ATMs at CDG
 

We are traveling to Paris for the first time and I am wondering if there are ATMs at CDG? Also, is it better to get Euros stateside or in Paris?

Yes; if you specify the airline you're flying, someone can be more specific about location
Where are you flying from? If US, $50 in $10 bills, a VISA card, and a bank card for the ATM is sufficient.

We always get 100€ from our bank here before departure. The first time we didn't the ATM at the CDG terminal was out of order, and there we were needing to pay a taxi driver.

So Underhill, what did you do? You sauntered over to the exchange booth, laid down USD50 and got more Euro than you would have if you had made the exchange in the US.

Look guys, internatinal airports ate used to the idea of exchanging money. There are exchange booth all over the gazoos. I use the ATM's, I find it unnecessary to run around, and get ripped off by buying Euro in the US and yes you are getting ripped off on the exchange rates.

Yes I expect to use the ATM when I arrive and yes every so often (but not so often) there is a problem. Part of the advise is a backup. What is a good backup? Oh about USD200 in nice crisp 20's and 10's so that if worst comes to worst, you saunter over to the exchange window, take your medicine and do a cash exchange. I'm sorry, I just don't find any peace of mind or advantage to running around getting Euro before I leave.

This is of no help to the original poster, but we always get 50-100 Euros at the end of one trip to use for the next.

Hi signer,

There are ATMs at CDG.

Here is a link to maps of the terminals, showing the locations.

http://www.adp.fr/webadp/a_cont01.nsf/$$Affich@ReadForm&cle=X5005A05A4.html

I understand signers concern.
Two years ago, though, we got off the plane in Frankfurt, walked 100 feet and came to an ATM. MY BANK/ATM CARD DIDN'T WORK!!!

So I inserted my Visa card instead (incurring the higher charges).

Then, 100 feet further on, was another ATM. It worked. Moral: carry a backup (visa card) but know where the alternatives are. I see no purpose in getting euros ahead of time. There's at least one website which tells the location of ATMs in whatever city. When I found out via this that there were 6 ATMs in Lubotin SK (population ~800, nearest town of consequence 40 miles), I felt safe. PS you won't need travelers checks either.

There are ATMs in all international airports (I'm pretty darn sure, aren't there?). You will get a better rate waiting until you are in Paris. But if you feel more secure arriving with some Euro already in hand, check with your own bank, AAA, or a service like Thomas Cook.

At home there will usually be service charges, and a slightly lower exchange rate. ATMs in Europe give a good exchange rate but your own home bank may add a per international transaction fee (typically $0-3).

On our recent honeymoon to Italy we had an unexpected 6 hour layover in Paris after missing our connecting flight.

We were able to leave the airport for a while & wanted to get out money to get in a cab. All 3 ATMs that we found were out of order at CDG. I was really mad. Luckily my husband had about $300 on him, which earlier I had argued we absolutely didnt need to bring with us.

We exchanged it for Euros at American Express. But we wasted so much time running around to all those ATMs.

Point being, always have some cash on you, whether its dollars or euros. If we had gotten a few euro in the US Im sure our rate would have been bad, but it would have saved us the 45 minutes to an hour we wasted running around the airport, and that was precious time since we only had 3 hours to quickly see Paris.

First of all, we weren't carrying much in the way of US$; second, the line at the exchange booth was stretched across the terminal because of the ATM machine's inoperation. I'd still rather have had some Euros in my pocket to get on with.

You can also run into problems if there's one of the frequent big strikes: ATMs out of cash.

My son landed at CDG last week and said all the ATMs he tried there (and at Paris train stations) weren't working. But since the airport bank foreign exchange is always open he got some euros there.

If your bank's central processing is on the East Coast, and you land at CDG at 8AM Paris time, that's 2AM Eastern time in the USA. It's entirely possible that your ATM transaction could not be approved because your bank is offline (nearly all banks are sometime in the middle of the night) performing its "overnight processing".

It may not be that all the ATM's are out of order or that your card won't work, but that your bank happens to be offline at that particular moment.

Also, familiarize yourself with whatever logos (Cirrus, Plus, NYCE, Maestro, etc.) are on the back of your card. The ATM you're attempting to use must also have one of those logos for your card to "work".

The one time the ATM at CDG didn't work for me, there was no problem finding a cab that accepted a credit card.

It must be noted that most ATMs in all Paris train station have been put out of order because it was not possible for banks to have them filled with brand new, crackling and odouring notes with full security...

That's the link in French:

http://www.fbf.fr/web/internet/conte...256DFF002D73F8

So maybe the ATMs at CDG are also in this position.