You could ask your bank to lift your ATM withdrawal limit. Unless your bank charges you for ATM withdrawals (and many do not) this is probably the cheapest way to obtain foreign currencies.

Outside of that you will probably be carrying cash:

1. Pay your bank what will be most likely extravagant fees and a trade at a degraded rate of exchange and carry euros.

2. Carry dollars and exchange them at one of these locations which will charge 2-3% (which is what large banks charge you to use your credit card while traveling):

http://www.bureaudechange.fr/

http://www.ccopera.com/

http://www.fcochange.com/

Even IF your bank does charge fees (and most American banks do charge small fees) it will be cheaper to get as much as you can out of ATMs after you arrive. Have your bank raise your daily limit and then take multiple withdrawals if needed.

Check out xe.com -- it's an information site that shows the daily exchange rates, but they also advertise a currency exchange service. No, I haven't tried it so cannot vouch, but it could be useful for comparison for you.

Thanks to all for the suggestions! I'm going to talk to my bank about raising my atm limit, that should work.

Hi BD,

If the bank won;t raise your limit sufficiently, keep in mind tat both you and your spouse can take out the daily limit on the same day if you have separate cards. If you open a second account you can take out 4X the daily limit each day.

Enjoy your visit.

I do have an account at XE and it can work very well if you know the bank account of where you are sending funds.

Currency Online does the same type of thing as does Hifx:


http://www.hifx.com/
http://www.currencyonline.com/

With any of these companies, you can transfer funds electronically with no fees and at the midmarket rates. They can be cheaper than using an ATM machine.

If you are a AAA Member you can buy Euros from them at the same rate that banks pay, no commission if you are Plus member. Latest quote 1.47/ 1 Euro (day rate was $1.42).

The interbank rate IS 1.42. $1.47 is 3.5% over the interbank rate. I withdraw euros from ATMs at 1% over the interbank rate (from my credit union checking account). So AAA is not such a great deal.