I had Googled around and found some money-exchange houses in Paris to get a better exchange rate for dollars to Euros, however I had not seen any info on best places to get Euros in Spain, besides the ATM machines. I have heard horror stories about the ATM machines sometimes eating people's ATM card and thus are stuck without anything, hence I want to know if there are any vetted money exchange places in Madrid to change dollars to Euros at a better rate than the ATMs or the banks here in the US. My main bank here in the US is Bank of America. Thanks.
Posted by
Chicago
2876 posts
The best way to protect yourself against an ATM "eating" your debit card, is to bring two ATM cards - preferably linked to separate accounts - even though the likelihood of an ATM eating your card is probably about the same as the odds of your winning El Gordo - the Spanish lottery. Well, maybe not quite. You're guaranteed to pay a higher - possibly much higher - exchange rate at a "money exchange house" than at an ATM. That said, if you do use such a place, be sure you look at the "buy" rate, not the "sell" rate. And be aware that exchange houses often charge even higher rates for what they consider "small" transactions, such as anything under $1,000.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19423 posts
One way to protect yourself is to only use bank attached ATMs and only during business hours. The horror stories about ATMs often come from people who use standalone ATMs that have had sleeves insserted into them so the card gets "eaten". If anything happens at a bank ATM during bank hours, you can always go into the bank to get your card back.
Posted by
Oak Park, Illinois
4535 posts
The chance of your card being eaten by an ATM is very small. The chance of you paying a very high exchange rate at any currency exchange is 100%. Stick with the ATM.