crossing, I paid with that.

I checked into AAA in my area and found a different story. There were no fees, but the exchange rate was quite poor. I think that different AAA regional clubs may have different policies on this. I did get a few hundred euros from a less expensive source and consider any cost a "peace of mind" expense. I know that I will be able to easily pay for expenses that first day.

In theory there may be an airport where you can't find an ATM. In practice, I have yet to arrive at any international airport without passing at least several groups of ATM's on the way to ground transportation.

The biggest challenge I've seen is avoiding the new travel exchange booths that mimic ATM's - those will charge you way too much for local currency.

I also shop banks' (for both debit and credit cards) foreign transaction fees. The big banks charge too much and, yes, I will switch banks because of fees. Some would say $100 in fees for a $5,000 trip isn't a big deal. I like to save where I can so I can spend money where I want. If given the choice between giving $100 of my vacation money to a bank or spending it on a day's worth of meals and sights, I'd choose the latter.

"Even with the fees added by your bank it will be cheaper than buying Euro I in the U.S."

That is generally true, but how much cheaper depends on what banks in the US and Europe. Most major banks in the US charge 3% plus $5 at an ATM, so on a $500 withdrawal it's 4%. Wells Fargo charges 5% for euro in this country, so it's only 1% more to take it with you.

On the other hand, my local bank charges 2% for ATM withdrawals, my credit union charges 1%, and some banks give you a zero % ATM withdrawal. Wells Fargo, as I said, charges 5% for cash over here. Travelex charges at least 10%.

If you are using Wells Fargo all the way, getting cash here for 5% isn't much more than getting it over there at 4%, but getting it over there with a credit union at 1% is a lot cheaper than here from Travelex for 10%.

That said, I always get cash over there at the ATM. I go regularly, so I always bring back enough to start my next trip.

A couple of years ago, I was staying in a town near the Czech border, and I was going to have a rail pass from my accommodations that would get me to the station on the Czech border, where I could buy the ticket to Prague for far less than from German Rail, but it would be in Czech Koruna. My host told me before I went over that the ATMs in town would not give Koruna, so I went to Wells Fargo and got $40 in Koruna. It cost me an extra $4, but it was better than buying the tickets from German Rail.

My wife and I returned from a 2-week tour of Europe yesterday. Our experience recommends that you not rely on an ATM card, or at least not on a Charles Schwab debit ATM card..

My wife got a Charles Schwab debit ATM card just for the purpose of this trip. She moved monies into the debit card account and gave Schwab notice of the dates and countries we would visit. On the trip, her card worked 6 times and thereafter was rejected. She could no longer withdraw funds despite there being plenty of money in the account..

The Schwab Debit card instructs you to call collect to the USA if you have any problems. Unfortunately the number on the card connected us to an automated system that would not allow us to speak to a person and that caused an automatic hang-up after roughly two seconds of Schwab's message. We tried calling directly to Schwab's USA internal telephone help line - the same thing happened. We tried both numbers from our hotel room, from the hotel front desk, from cell phones, and from an independent phone company in Paris - in all cases Schwab's help lines automatically disconnected. We asked the hotel front desk to help but they could do no better. We asked the independent phone company to assist us but they could do no better. Charles Schwab's phone help lines were utterly, absolutely useless.

If we had relied solely on Schwab's ATM card the trip would have been a disaster. Luckily I had insisted that we take significant US currency (although honestly my first choice was travelers' checks). We exchanged the dollars for Euros (and paid the high exchange rate), re-evaluated our situation and budgeted for the remainder of the trip. We arrive home with $60 cash in our pockets.

My wife called Schwab when we got home - they were clueless, couldn't give a reason for the card not working despite a large balance and the fact that there were no fraudulent transactions. I consider this completely unacceptable.

Everybody talks about how great the Schwab debit ATM card is for travel but for us it was a POS. I am glad that I had the good sense to mistrust it - my conservative behavior saved our trip.

Michael, sorry to learn of your experience. We recently opened an account (and moved monies to it) with designs to have it be our primary source of [ATM] funds whilst in Europe this July. Just to confirm, they couldn't provide a reason as to why after 6 instances they shut down access? Technical? Fraud Report? Anything? Hadn't read about similar experience factor from any other travelers, appreciate any additional info you could provide. Thanks.

Michael, that really sucks and I'm glad you had a back up plan. My question is did you call Schwab during U.S. business hours or during the day Europe time? I had an email alert from Scotttrade (unrelated to travel) and when I called the 800 number had a similar experience as yours with automated hang ups. I then called during their business hours and got right through to a person .
I have a capitol one account with multiple cards one for myself and one for my wife in case of loss or a machine not returning a card.

We too opened a Schwab account this year to have two different accounts working, as we have used a Capital One account for the past several years.

I am sorry to hear of Michael's troubles. All we can say is that the Schwab card is anything BUT a POS. We had no troubles using it in 4 different countries over 21 days, using it in ATM machines, to collect our tickets, and to purchase tickets. Their customer service has been excellent with the various questions we had before we went over, and excellent again when it came to refunding the double charge that France's SNCF made from one of their ticket machines. I would insist on hearing a reason from them for the failure of the card, and bounce it up the line until I received one.

Over the years, we have on occasion found that we could not make a withdrawal from an ATM machine. When that has happened, we have simply tried a machine operated by a different bank, and we could make our withdrawal.

In response to Michael, I have maintained a Schwab debit/ATM card for a number of years and have used it without a problem throughout Europe and also around the world. It has never failed me at many different arriving airports, etc. In my contacts with staff, the customer service is first rate. A great feature of the card for couples is that each card is unique and if one is lost, stolen or otherwise not useable, the other card remains valid. No foreign transaction fees and any ATM fees are rebated monthly confirms a great choice for me. Like.

I am curious to see if we get the rest of the storie from Michael. Typically one time posters who come here to rant do not follow up. That he could never connect to a person while in Europe yet has been able since his return is odd to me. The idea of carrying large amounts of US currency or worse yet travelers checks as a back up plan speaks to a lack of knowledge of foriegn travel and technology. Live and learn or better yet research on sites such as this and guidebooks such as our host's and learn from others to avoid the same pitfalls.

@ Michael...most likely, as pointed out above, something was wrong with the card itself. I don't use a Schwabe debit card either, the TC apart from unfavourable exchange rate are too cumbersome to use...so forget that too. I've had situations where my card was declined (and obviously not to do with exceeding the limit) so the first chance I get I call the bank back here. Sometimes the reason was with them, other times not.

The folks still following Karl Malden's advice regarding travelers checks may be the same ones still carrying Arthur Frommer's book on $5/day travel in Europe.

If that card was rejected after six uses it may have been automatically rejected if the six uses occured in one or two days. One of our cards was locked out after we used it four times in one day while we were in Ukraine and we emailed out credit union why the uses had happened and the card was unlocked.