Euro Exchange

In my experience the best rate is with an ATM in Italy. I have Bank of America and in Italy they partner with BNL d'Italia (please confirm with Bank of America). That means that when I use a BNL d'Italia ATM, I make sure I ask for the money be charged in local currency, meaning they don't do the conversion, BAC does) and the ATM fees are waived. I also use Capital One which doesn't charge fees at any bank outside the US, although it looks like I may have been charged 3euro this time (March 2023) that has yet to be reimbursed. Still the exchange rate was 1.09 including the fee, when the going rate was 1.08, so that's a good deal for me.

I have gotten euro at my local Bank of America branch and at AAA before, their rates are good but not as good as what you get when you use an ATM in Italy.

Check with your bank, even my credit union has a deal with certain bank networks, so that I'm not charged a fee, but you just need to ask before you go. On the other hand if you feel more comfortable having euro with you when you leave then go ahead and get it ahead of time at your bank or AAA office, the difference isn't that much.

I'm Bank of America and I can never find the associated BNL atms in Italy. Do you have a location in Venice, by chance? Thx so much!

“We will have credit cards with us but I'm told that cash is better for most meals, etc.”

Has the person that told you that traveled to Italy since Covid?

I spent 3.5 weeks in Italy last Fall, part on my own, part on a Rick Steves Best of Italy tour. I literally paid for everything with Apple Pay just to see if I could, including 3€ gelato. There were only 2 times I needed cash, both were at tour hotels where I had had drinks or wine at dinner not covered by the group meal.

What amount were you considering getting in Euro? I ask because we recently had a newcomer at our local Rick Steves meetup here in the Coeur d’Alene/Spokane area. She’d been told by a friend to bring 5,000 € in cash with her to Italy. We were flabbergasted as none of the rest of us would ever consider carrying around that amount of cash. We advised what we do and what has been suggested upthread to get cash out of a local ATM as needed. IF you need it.

but I'm told that cash is better for most meals, etc.

No, nowadays the credit card machine is brought to the table, that way there is no fumbling around trying to make change; this practice came more prevalent opening up during COVID.

The best practice is to take money out of an ATM attached to a bank. But if your credit union says that it will not charge fees for ordering you foreign currency than go with that .

In March I didn't use my Bank of America card for ATMs, but I remember seeing more BNP Parabis than BNL L[talia ATM locations (including Venice), both are on the Bank of America list https://locators.bankofamerica.com/international.html?godesktop=true

I just did a google search and it seems like these two are actually the same bank now? I'm not sure so it's definitely worth confirming with Bank of America since the BNP is listed as France and the BNL is listed as Italy.

I've also heard TD bank has a no fee ATM, in case anyone has that bank, confirm before use!

Re TD Bank: I am there. They charge the FTF, and they charge for cash withdrawals from non-TD ATMs, which there will not be any overseas. When I first went there their Mastercard did not have the FTF, but this was subsequently dropped and is now there. Banks known to not a have ATM fees nor surcharge for ATM out of system - Capitalone 360, Schwab Investor Checking (which also covers hostage ATM charges). B both are deb it cards and can be used at point of sale. Credit cards that I know do not have FTFs--almost all CapitalOne cards, Amazon Visa via Chase (but not Chase cards direct), Comenity Bank's Visa card for AAA members, and all have useful cash back rewards.

Be aware that if you go to a US financial institution (your bank, Wells Fargo, AAA, etc.) and are told you can buy foreign currency without a fee, it just means that institution is using a very, very poor exchange rate. You will pay for that service (handing you foreign currency in exchange for dollars) one way or the other.

Gail, I agree with you. I used an ATM in Rome, with my capital 1 card, on March 28, 210 euro cost 229.97USD. That's with the 3euro charge. That exchange rate is 1.095 USD to 1 Euro. If you look up the official exchange rate on that day it was 1.085. That's pretty darn close, and if I hadn't absorbed the 3euro fee because I didn't want to find another bank, it would have been 1.08.

No, Gail, I didn't express myself accurately. I wasn't referring to ATM withdrawals; I meant (but did not write) that if you walk into a financial institution in the US and ask to "buy" euros, you may be told there's no fee, but you will get a bad exchange rate. I'll rephrase my earlier post so it's clearer.

CapitalOne has some storefronts in the US. I have no idea whether they handle any actual currency at all. But if they do, I bet they don't convert dollars to euros at the current exchange rate without a fee. (I suspect they don't do that sort of currency conversion, period.) I wonder whether anyone has tried that.

I apologize for the earlier, confusing post. I knew exactly what I meant, but it's very clear why others did not!

Acraven, I agree with you. I've done it both ways, and walking into a US bank or AAA will definitely be not as good a rate as if you do it from an ATM in Italy. If the OP is concerned about having some foreign cash I guess it might be worth the difference. But I also agree with others, credit cards are accepted in more and more places and in my last 2 trips (2022, 2023) it seemed like most places that was preferred, it's fast and easy, especially if you have a tap card. As for tap cards, I did have a few restaurants and stores ask me to sign the receipt even with a tap, but for the most part that wasn't necessary.

I live in Italy almost half the year, and I only use cash for newsstands and the local bar for my morning coffee. I use my debit card (Italian, sometimes the U.S. one) most of the time. Here's a restaurant tip: When you're finished with your meal, just get up and go to the cashier. They'll know what table you were at and will total up the bill. Pay that amount. If you want to leave a euro or two on the table, fine. But I never run across a place that requires cash. In fact, if the bill is over €10, the law requires the establishment to accept credit and debit cards. Cash is NOT better for most meals.

In Italy, begin to think of an ATM as ‘Bancomat’. ATMs there do charge a high fee and are not usually associated with a bank. If no one up thread has mentioned it, do try to find a bank that has the bancomat (cash machine) in an interior space. You will often need to use your card to open the exterior door. If that door doesn’t open the machine is most likely empty. At least that is what we suspected when it happened, as my card opened the next one we tried. Depending Deutsche Bank often doesn’t charge a fee and many of the Italian banks don’t either.

As for using a CC or Apple Pay-everywhere and everything.

Buon viaggio!

hey hey kcapita15
this question always comes up, some say no some say yes. neither is right or wrong between anyone's decision.
years ago, my first trip, landed with 3 other planes in rome. had 2 ATM's, one broken the other with a long long line. have no clue how much money that machine holds, probably would run out half way through my wait. borrowed from my friend, took taxi to town and found machine at a bank. best thing i did and thanked friend, paid her back.
my lesson learned to at least bring 200E i get at wells fargo, credit union or AAA in small bills (5, 10, 20's), my fee was about $25 or so. was so so worth it to me. also when getting euros out of ATM i get an odd number, like 95, since i don't want a 100E bill.
many machines in airports are travelex that charge high fees, have to look what terminal an ATM is (could be terminal 5 and you're in terminal 1) make your trip happy with no stressing.
use a debit card not a card card, that's cash advance. have 2 debit cards from different institutions in case one doesn't work at that ATM but will work at another, be one step ahead.
hope this helps and gives you another view of the matter, enjoy rome
aloha

What's a TD? I figure it will be very obvious once I see the answer . Thx

TD is the name of a bank.
https://www.td.com/us/en/personal-banking

TD should be Toronto Dominion Bank, and I have never seen that bank anywhere in Europe.
I can only confirm that the use of credit cards has become more more common n Europe after Covid specifically now that practically all cards have tap and pay functionality.
Was in Italy 3 months last year and spent less than € 20 in cash.

kcapita15

A key point to understand is that there is no "official" exchange rate that is required to be used by anybody, or set by governments. Every bank and exchanging business can set their own rate, and they all need to charge you something to pay for the cost of their services. The rate that you see published daily is the "interbank" rate, that the major financial institutions charge each other when doing multi-million dollar transactions. You have to be aware of what that rate is, however, so you know how much you're being charged. My bank will sell currency and say they offer a competitive rate (it isn't) and charge a transaction fee on top of it.

To add to Stan's excellent point, last month the interbank rates were between 1.07-1.09 USD to 1 Euro, while we were in Italy, I saw some signs at those "Currency Exchange" kiosks, which are probably the worst place to use, charging more than 1.23 USD per Euro! Ouch!

Exchange booths sometimes post both buy and sell rates. Even if you don't know what the interbank rate is, you can look at the difference between the buy and sell rates and figure the mark-up is half the difference. That will give you a decent idea of what you're paying. I've seen spreads of over 20% at places like airports.

Back in 2015 and 2018 I observed some exchange booths in former iron curtain countries where the posted rates were much better than in the west, but I wasn't going to use them to change money, so I don't know whether they tack on fees.

I'm Bank of America and I can never find the associated BNL atms in Italy. Do you have a location in Venice, by chance? Thx so much!
Blockquote

Pat, we are going back to Venice in October, first travel since January 2020. If I remember correctly, there is a BNL on the left side of Academia museum coming from the bridge.

Very little cash is needed. We got by on about 400 E for about a 20 day trip. The rest we charged - stores, hotels, restaurants, museums, ice cream shops.

When you arrive go to a BANK-ASSOCIATED BANKOMAT at the airport and get Euros. Decline the "dynamic currency option".

When eating out, I will be paying for my dinner with a debit card & my friend will pay for her meal w a debit card. Do waiters in Rome have a problem with separating the two bills? I’ve heard that they get annoyed if the diners attempt to pay w two different cards. Thanks!

I spent a month in southern Italy earlier this year and nearly three weeks in northern Italy last September. These are the places I remember using cash:

• To pay the city hotel tax. Plenty of lodgings will not take a credit card for this; it's usually a few euros per day, per person.

• To feed the light meters in churches to illuminate the mosaics, frescoes or paintings. (This would typically be in churches that do not charge any entry fee.) It's usually 1 euro, and often that's the only coin that works.

• To buy city transit tickets from tabacchi or newsstands. (I assume the credit card fee on the full amount would wipe out what they get paid for selling the tickets.)

• To leave a restaurant tip when I was told the tip couldn't be added to the credit card charge.

• To pay for a small cup of gelato. I didn't see any signs requiring cash, but most other single customers seemed to be using cash.

• To buy a single piece of fruit or soda at a little corner market (on the theory that the situation was similiar to buying a small gelato).

I believe I did see a few signs requiring a minimum purchase (maybe 5 or 10 euros) for use of a credit card, but it was rare. I think that was at small food shops.

I don't remember whether I used coins to access any pay toilets, but I suspect I did. That situation is changing rapidly, but do you really want to need a coin for a pay toilet and not have one?

I’m one of the old-style travelers apparently. : )

I went to Italy in June for 3 1/2 weeks and in September for another two weeks. The June trip was less touristy locations, and the September trip was more of the main locations because I brought our oldest daughter.

I bring Euros from a previous trip, or I obtain some from our bank ahead of time because I don’t want to do any financial transactions when I arrive with jet lag. Other than paying hotel bills on site and train & activity tickets I purchased ahead of time at home, I used cash for everything. No one gave me an eye roll or sigh. (I do place the exact quantity of coins in a tiny Ziploc bag inside my coin purse to hand the gelato cashier the exact change each afternoon or evening which they appreciate.). I store my cc, ATM card & passport in my money belt and just have my expected expenses for the next 5 hours in my crossbody purse.

In a grocery store in Venice, there was a long line feeding two cashiers. Only customers with cash could use the 2nd cashier. So, I was able to walk out of the line and purchase my toothpaste & snack….with the correct change & my market bag - score! ; )

Thinking through some of the June transactions, most gelato shops in the smaller towns had customers in front of me paying with coins, too.

Acraven, yes on needing coins for some of the pay toilets - distinctly remember Bergamo’s toilet at the main Citta Alta piazza and one in a train station. And yes, the hotel city tax was to be paid in cash. Some of the hotels mentioned this when I checked in to ensure I had the cash for the city tax to check out.

We traveled to Piemonte last summer. Concerning paying at restaurants, we payed with credit cards nearly all of the time. It seems like the preferred method - aside from grabbing a quick coffee. As far as getting cash is concerned, we used bank machines. We were cautioned to not use machines labeled as "ATM" as they are not connected directly to banks and give less favorable exchange rates. Use machines labeled as "Bancomat" - these are the machines connected to banks giving you the best exchange rates. We used our USAA Bank ATM card through Italy with no issue. They refund ATM fees - with a limit. That was no issue for us. We also used our USAA chip and PIN credit card. That came in handy at unmanned gas stations as they wouldn't take chip and signature credit cards.

A Bankomat label is not proof of a good machine.
Cameron Hewitt (from Rick Steves) just did a FaceBook post about cash machines and how to avoid bad ones. The ubiquitous Euronet machines that are high on the list to avoid have ATM and Bankomat labels.

Use machines that have an actual bank's name.

Too bad OP hasn’t been able to check back in regarding suggestions.

I’ll just add that on Friday I used ApplePay for my lowest “purchase “ ever, lol! .70€ for the toilette at the Amsterdam Centraal train station. I used it just to see if I could. The exchange rate came out to 77 US cents, no other fees on my VISA card.

Thanks for everyone’s help. I’m guessing we will just use cc for most purchases. We will prob just bring a few euros just in case. I checked with my cc and at least there’s no transaction fees. None of our ATMs are cheap to use so we might as well pass on them.

I am in Sicily just now, and have only used cash to buy bus tickets, only because I had some cash in my pocket.
One important thing: be sure that each person in your group has a debit or credit card from separate accounts in case someone loses a card.
If you need an ATM, always use one inside an actual bank or inside its foyer….never out on the street.
Some ATM’s are empty by Sunday night in small towns, refilled next business day.

Someone said, "When eating out, I will be paying for my dinner with a debit card and my friend will pay for her meal with a debit card."

My understanding is that using a debit card to pay for anything anywhere in Europe is not a good idea because debit cards typically draw cash straight from checking accounts and that using them to pay directly for something makes those accounts more vulnerable to fraud.

I have 2 debit cards from 2 different credit unions. Both draw money straight from my checking accounts, essentially paying with cash. I use them only to withdraw cash from those accounts in the rare cases these days when I think I might need cash. Neither of them nor the credit cards from those credit unions charges any fees of any kind. Obviously, they are not affiliated with any of the banks mentioned so far here. I only get cash from European bank cash machines on the inside of or adjacent to those banks.

My trip last summer was to the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales. I tapped my way through all three and needed very little cash. Not even for buses or taxis. I did need some when I used self-service laudromats and sometimes to easily pay the 20€ or 20£ for laundry to be done for me.