Best place to get Swiss francs for trip

I like to have some cash before I enter the country, so I don’t have to worry about my card getting stuck in an ATM machine. I get some from my bank, Wells Fargo. If you can get some from AAA that is also a good option. I’d get 100 CHF as mentioned on your other thread.

Have a great trip!!!

Best place to get cash is an ATM which is bank owned.

I have a AAA membership. Its a better "deal" than Wells Fargo where I used to have an account that I used just to get foreign currency. What I do now, and is the best "deal" is to wait until I arrive on my trip and use a bank ATM affiliated with my bank (look at the back of the ATM/debit card) during bank hours, when possible.

One time when I went to Switzerland, I never used cash. The other time, when I arrived, I got 100 Swiss Francs and used about 50 until I intentionally used them up at the end of the Swiss portion of my trip. Credit card use is extremely prevalent.

I have now transferred the Wells Fargo account to Charles Schwab which allows me to get reimbursed for ATM fees (Thank you RS forum members). The Schwab account is set up for travel, I still have my credit union checking account with a debit/ATM card which I can also use when necessary.

The AAA in my region doesn’t have the foreign currency anymore (this was eliminated during Covid and apparently never brought back). We used it pre-Covid and it seemed like a good deal because they didn’t have a service charge, and used the official exchange rate at the moment (I don’t know what that’s actually called, sorry). The only catch was that there was a minimum amount, say $500 or similar, that you had to buy. So just 100 Francs might not work.
Seems like if the AAA in your area is still offering this service, it’s probably a better deal than some other places that charge extra fees.

I used to use the ATM when I got into the country, now I get local currency from my bank before I travel. I found that (wells fargo) and the foreign banks charge an arm and a leg in transaction fees at ATM's. I got $200 US in Swiss Francs, getting $170SF. Last time I traveled I had more than $50 in fees from ATMs.

My friend went to her credit union to get SF, and that currency came from Wells Fargo...

Mostly use credit cards, but always handy to have some cash for smaller purchases, tips for hotel staff or restaurants. I had to get a minimum of $200 US, so i will work hard to spend all those Swiss Francs (lots of chocolate in my future - keeping space in the return suitcase)

It can pay to check out various ATMs before you really need cash. In southern France, we had stopped in a town and there was a city square with multiple streets coming off it. There were at least 5 bank affiliated ATMs. We decided to check a few and there was wild variation in the fee to withdraw cash. One of them did not have a fee and the exchange rate was the market rate. We used the bank we landed on a few more times in France.

We have rarely paid fees to withdraw cash and when we have, we withdrew an amount to carry us through the trip.

Its been a year since we've been to Europe and it sounds like it has become harder to find ATMs without fees. That was the reason I transferred our travel account from Wells Fargo to Charles Schwab since Schwab reimburses ATM fees.

@Ellen, are you saying you got $170 in Swiss francs at a Switzerland ATM, or from your bank before you left?

AAA no longer handles foreign currency (at least in my state).
Use an ATM at the airport or any bank.

I guess first, worth saying that you likely will need little cash. You can use your credit card and insert or tap for most everything big and small. However, I always like to have cash, and it seems every trip I run into some instance where I need, or at least prefer cash.

If you have an ATM card with no fees from your bank, then getting cash there will run you about 1% plus any fee the ATM charges. (a few euro) Since you will likely only need to withdraw a 100 CHF or so, paying a small fee is not a deal breaker.

If you get cash here in the US, about the best you can do is a 5% cost, usually from Wells Fargo or AAA, between 5 and 7%. If you look, here or in Europe, if they say no fees or commission, that means they just charge no additional fees, the cost though will be in the exchange rate.

Exchanging there would likely be more expensive, since you cannot go to a bank, and have to rely on commercial exchange places.

Do read up on DCC, I don't worry about bank ATMs or not, my card reimburses fees, so no difference in cost among different ATMs. The first ATM I find is usually as good as any other.

In Geneva there was an entire wall of Bank ATM's in the reception hall/train station. Drew out cash there that I basically never used in 12 days. Paid 99% of expenses with Google Wallet on phone. Never even touched my credit cards.

We used no Swiss francs at all on our trip last September. Zip. We paid for everything with credit card or Apple Watch. I brought Swiss francs from a previous trip and did not need them at all. I gave the coins to my grandchildren who were with us on the trip for their foreign coin collection, and brought the bills home. I will take them when we go back in September, just in case.

We try to use the Swiss Post Office machines since there are no added fees. At the Bern train station UBS wanted to charge 5%.
So now we’re in Switzerland, have 95 of the 100 francs left, and I’m pretty sure I’ll have to go into the Coop and buy 95 francs worth of chocolate to take home. Even the toilet at the Bern train station accepted a credit card.

Don’t worry about it, do it when you arrive, and don’t take out more than 60-80 francs. You won’t need them.

Don't wait too long, it's easy to get euros but harder to get Swiss francs. Since they are only useful in CH, there isn't a whole lot of demand.

Currency exchange costs are just part of travel, don't spend too much energy worrying about them. The easiest thing is to put your travel money into a Schwab account and just use their ATM card anywhere since you'll get your fees reimbursed. But do have some cash in your pocket at all times, just common sense.

Also remember to try and dump the cash while you're still in CH, since again it's relatively easy to exchange euros anywhere but harder with Swiss currency.

Bring a few credit cards and a debit card with no ATM fee. Get the cash in Switzerland from a bank ATM (in the city, not at the airport) or as needed. Do not get Swiss francs from your local bank at home, that's by far the most expensive and time consuming option. I wouldn't worry too much about having cash, you probably won't need any, but when you are walking around the city and come upon a legit looking bank ATM, you can withdraw some cash just in case.

I plan on 15-20 CF per day per person. The cash can be ordered online from my bank.

At the start of the trip I used Apple Pay and Tap to Pay. FYI - I found with the chip read charge, I had to sign. With about 3 days left in my trip, I start to burn through the remaining cash on hand. I have never came home with anything more than some small coins.