Hi all...we are taking the Eurostar from London to Bruges (via Brussels), and have read two posts that confirm there isn't an ATM at the Bruges train station. I went to the VISA ATM locator and couldn't find one at Brussels Midi either. SO...what is the cheapest way to get a handful of euros, enough to get us a taxi from the train station to our Bruges holiday flat? Are there Euro-dispensing ATMs at Waterloo Intl or other parts of London? Should we get some at Heathrow after we land (I already have £££ in hand)? Many thanks...can't wait, we leave in 8 days!!!

ATM machines are ubiquitous. There are surely dozens in Brugge. It is a major tourist place. Bring some extra greenbacks anyway just in case.

Actually, hopscotch, ATM machines are NOT ubiquitous in Brugge--IMHO this is one area in which the city falls down on its tourist services. There are several ATMs, but as is the case with many Belgian banks, they are for their customers only. You have to look for ATMs with a MisterCash/Bancontact logo. There is one on the Grote Markt, but be advised. It runs out of money frequently, especially on Saturday evenings. Your best best is to get some Euros in advance (before your trip) or exchange some pounds at Waterloo, but the exchange rate is not the greatest. Then try your luck at one of the Brugge MisterCash machines. Go around noon or so for best chance for a machine that has been freshly loaded with cash. The max withdrawal, FYI, is either 500 or 600 euros.
With any luck, you can find a Fortis bank outlet in Brugge with a non-customer machine. They have the most advanced ATMs--allowing you to select the denomination of the bills. (The machine default function is to give you almost all 50 euro notes, but you can request 20s).
BTilke (Brussels)

I seem to recall a bank or an ATM at the train station in Brugge.

Can anyone confirm this?

Incidentally, two years ago we switched our Visa ATM/debit cards with our Bank of America to ATM cards only, without a Visa logo. This was done at the urgings of postings here, ranting about how much safer it was to travel with an ATM card that wasn't a debit card. The only down side was that those cards would not work at any ATMS we found in Belgium -- Brugge, Antwerp, or Brussels, and we tried dozens. The bottom line we found out via a bank in Brugge is that virtally ALL Belgium ATM's are part of a network owned or controlled by Visa and cards that are not part of a Visa network do not work -- even though you are attempting to withdraw funds from your own bank and not borrow from Visa like you would if it were a credit card. Fortunately one of our party still had a Visa linked ATM/debit card and she became the money provider of that entire portion of our trip. This did not happen in any other country -- only in Belgium.

In June 2003 we used our bank ATM card, not a VISA ATM (and not a debit card...I don't trust them even at home)card all over Belgium and France with absolutely not one problem. They may have changed their system since you were there, Patrick.

Are there ATM's at the airport in Brussels? I would have assumed so, but thought I'd better ask after hearing there aren't any at the train station and not many in Brugge. Need to know whether to take enough euros with us for two - three days in Brugge or can we count on getting euros at the airport before taking the train to Brugge?

Pre-euro (so this was 2001?) I know there were neither banks nor ATMs in Bruges, because we didn't have anything but french francs once we got to Bruges and had to walk to town since we couldn't pay for bus or taxi (and the train station is a ways away from town). I'd get a few euros wherever you can before you leave London.

wow...i didn't expect this kind of a response! here's what i do know...my ATM card had a PLUS logo on the back, which means i can withdraw money through the Visa/Plus ATM network, "more than 855,000 ATMs in 149 countries, the largest, most advanced global network." (see http://www.visadps.com/prod-plusatm.html for details). so I'm not concerned. i did a search through Visa's global atm locator, and Fortis Bank ATMs are all over Bruges, so they should take my ATM (not debit!) card. BTilke, thanks for your advice on the best times to go to the ATMs, although mid-week in March should pose no problems, right? still, no confirmation on ATMs at Brussels Midi or Bruges station? and would i get a better exchange rate at Heathrow T3 or Waterloo?

Hi,

I was pretty interested in the answer to this as we leave for Brussels and Bruge next Thurs. I went to the Brussels aiport website and they say there are ATM machines and a bank at Arrivals.

I have an ATM card (not debit) and have used it all over the world wherever there was a Cirrus or Plus logo . . . I'm hoping mine's going to work at the Brussels airport!

Sandy (in Denton)

sandy b - please post when you return and let us know about the ATM machines at the airport, etc. Also, hope you will post a trip report!

AFAIK there are no ATMs inside Brussels Midi station. But if you cross the road, you soon come to several bank branches with 24-hour ATMs.

Sandy, I'm curious. Does your ATM only card have a visa or mastercard logo on it? If not, I strongly suspect it won't work in Belgium. Let us know if it does or doesn't. As I mentioned above, neither of ours would work there even with Cirrus or Plus signs on the card and on the ATM. Belgium is the only country in Europe (and I've used my ATM card A LOT) where this happened.

I just got out my ATM card to take a look . . . it does not have the Visa or MC logo . . . only words pulse and cirrus on the back.

It worked in Nicaragua (and Vietnam, China, India to name a few unlikely places) . . . can't imagine that it would not work in Belgium!

We send email reports from the road so I should be able to tell you pretty soon after we get there if it works or not. There are 3 of us going and we have a variety of cards so something should work (we hope).

Sandy (in Denton)

Sandy b and blh there is a bank and ATM right outside the bag claim area at Brussels airport easy to find. ATM card (cirrus plus) worked fine at the airport and Brugge. Brugge train station has no ATM in Pre-euro days ticket office would exchange currency this practice has been discontinued.

Sandy, I could be wrong, but it seems to me if it has a Visa logo on it, it isn't really at ATM only card. You could use it as a credit card or at least a debit card, and you could certainly "borrow" money on it from Visa. I don't think you'll have a problem in that case. When I switched my Bank of America card from at ATM/debit which had a Visa logo on it, to an ATM card only, that's when the Visa logo disappeared, and why it wouldn't work in Belgium.

A VISA/Mastercard debit card (aka check card) is just that - a way to tap into your bank account. You can't borrow money from it.

The difference between such card and a regular ATM card (with no VISA/MC logo), is that the VISA/MC one can be accepted at most merchants that take VISA/MC credit cards - like a restaurant. You can't use your standard bank ATM card at a restaurant.

Any card with the Cirrus or Plus logo should be accepted at any ATM that displays the Cirrus or Plus logo. And therefore a Belgian ATM with those logo should take the Cirrus/Plus ATM. I say ***should*** as it seems like it's not always the case, as stated in this thread.

If you're British, you'll get a perfectly good rate on Euros in London. If you're not, you won't.

Almost nowhere in the world lets you change money between two foreign currencies: you almost always have to go through the local currency.

If an American, in this case, wants to get Euros in Britain , she'll have to carry out two transactions: dollars to pounds, then pounds to Euros. Or draw pounds from an ATM, and then get them converted. In each case, banks take their cut on both transactions.

Now you may well prefer to know you've got Euros in your pocket before leaving yourself to the mercies of Belgian ATMs. But, as a percentage of the transaction, the banks will be taking a lot of those Euros off you if you buy them in London with dollars.

flanneruk, luckily I will arrive at LHR with about £300 in cash from a previous visit. so where's the best place to convert pounds to euros? i seem to remember hearing that Marks & Spencer's Bureau de Change has a very good exchange rate with no transaction fee. Any others? I would imagine I'll do better in town than I will at LHR. We'll be staying the night near Russell Square, then off to Bruges the next morning.

"Any card with the Cirrus or Plus logo should be accepted at any ATM that displays the Cirrus or Plus logo. And therefore a Belgian ATM with those logo should take the Cirrus/Plus ATM. I say ***should*** as it seems like it's not always the case, as stated in this thread."

Yes, that is true, it won't work. As I may have not made clear above, when we couldn't get our Cirrus/Plus cards to work in ANY ATM in Belgium, and we tried plenty of them, I entered a bank and tried to get money on it that way. That's when a manager talked to me and explained that Belgium banks have this unique deal with Visa that forbids their machines to take strictly ATM cards that don't have a credit card/debit card feature with them. Now in all honesty that was in 2002, so it is possible that it has changed, but I'd be surprised.