ChicagoJessica

We're travelling to Italy in September -- 5 days in Lake Como and 5 days in Cinque Terre. Our hotel in Cinque Terre (Alla Porta Rossa) only accepts cash and I don't want to carry that much cash on me from the US and then have to hold onto it while in Lake Como. I saw that in Milano Centrale station there are money exchanges -- would I be able to cash a US Traveller's Check for Euros in the train station?

Thanks!

elaine

Have you asked your hotel if there's an atm nearby? You'll do much better than getting a lousy rate when trying to exchange a TC in a train station.

ChicagoJessica

Yes, there is an ATM in the Cinque Terre (not sure which town - we're staying in Manarola). There issue is, the cash payment is due upon arrival/check-in. Given that you can only take out a limited amount of money from an ATM, it'll take us 4-5 trips to an ATM to get all the cash we need to pay the hotel. I'm really not at all interested in spending the first 5 days of my hard-earned vacation finding an ATM in Bellagio every day to get money out. But...if that's what we have to do, that's what we'll do. I'm just trying to see if there are any alternatives.

ira

Hi CJ,

You will lose about 7-8% with a TC.

If it is a large amoount, you can have your bank raise your daily limit for ATM withdrawls.

Also, open a second bank account, with its own ATM card, so that you can withdraw twice as much money.

ChicagoJessica

Good ideas...I called my bank and they cannot raise our daily ATM limit but they did let me know that we can withdraw $400 PER CARD on our account (assuming that from the Italian side we're allowed to get that $400), so my husband can use his card and then I can use my card and we'll end up getting twice as much money from one trip to the ATM. As for opening a 2nd account, that's a really good idea but not one I'm interested in. Maybe for our trip next year I'll plan that better!

clevelandbrown

My experience has been that European ATMs often have a transaction limit that is less than the daily limit imposed by your bank, but that you can circumvent the transaction limit by just doing a second transaction.

So my wife and I were able to draw quite a bit from ATMs, as we each have a card. Sometimes the second transaction on the card was tricky, as you have to guess what the exchange rate is and how much of your daily limit remains available.

Mimar

Bellagio's not that big and there's an ATM right on the main drag, i.e. waterfront. If you're staying in town, you'd have a hard time missing it.

janis

Jessica -- It is wise to not (almost ever) rely on bank telephone customer service reps. You will get a different answer from just about every one you reach.

I will be very surprised if your bank cannot raise your daily limit. Don't phone the call center - go into your branch and talk to an accout rep or even just a teller. They can up your daily limit in about 10 key strokes on their terminal. It is a VERY common tranaction.

janis

Meant to add - you still might have to go to more than one ATM because of the machine's limit.

ChicagoJessica

Thanks for the replies/advice. We've decided to withdraw money while in Bellagio with our 2 ATM cards...we shouldn't have to make too many visits to the ATM given we can use both cards per day. And no, Navy Federal Credit Union does not raise ATM withdrawal limits.