Buying Euro's in Greece
 

When we land in Athens, we plan to buy Euro's.
Do all the ATM's give the same exchange rate? If not, which give better rates?
Is it better to use the ATM in Athens airport or when we arrive in Santorini?
Are ATM's all over the place?
Do most restaurants accept credit cards?

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes!

Curious

Besides the exchange rate -- which is fairly uniform from bank to bank -- your "home" bank and the greek bank will likely *each* charge *additional* fees.

These extra fees are not insignificant -- they can add up to $10 or more per transaction.

Here's a guide to "typical" costs, but call your own bank for up-to-date details.
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/pf/...1.asp?caret=16

In general, it's cheaper and more efficient to do larger, but fewer, cash withdrawals.

We came across several ATM machines in the Athens airport. I believe we used a Citi owned machine.

We found that many restaurants, but not all, accepted credit cards. Visa appeared to be accepted at more places than Mastercard.

part of tom_h's info is incorrect. Your own bank will probably charge you an ATM fee (normally between $1 and $5), but the Greek bank won't. Plus there is no "exchange rate" issue w/ the Greek bank. They can't charge you a different rate since they are dealing in € only. You request €200 and your get €200. The "exchange" is done by your own bank when the €200 is converted to $ and deducted from your checking account.

I suggest having two credit cards of different ilk, e.g. one Visa and one MC, just in case.

On my recent trip I was glad I had a debit card in two flavors as well. The MC one would not work in the ATMs in Switzerland for some undisclosed reason.

Also, if you need to buy gas at a non attended station, you may need to use a debit card because it has a pin number.

As for credit cards, I use Capital One.
It does not charge me any extra fees for overseas use.

Bank of America is the prime offender where I am concerned on ATM usage. Unless you go to one of its partner banks, you are charged $5.00 per swat.
Well, there is no partner bank in many countries.

BofA has no 'partner banks' in Greece, so their charge is $5 per transaction. For my last trip I went online and got a WAMU bank debit/Mastercard. They don't charge for international ATM withdrawls, but Mastercard tacks on a 1% surcharge for the transaction, which you can't avoid. VISA does the same.

I took a closer look at my Bank of America statements from last year's Greece trip.

Bof A was charging $5 per transaction, plus 1% of the withdrawal -- about $9 per each of my transactions.

So, I was incorrect concerning fees charged by the greek bank-- there weren't any, it was all BofA fees.

labern116
most (if not all) restaurants accept credit or debit cards (visa is more common than mastercard) BUT many tavernas wont' accept credit cards. So i would suggest you to always have cash for lunch/dinner just in case.