Best place and method of currency exchange?
 

Where is the best place to exchange currency and what would I need to know?

Also, do I need different currency for Scotland and Wales?

Thank YOU!

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You can use GBP in all of the UK.

Use ATM to withdraw cash in the UK. Do not exchange currency anywhere. If you want to have $100 worth of GBP in your pocket when you land then buy some at your departure airport.

Im sorry, yes, that is correct, I do not want to exchange.

Do ATM's charge huge fees for this service in the UK?

Are you traveling from the US with US ATM cards? If so, then it is your own bank that will impose any charge for currency conversion. The UK ATMs do not impose their own fee on foreign users. US banks vary greatly in the fees they charge for ATM use and currency conversion.

I use a Schwab check card, which does not charge a foreign transaction fee or an ATM use fee.

ATM card in ATMs.

England, Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland are all part of one nation that has one currency.

As mentioned above: The only fees, huge or otherwise, are what your own bank charges.

Be sure to use "bank owned" cashpoints (ATM's), some of the privately owned ones in shops and petrol stations will charge you to use them (usually about £1.50).

I found ATMs the best and most reasonable as far as exchange rates. My bank just did the conversion upon ATM withdrawals (from $USD) they did not charge anything extra. Credit cards do. (I was charged over $10 as a "fee" on top of the currency rate exchange for a £300 transaction for example paying for a hotel room.) If you DO have to exchange actual currency (which I had to do from Euros - coming from Paris with 200 € cash) I found the best rates at smaller "change" shops in Central London - I guess bc of competition and the WORST rates at the UK Post Office ("Royal Mail" as it's known over there) and Thomas Cook near tarin stations and airports - so AVOID those guys!