If you insist on carrying wads of cash (I cannot think of a good reason to do so), get the euros before you leave the US. Otherwise you would spend your vacation days looking for places to exchange your dollars instead of enjoying treasures all around you in Italy.

<<Euro exchange rates are at the lowest they ever been, get euro in the US. I don't see how ATM's or cards are more convinient then cash. I can't imagine looking for an ATM in Tuscany..there are better things to do.>>

Simply untrue that the exchange rate is the lowest ever.

ATMs and cards are far preferable to cash than carrying cash around with you, which is just dumb, except for a small amount.

There are ATMs on practically every street corner all over Europe, including Tuscany. You normally don't have to make more than a 2-minute walk to find one. There are far better things to do in Tuscany than spend an afternoon filing a theft report with the police, too.

As in so many cases, what St Cirq said!

The exchange rate was actually better than now just about exactly two years ago, in June 2010. And it was real low for a long time for periods back in 2002-2007. It was about 25 pct better at the end of 2002, a bit after its introduction (it was only about 1.00 USD to euro).

Virginiabeach....that is simply not true. As a matter of fact, although nobody really knows, many forecast the euro is in a downward dive that is showing no signs of ending. For all we know, by the end of the year, the euro might be at par with the US dollar and even then, that's far from an al time low. The all time low was about 84.5¢. As a matter of fact, earlier this week I booked something at a point the euro was $1.23..now it's back up to $1.25....nobody knows...it's no different than buying any financial commodity. It may go up. It may go down. So....it makes no sense to buy euro now for a trip six months from now...take your dollars, buy a six month CD, get some interest (admitedly not a wholelot) and then when you go, the euro will be what the euro is and that's what yo pay. You or I are not smart enough to out guess the market.

When I was in Spain in the spring of 2002, the exchange rate was $0.86 = €1.

<I don't see how ATM's or cards are more convinient then cash.>

Because if all you have is wads of cash and it gets lost or stolen you are sh*t out of luck.

If your ATM or credit card is lost/stolen, you can get a replacement, or just use another backup method, you haven't lost a thing.

Sorry, but I'm one of those people who remembers when the Dollar and Euro were at par. And "looking" for an ATM???? The only place in Tuscany I didn't see one was in the middle of an olive grove where I had to stop and take a pee.

kayd.....how are credit cards better than cash, I hear you cry. Cash can be lost. Credit cards, if they're lost the most you are responsible for is $50 and few banks try to even enforce that. You buy something and it's defective...you have some leverage via the credit card company.....you don't have to keep checking your wallet at a restaurant to see if you have enough euro...you don't have to stand around if the cashier doesn't have enough one euro coins to make your change and has to go running over to the office...you buy something and don't hold up the rest of the quewue sorting out your coins and bank notes to pay the bill...just hand the card over...it goes through the terminal and paid...cards in general provide the best exchange rates if you use the right card...lyou don't have to worry about returning home with too many euro....need I go on?

xyz, you are preaching to the choir. Or did you mean to address someone else?

wrong person...sorry

Europe, including Italy, has joined te digital age - and the banking and currency systems are set up to deal with credit cards and pulling cash with ATM cards. And it may be dicey totry to use a CC for anything that costs less than 10 or 15 euros.

Don;t know why - or HOW - you get along here without an ATM card (I haven't seen the inside of a bank for at least 18 months) - but that's your decision. But trying to do without one in Italy is going to be a giant PIA. Either changing here at a bad rate and carrying way too much cash, or changing at a cambio there and getting an even worse rate, or standing in line at a bank forever - and still getting a bad rate. Everyone charges extra to change cash because it is much more work for them than just stuffing bills into an ATM. You have to pay for all their extra time and effort.

And no - no one wants travelers checks.

{I am pretty sure the reference by BigRuss re: taking travelers check up thread, was tongue in cheek}

DebitNM...I have a CapitolOne cc and was very interested in your post about opening a checking account with them online for ATM purposes. Do you have a link you can post for this? We live in FL and they have no branches here....I see they have many in Louisiana (darn it...we were just there a few weeks ago). I can't seem to locate any info when I google about opening an account online.
Thanks!

Actually, you are better off being in a state that doesn't have actual Cap One banks, the accounts are better online. It is called Online Interest Checking. Let me see what I can find.

Thanks!

I am having a hard time finding it; I see they took over ING Direct and wonder if this has mucked things up! I opened my account in early 2011, used it in April and May last year, and it has sat unused all this time. I simply went to capitalone.com and clicked on the banking tab and was able to apply. I don't see that now. :(

Yes, it looks like their online checking and savings accounts are now through ING Direct:
http://www.capitalone.com/directbanking/

That's what I kept seeing and when I checked ING's site, the "free ATM" usage is limited =( Nothing international! Just my luck!

highbay,

Before you give up find out what the limit is. I have a Cap One acct but I didn't open it on line. On my acct they recently started charging fees but that does not apply to on line accts. When Cap One didn't charge fees our monthly limit was $20 in reimbursement of fees. In other words, if I use another ATM and that ATM charges me $3, Cap One would reimburse that to me. Your usage might be different but we only do a few withdrawals per month so $20 was not a bad limit for us.

BTW, did it say "nothing international" on the web site? So many posters to this forum use Cap One cards overseas, I have a hard time believing that is correct.

Please look into this further.