Best way to obtain foreign currency when traveling?
I’ve been told that while traveling overseas the best exchange rate and easiest access to foreign currency is to use an ATM, and that even with bank fees and conversion % ($2 and 3% respectively), it is still the optimal method. My question is, are there any places within the United States online or not, that offer rates similarly to that of foreign ATMs? Most places I have found are anywhere from a 7 – 10% increase on the foreign conversion rate [found on XE], plus shipping fees. Or is it easier to just get money out at an ATM upon arrival and not take any with you? I am also curious as to what markup is typically present at ATMs when compared to XE values.
I will be traveling to London and most of Europe, including Switzerland and Czech Republic. So I know that I will need at least 4 currencies. I would just like to minimize fees as much as possible especially since I will be dealing with $2000 to $3000. I’d like to avoid giving banks free money as much as possible!
I have a capital one credit card that has 0% on all fees, which I intend to use for most all purchases, and hopefully have access to my online account sometime to pay it all off every week or so. That will likely drive down the amount of money I need to take out a lot, but there are still a lot of places that will not accept Visa that only cash will do. I am not comfortable giving my credit card to restaurants where it will be taken out of my sight when on vacation, so I will still need a fair amount of cash.