I am travelling from NYC to Amsterdam and Brussels. Where is it best to exchange money? Which country USA or Netherlands? And where exactly? THanks.

The best way is not to exchange money anywhere. You will get hit with fees and lousy exchange rates. The BEST way is to use your ATM card to get € while you are in Holland and Belguim.

The ATM card should be linked to your checking account since most European ATM machines won't let you access a savings account.

Answer above is the best one!

But I did change money at the exchange window arriving Amsterdam airport to pay my hotel bill in cash, then found an ATM later on.

There are a lot of threads on this forum regarding money exchange & ATM's. If you search you will come across some long threads, some of them with quite heated dialog. There is some discussion about the difference between ATM's and debit cards, unique features of Belgian ATM's, 4 vs 6 digit pins, checking vs saving accounts, etc you should be familiar with.

The consensus is that an ATM is the best 1st option. No need to carry cash or travellers checks, you get by far the best exchange rate & lowest (or no fees). Many people (myself included) like to have a 2nd option.

Many people like to carry at least some $US with them in case every ATM in the country is out of order or to have as a standby. Every trip I've taken to Europe (3-4/yr) I return with the same $US in my pocket as I had when I left. Some people like to buy some Euros in the US before they leave (bad exchange rate because and fees), but at least they have some Euros in their pockets when land.

Hotel bills are due at checkout - you can either use a credit card or use up most of your leftover Euros so you don't take wad home.

Use your ATM and charge cards. I take a few hundred in US traveler's checks for the "total emergency" situation but like one of the other posters, have always come home with them and just used up at the grocery store. The only time I ever went to a money exchange was when I took the Eurostar from London to Paris. I had some pounds left and knew I wouldn't be back for a few years and just wanted to get rid of them, so changed then to euros at Waterloo. I wasn't worried about the rate of exchange for that one transaction. Used my cards the rest of the time.