Amsterdam Currency Exchange
 

Traveling to AMS for a week in September.

I will need to pay in cash for a weekly studio rental while in Amsterdam. I have done this many times before, and think I know some of the best ways to access cash when needed, but would love to hear of some of the advantages and problems others may have found.

I find bringing $100 US bills at times may present problems cashing at times, so I don't carry too many of them. Even US $50 bills can create a proble believe it or not. About 3 years ago I took a wad of US $50s with me and found out that the Post Office would not exchange them; nothing larger than a twenty. Currency exhange outlets give no problems.

I always walk up and down Damrak trying to figure which place would give me the best deal. Some don't charge extra for cshing a travelers check. Another says they need small US bills and will pay a better exchange rate for them; has anyone ever brought over a wad of $5 bills?

Sometimes I use an ATM and only take out what I need on a daily, or two day basis. This leaves less cash for me to loose or have to worry about having stolen.

Care to share?

In my experience the best way is to use an ATM. For me it's been by far the cheapest way, hands down. Exchanging cash or travelers checks always cost far more.

If you're only focusing on fees you're missing a very important part of the equation, and that's the exchange rate. If you're curious, try to access 200 euros cash using an ATM versus exchanging a wad of $5, $10 or $20 bills, then calculate the total cost to you. Fee + exchange rate. Not even close in my experience.

I think you will find that most posters will agree that the ATM is the best way to get euros. We made four withdrawals while in The Netherlands last month, and my cost was $1.50 per transaction.

My bank debit card will charge me 3% or $5.00, which ever is greatest. You have a good transaction fee. Do others have the same? I will have to again complain to my bank about it (as I have done in the past without resolution).

<i>My bank debit card will charge me 3% or $5.00, which ever is greatest.</i>

You need a new bank.

My bank charges me $0. Indeed, they reimburse me if the ATM owner charges me a fee. Competitive fx rates too.

We pay for all we can with credit cards (but only stay in hotels) and just pull a relatively small amount of cash for walking around money from checking account with ATM cards. Have never had any problem doing this and haven;t used trav checks in at least 10 years. We do carry about $200 US in twenties (most places won;t change larger - but that's old info, since we haven;t had to use any of it for at least 6 or 7 years).

My own experience with taking US $ is that the $100 bill is best. I have found that I go not get as good a rate with smaller denominations, although $50 is about as good as $100. You need to make sure you have the newer style bills with the large face. Also, no writing on the bills, and try to select bills that don't show too much wear and tear. Exchange places prefer newer looking bills.

I agree with using the ATM also. We always walk to the main train station in Amsterdam. Our hotel was near by, so it was easy to go there. We always notify our home banks that we will be visiting specific countries, and we also ask for a higher daily withdrawal rate.

I agree that using the ATM is the best way to go. Not only does it save money, but I find that it provides a bit of peace of mind. I love EverBank https://www.everbank.com/ for traveling because EverBank never charges an atm fee for using ANY bank's ATM. So say the ATM I'm using in for example, Milan, charges me 5 euro to withdraw money- EverBank pays the 5 euro fee for me! I can keep up with everything online, and it has all the benefits and protections of a visa debit card.

I don't work for EverBank, I just think the whole ATM free world is a really awesome idea.

Of course a bank ATM in Milan wouldn't charge you anything anyway.

We have been living in Amsterdam for the past 9 months using ATM's to get cash to pay all our living expenses - rent, food, transportation - everything.

My husband is on sabbatical and is paid his salary by his university back in the States. His paycheck is direct-deposited to our bank account in California. We withdraw money as we need it to pay our expenses here in cash.

We do not have a Dutch bank account. We do not use our credit card because it charges a 1% currency conversion fee. While one percent may seem small, one percent of an entire year's living expenses could add up. Our bank account charges no ATM fees and no currency conversion fees for ATM withdrawals. So this has seemed to be the cheapest - and the easiest - way to handle our money while we are here for a year. It is so simple.

If we can do it for a year, I think others can probably do it for a couple week's vacation - if they want to, that is. Not suggesting everybody has to do things our way. And of course a few percentage points on a couple of week's expenses don't add up as much as an entire year's worth would.

Thank you all for your opinions and sugestions offered about currency conversion. I will go to my bank and see if there is a less expensive way for me to access my money while in Amsterdam.