Currency exchange: where to get the best rate

Before you fly, check three numbers on your bank's website or app: the foreign transaction fee on each card, the out-of-network ATM fee, and the daily withdrawal limit. A card with no foreign transaction fee and a generous limit turns every ATM into a cheap exchange office. Tell your bank you are travelling if it still asks, and set a travel notice in the app.

On arrival, take out a modest amount from a bank-branded ATM inside the terminal or a bank branch, not a stand-alone machine in a shop. Decline the conversion offer. If the machine asks whether to charge your home currency, choose the local one. Take the receipt.

During the trip, pay by card wherever the terminal is inside a shop or restaurant, and keep cash for markets, small cafés, taxis, tips and toilets. When you need more cash, use a bank ATM again rather than a currency kiosk. If you do want to change cash, compare at least three offices on the same street: rates differ by a percent or two within a hundred metres, and the one with the best posted rate sometimes hides a commission.

Before you leave, spend down your leftover notes or change them at a city office, not the airport. Coins are usually not exchangeable at all.

An ATM withdrawal takes about a minute once you are at the machine, plus the queue. A counter exchange at a bank can take 10–30 minutes with identification and paperwork. An exchange office is usually under five minutes. Card payments take seconds.

The cost is a percentage, not a flat price, so it scales with the amount. On a USD 500 withdrawal, a 3% markup is about USD 15; on a USD 50 withdrawal the same percentage is USD 1.50, but a fixed USD 5 ATM fee is 10% of that small sum. That is why fewer, larger withdrawals win.

Two fees stack on an ATM: the local operator's fee, which the machine usually shows before you confirm, and your own bank's fee, which you see later on the statement. Some banks refund the operator fee; most do not.

Some countries run a dual exchange rate, where the official rate and the market rate differ. Argentina has been the best-known example; rules there change often, so check current guidance before you travel rather than relying on an old blog post. In these places, using a card can give you the official rate while cash changes hands at another, and the legal position of street exchange varies.

A few destinations are effectively cash-only for visitors: parts of West and Central Africa, some Pacific islands, rural areas almost everywhere, and anywhere the card network is down. Carry enough local currency to cover a day or two, plus a reserve of US dollars or euros in clean, unmarked notes, which are widely accepted in tourist areas of many countries.

Countries with currency controls may limit how much local money you can take in or out, and may require you to declare large amounts of foreign cash at the border. Declaring is normal and free; failing to declare is what causes trouble.

If you are travelling to a country that uses a pegged or managed currency, the rate you see online may not be the rate you get, and the gap is usually in the provider's favour.

The table below ranks the common ways to get foreign money from cheapest to most expensive for a typical traveller. The order holds almost everywhere; the size of the gap changes with the currency and the country.

The pattern to remember: the further the money is from a bank and the closer it is to a tourist, the worse the rate. Airport arrivals, hotel lobbies, cruise terminals and border kiosks all sit at the expensive end for the same reason — you have no alternative at that moment.

The questions below cover the short answer, who this applies to, and the cost and timing of each option.

This page is general information about how exchange rates and card fees work, not financial advice. Rates, fees and currency rules change; check your own bank's fee schedule and your destination's official guidance before you travel. Last checked 2026-09.