Rick's book advises to stay away from Travelex, Euronet, Forex , and Bancomat ATMs because they have huge commissions and terrible exchange rates. Are there any good ATMs @ the Marco Polo airport in Venice with good exchange rates or do we have to take the Vaporetto into Rialto Bridge area near our hotel to get a good exchange rates and little or no commissionsfor our American dollars?
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
There should be a Banca di Roma at the VCE airport. Bancomat is a generic term for ATM in Italy, they should be affiliated with a bank, such as BdR above; another big chain is BNL, Banco Nazionale del Lavoro. If you can find one with an office and can use it during banking hours, you should be fine even if something goes wrong. I use Bancomats all over Italy, the only charge is imposed by my bank's ATM policy.
Not exactly sure where you got that information.
Bancomat is just the Italian term for ATM machine, it's not a specific institution. Every bank office will have a Bancomat machine, just like all banks in America have ATM machines. When you see the sign Bancomat it means ATM. Use it just like you would use it at home. However you need to call your bank before going overseas and tell them you will use the card abroad, otherwise they'll think it is a fraudulent use and will block it.
You will get the best exchange rates from the ATM (bancomat in Italian), much better than AmEx offices or the Exchange Bureaus scattered all over major tourist cities. However your American bank will probably charge you a flat fee for using the card abroad. Chase bank for example charges me $5 ATM fee for each ATM withdrawal overseas (I don't use it anymore, since I have an Italian bank account). So inquire with your bank. If your bank charges a hefty fee (like Chase), it is advisable that you make few large withdrawals rather than many small ones, because whether the withdrawal is just 50 euro or 500 euro, the fee your bank will charge you is the same.
Credit cards will also give you good exchange rates (however some charge a 3% foreign transaction fee). Therefore using the credit card to make payments is a good idea, at least for large purchases. Consider however that Italian merchants often give you a discount on the price if you pay cash (credit cards charge merchants a commission), so don't be afraid to ask if they give you a discount for a cash payment.
Also with Credit cards you need to contact your credit card before traveling abroad, to alert them you will be using the card overseas, otherwise they'll block it for fear of fraudulent use.
Bancomat machines are everywhere there is a bank branch, so basically everywhere. Italy has the largest concentration of bank branches in the EU. If you are in any town over 2000 people there will be at least one. In Venice and other large cities there are plenty more.
The bancomat at Venice airport is on the far right hand side of the building by the exit door. It is out of the way because that's the way foreign exchange booths like it as they pay high rents for the airport location (and pass these costs on to their customers). And besides the $3 to $5 per transaction fee your bank charges, most of them tack on a 3% "foreign currency transaction" fee. Read the fine print of your bank's ATM agreement. If it looks like a ripoff to you (and it usually is) set up a separate account at a credit union or other financial institution that is not so greedy. Use that account for foreign travel.
Thanks, everyone, for the help.
We used several BNL atm's in Venice because they have reciprocity with Bank of America and by using BNL, B of A did not charge extra fees. We found BNL atm's throughout Venice and they were very convenient however in other cities we visited, we couldn't always find one. Check with your bank to see which Italian banks they have reciprocity with and then look up their addresses ahead of time. I never went out of my way though to find a BNL though as I didn't want to waste valuable time searching for a BNL atm and figured the additional fees were part of the cost of traveling. It wasn't worth sacrificing sightseeing time to save $3-5. I didn't feel that we were charged outrageous fees for using bank atm's that were not affiliated with B of A.
In Italy, the Post Offices also have an ATM (Postamat I believe) and I have used them all over Italy to withdraw money from my American bank. Since I am always worried that I will lose one ATM card or the Italian Bankomat will refuse to honor it (which happened a couple times when I went to an Italian Savings Bank (Risparmio)), I always travel with at least two bank cards from different banks. I have used a card from an online bank that refunds any ATM charges (not the conversion changes but the $3 changed for the use of the ATM machine. Also, a lot of B&B's ask for payment in cash so you may have to provide a large amount of money when you check out, more than you can withdraw on any one day. Be prepared.
There is no $3 charge for the use of an ATM in Italy.
I see the original article that Bob slightly mis-quotes at http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/money/cash-machine-atm-tips. Rick is warning that private-brand ATMs with names like Travelex, Euronet, and Forex may charge higher fees than bank-affiliated ATMs. In my experience, the first on-screen step of using off-brand ATMs is a question asking you to accept the fee.
