Exchanging currency
 

I am flying into Florence and then taking the train to Arezzo to rent a car for a tour of Tuscany. I would like to have cash for small purchases , around 150-200 Euro, and am wondering if I should use the Wells Fargo Currency exchange service before I leave or use an ATM at the airport. The Wells Fargo site is showing an exchange rate of $1.3487 US for 1 Euro. For 150 Euro the charge would be $202.30 plus a $12 shipping and handling charge. I don't know how those charges compare to what the ATM charges would be. Any suggestions would be helpful.

You'll certainly pay less (and without shipping charges) at an ATM: about $1.27 at yesterday's rate (including exchange mark-up and transaction fee).

Use the ATM at the airport or train station. It will be cheaper. Be sure to notify your bank you will be in Italy and using your card. You will need cash often as many places are cash only, especially if you are making "small purchases". Most machines will allow 250€ withdrawal at a time.

I always take a few hundred euros with me purchased from my local HSBC bank. Sometime ago I decided that I don't like to depend on airport ATMs or cambios which are always a little too exposed for comfort. And I don't like to waste time looking for an ATM when I want to just get into a cab and get downtown. The rate for using my local bank is a little more expensive than I might get from a bank ATM in Europe but the convenience factor makes it worth it.
Incidentally I have a Capital One card for most purchases abroad, which so far does not charge me the usual 3% fee for each transaction. This helps offset the few extra dollars I spend buying currency here.

I don't like to depend on airport ATMs or cambios which are always a little too exposed for comfort.


What do you mean?

You are likely tired after a long flight,standing in the middle of a group of strangers entering your card's pin number and taking cash from a machine. If that doesn't make you uncomfortable you're not being wary enough.

I always use airport ATMs and use the same procedure that I use at every ATM. I press the pin numbers on the keypad while covering what I'm doing with my other hand so no one can see what numbers I'm entering.

There should not be a group of strangers at an ATM...everyone waiting should be behind you and a little ways back out of courtesy. If someone is next to the ATM just wave them away and if they won't move away then do not use that ATM or wait a few minutes until they move.

There's nothing any different from taking money out of a machine at the airport than in my everyday life. Do you usually have your friends around you when you take out cash at home?

yeah, I agree, I use ATMs at airports etc and am very wary. First, as adrienne said, you are NOT in the middle of a group of strangers. If you are (people crowding around you), don't use it. Has never happened to me, but if someone comes up next to you at an ATM, sure, don't do it. I am tired, but adrenaline sort of wakes me up and I'm not catatonic. I am always very careful and shield my hand while inputting the PIN (in case of cameras but that isn't likely to happen in an airport, thieves who install those do it outside).

If someone thinks ATMs at airports are too exposed, I presume they never use one on a public street.

IN fact, I would bet using an ATM at an airport is a lot more secure than using one in a city on the street. I met an older man in Marseille who was robbed at an ATM on one of the main streets in the day time, but he was not being careful and let people distract and bother him (I hate to say it, but he was quite older, also, so people can take advantage of them more easily). I think they stole his card from his hand or something while distracting him. He was doing it in a very public area where I wouldn't though, I knew where he was.

I always prefer to land with one or 2 hundred euros on me. I am quite happy to pay the but extra to my bank before I leave so I can get out of the airport as fast as possible after landing.

Airports are bad enough and there's nothing you can do about the long waits now needed to depart... but I refuse to hang about once I've landed! ;^)

Not enough coffee yet this morning... should be
'pay the BIT extra'....

There is nothing wrong with getting 100-200 euros from your home bank before you depart - sounds like you understand the cost and don't mind spending a little $. Not an issue.

Where the dialog here on Fodors gets rancorous is when someone claims that it's "free" or tries to convince others they're buying euros in the US because financially it's the best way.

<<You are likely tired after a long flight,standing in the middle of a group of strangers entering your card's pin number and taking cash from a machine. If that doesn't make you uncomfortable you're not being wary enough.>>

Huh? What group of strangers are you talking about? I've never encountered a "group of strangers" at an airport ATM that's any different from the folks who might be hanging around an ATM anywhere in the USA where I might be taking out money. Jetlag doesn't make me comatose or unwary of my surroundings, either. I'm ALWAYS alert to what's going on around me, whether I'm jetlagged or not (and I think jetlag is overrated - I am frequently just as tired when not traveling). That said, I usually arrive with some currency left over from a previous trip, so don't need to use an ATM, but when I do, it's a pretty easy, normal transaction and not something to get stewed about.

If you want to get some currency before your trip, that's fine too, but you definitely will pay more for it.

I have sent the following to others before:

I've always stopped at the first ATM I find after getting into the terminal from an international flight no matter where in the world I am. I've never had a problem (well once on Bali when the machine ate my card - on Friday afternoon, no less - but it was my own fault because I failed to remove the card fast enough ((remove the card as soon as possible - I was counting my money when the machine sucked my card back in)). And more inconvient, we were leaving the next morning. Fortunately, my travelling companion had a card and we used hers. Whew). At any rate, I have checked with my bank and I get the best rate at the ATM whereever I am. It is VERY inconvient to try to change traveller's checks and you do not want to carry whole bunchs of money from the US. Money changers, well you've heard about them. Not quite as bad as Shylock, even in Venice, but very costly. I always take my maximum $400, (converted to the local monetary unit) because even though there is a usage fee, it is per transaction and not related to the amount you take. Have a great trip. We will be in Venice in late September and even though I have been there often in the past, I always get excited when I go. As others have said, there is no such thing as getting to know Venice even if you literally live there