I haven’t been to Europe since they adopted the Euro as the common currency. I would imagine that the once ubiquitous currency exchange shops are now much less in evidence. I never used them much anyway, since I had always thought I was getting a better deal by using credit cards, which were purported to convert at the “true” rate. Now the cards all seem to tack on a 2 to 3% fee on purchases made in a foreign currency.
Are there any cards that don’t charge such a fee, or is there a better alternative to credit cards these days? Since I always pay off in full every month, the credit card interest rate isn’t a factor for me.
I believe that most ATM cards convert at the true rate. The disadvantage is that you have to pay a surcharge to one or more banks for using one abroad. That effect can be minimized by taking out as much as you can (and need) when you use one.
I just got back from Europe last week. I took both Euro cash and Euro travellers’ cheques with me. When I got down to my last 50 Euros in cash, I went into a casino and cashed a couple of travellers’ cheques. I did this each time I got down around the 50 Euro mark. The casinos don’t charge anything to cash travellers cheques because they assume you’re going to be spending the money in their establishments. I also used an ATM on the last day and did not pay anything more than the customary withdrawal fee I pay at home (in Canada). The only problem I had was in the UK - upon check-in, I pre-paid 2 nights accomodation in an hotel using my Visa and when we saw the room we decided that it wasn’t acceptable. My Visa account was credited approx. 15 minutes after the charge had gone through. The statement arrived yesterday and indicated an exchange rate of $2.23 for the debit and $2.11 for the credit. Not a believable difference for 15 minutes - watch the exchange rates on your statements.
When I’m abroad (out of Europe, that is), I prefer using ATMs and withdrawing a larger sum at once. I pay a fixed fee for using the ATM (probably around five euros) plus the fee for international transactions on the credit card (I always assumed that the common fee was 1 %, not 2 or 3 as you say, but I can be wrong here), but this is more than balanced by the fact that this will get you the “true” exchange rate on inter-bank transactions, which is always better than the rates for changing cash. I usually withdraw one large sum for the variety of small everyday transactions and use creitd cards in hotels, stores, restaurants, etc - this way, I don’t have that much of a risk of changing too much cash, with the excess lying around at home idly after returning because it’s not enough to be worth changing back.
Traveller’s Cheques are fine too, but I don’t see true advantages compared to credit cards - the costs are about the same, and if you pay attention and cancel your card quickly enough after theft or loss, they’re not really that much more secure (at least that’s my impression - I’ve never been in a situation where it was necessary to cancel the card).