What is the easiest way to change your ATM 50 euro bill?

A bank will do it, but it's a pain in the neck. What I do is get out 175 vice 150 the first couple of times. The twenty and the five get me going initially and I bust the fifties every chance that comes up. If you keep up that pace for a couple of days you'll have a pretty good spread that will sustain you. (It might be 180 or something, I can't recall if fives are in atms.) The dumb thing I do is spend all the lower ones and most of the coins toward the end in order to come home with minimal bills but still have a stash. The cycle goes on and on.

Get a couple hundred in 20s before leaving home. Try not to use them except for small purchases (i.e. dont pay a €70 check with a 50 and a 20, use two 50s -- and you will get another 20 in the deal).

Just withdraw an amount that's not a multiple of 50 euro, say 240 euro instead of 250 euro. ATMs in Italy generally allow that option.

I usually have no trouble cashing out the 50 euro bills as most restaurants,museums,stores readily take the 50 euro bills. I try to save my 1-2 euro coins,5,10,and 20 euro bills for small purchases. I rarely use my credit cards in europe and try to pay cash. Since I know I am coming back to europe I try and keep around 500 euros around my home.

If your hotel(s) require cash, that's an easy way to get rid of big bills.

You will love it when the ATM kicks out a hundred euro note.

I am not exaggerating when I say we were turned down for our 50's EVERYWHERE. Especially vendors, even in restaurants when our lunch was 15 euros. We were flat out told that they could not make change. In a grocery store, where I would never expect to have a problem, we had to get out of line and buy more stuff so we could use our 50. You would then see plenty of money in the drawer as well. I am beginning to think that it is a tourist scam for us to buy more crap. It was in during late nov/beginning dec so maybe without the throngs of tourist, cash flow is low and locals use close to exact change that it makes it hard for us with our large ATM withdraws. Obviously, we would try to break our 50's to get smaller bills and would keep our smaller bills. Every situation we ran into, we would try to use a 50 so we could get change. Its a matter of not wanting to do multiple ATM withdraws to avoid the 10-15 dollar transaction fee. Even taking cash out with my capital one card was $10 each time. So we would try to take out what we could in that day so I would not have to do it often. It's a matter of being damned if you do, damned if you don't. I honestly, every year say to myself, I am going to just get the cash here in the states all upfront, 20 euro bills only. Because by the time you are done with ATM withdrawl fees, and credit card cash fees, I would think that the exchange rate would be close. But no one likes carrying around all that cash, for safety issues. Someone wrote that breaking large bills for smaller bills at a bank is a pain. Is it a language pain, or do the tellers give you a hard time, or are the banks not inclined to accommodate lines of tourist in their banks to make smaller change? What about the ripoff exchange bureaus, can they make change for free?

Oh and the problem also occurred in museums. Even big museums. Especially in the morning. But I can see that making change for a 50 would be difficult first thing. But what I would do is be prepared for that occurrence if I were running a business frequented by tourist, and make sure my cash drawer was loaded with small bills for all the tourist 50 euros that come in.........but that philosophy isn't very Italian, is it:)

So sorry to hear about your problems with 50 euro bills. Personally we haven't had any problems at all and we have had lots of 50 euro bills from ATMs - spending three months between Paris and Venice this year, last year, and six months in 2008. As a rule I don't use credit cards here in Europe anymore because of all the additional charges. We do not incur any fees using our ATM.
We go out for cappuccino every morning but we have a regular cafe we go to here in Venice - the Caffe del Doge Rialto. They sell prepaid cards in 10,20 and 50 euro. We are working on our second 50 euro card now. This eliminates the need for small change everyday plus there is a built-in discount.

Kelly, The banks will do it, and politely. The pain is going in, waiting in line, etc. It just robs too much time. Years ago, before atms, I tried it at a change burea and was told to buzz off.

Idiot vendors. What other use do they have for €20 bills than to give change for €50 bills? I had a conniving cabbie in Israel that said he couldn't change a bill which was closest to the fare. Hoping for an outrageously high tip from an American, I told him to stop in to my hotel for payment when his mother gave him enough pocket money to break the bill. He found the change with no trouble and got no tip at all.

Try sticking a 50 euro bill in the auto ticket machine at the train station. (Early Sunday morning, the window wasn't open yet.) One and two euro coins kept popping out. I think I gained 5 lbs.

Funny enough I too got lots of 50s at the ATMs while in Italy last fall and although I had no issues using them, most places used a device to check for authenticity before accepting them. I guess the issue with taking them is not whether they have adequate change to give back, but rather fraud? As suggested, request a denomination divisible by twenty and not fifty. Also, banks will help you but, but it is time consuming.

Don't rely on banks, increasingly they only like to deal with their own customers. At some banks you can only get inside if you run a bank card through a reader to open the door. Whether the door lock will accept other bank's cards I don't know, we were taken in by a local using his card.

While I do believe you, I don't understand. I spend a lot of time in Italy, Rome, Florence and Milan. I have never had anyone refuse to take a 50 euro note. In fact the ATM gives out 50's all the time. A few months ago, in Rome, I was standing next to a guy at a bar at breakfast, he ordered a cornetto and cappuccino and paid with a 200 euro note without any argument from the barista. The only thing I can think of is they were picking on you because you were a tourist and/or didn't speak Italian. I apologize to my on behalf of my rude countrymen. We are not all like that. One more thing that I found odd is this taken for the European National Bank web site: "As of May 2013, there are approximately 6,383,487,700 €50 banknotes in circulation around the Eurozone. The 50 euro note is the most commonly used banknote. The total value of the notes in circulation is approximately €319,173,835,100 (as of May 2013). The European Central Bank monitors the circulation and stock of the euro coins and banknotes. The Eurosystem has been tasked with ensuring an efficient and smooth supply of euro notes" According to the European Bank the 50 is king. Anyway, I hope you had a good time in Italy. Ciao Sebastian

You are responding to a nearly four year old question. I am sure she got her answer three years ago.

Sorry, usually look at date of OP and replies. Only excuse is that it was late at night!

If you do what I do, and it works well, is take $50 dollar bills, the newer pink/red colored ones ($1500/30 crisp ones tucks nicely into your passport wallet or money belt) and plan to visit a few banks that clearly shows a "bureau de change" or something to that affect. You pay a little more at the bank in conversion fees compared to the ATM, but you don't have to worry about using the ATM and getting 50 or 100 Euro notes. And the bank will always give your request for 20's, if that is what you desire. I usually convert at least 300 at a time for weekdays, and 500 for weekends. If you safeguard your 50 dollar bills as you do your passport, you won't have any problems. Dan