As much as people like to decry EU bureaucracy, I will thank them forever for putting the banks in line in the euro zone.

When the euro arrived, the banks wanted to maintain fees on eurozone transactions. They said things like "oh, we will lower the fees -- we will charge only 1% or 2% instead of 3%." The EU put its foot down and said that the whole point of the euro was to eliminate the fees because of the common currency and that no additional eurozone fees would be tolerated.

So, once you have an account in the eurozone, any transaction anywhere in the eurozone has the same fees as in your own eurozone country. France, for example, has no ATM fees and no fees for internet transfers, among other things. So from Portugal to Estonia, we just don't have to worry about it.

Anybody who comes to Europe (at least the eurozone) on a regular basis would probably find it extremely beneficial to open a local account.