Exchanging Money USD to GBP and Euro
 

I'm wondering where I can exchange my money and get the best deal. I would need to exchange for GBP and Euro's as we will be in London, Paris and Rome. Should we do here prior to departing or wait till we get to the cities?

THANK YOU!

Have you heard of ATM machines? That's it!

Curious

Curious beat me to it. You don't want to <i>exchange</i> anywhere. Just use your ATM card. In London the machines will issue &pound;, and in Paris/Rome they will give you &euro; . . . . .

I usually exchange a minimum amount at home just to cover the taxi to the hotel, and maybe a quick bite. I use the local AMEX office for that.

Other than that, I withdraw from ATMs or use credit cards overseas while in the different countries.

Do NOT exchange money. Aside from the obvious risks of carrying large amount of cash it's a complete waste of time and money,

Charge everything you can on your credit cards. Use your ATM card to pull a small amount of cash for walking around money.

If you're uncomfortable arriving with no pounds just change $50 at the bureau de change in the departure airport. The rate will be awful, but for so little money it really doesn't matter.

Additionally, there are ATMs in all the airports and train stations, in addition to banks in the cities, towns, villages. Just stop at one when you arrive.

Thank you all for the helpful information! I will definitely use the ATM machines and credit cards (I have a capitalone card and checked, they don't charge any fees for international use).

Well, in years past recommending ATM's was the way to go, BUT banks are ratcheting up the fees. It seems now to be a growing trend.

Dear ole Bank of America for example has initiated a practice of soaking the faithful with a $5.00 fee per whack for any off-net ATM usage.

If you are using a BofA ATM card AND go to Barclays Bank, you are not charged a fee because it is correspondent bank.

There is also a correspondent for France, too: BNP Paribas.
There is not one listed for Italy.

In an effort to avoid the $5.00 fee I got a card from a local credit union to use in Switzerland, but even though it was a Master Card issue, the $#%%$ thing did not work and, being an unlucky B of A card holder, I had to pay the $5.00. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

So I now have an account at Fidelity Investments with a cash-yielding piece of plastic. Getting the card did require that I have a core account that draws interest, and that is an added obstacle for some people.

Capital One has a cash account option, too, as well as a no extra fee credit card.

If you have a fee-hungry ATM card, investigate correspondent banks or take steps to use another financial institution.