Thanks for that, Tony. You have made me reconsider my plans. I have had some folks tell me to go "half and Half" (cash and debit card), but I certainly trust your judgment.

My debit card is going to charge $5.00 to withdraw money plus a 3% conversion fee. That doesn't seem too steep, I guess and I assume it may be better than the rate we would get changing dollars to Euros in the banks?

We have one set of credit cards that charge no conversion fees at all and we will be primarily using them for purchases, but not cash advances.

Thanks for the insight!

Mark

Banks will charge Commision and give a slightly lower exchange rate than ATM's transactions so you will still be better off paying your bank the charges. Take money out in reasonable amounts (250-300 at a time) to reduce the amount of transactions. But be aware if you are heading for the west Clare/Burren coast ATM's are a bit sparce.

This is an interactive Map of Ennis so you can zoom in to see Bank Place and O'Connell Street.  Be aware that Ennis operates a one way system designed by some egit who has never driven a car.  The map does not show the river but there is car parking on Wood and Harveys Quay and to the left of where the location Pin is another car park, you will need a couple or three 1euro coins for this so buy a newspaper at the airport (Clare People is the local rag).

http://www.irelands-directory.com/Clare/Ennis/maps.html

Anything else just ask.

On our Aug 2009 trip to Ireland, we checked a few days ahead of time on the internet for the exchange rate at PDX, and JFK, and then checked again in person. Their exchange rate was terribly high. We checked again at Shannon Airport, and while it wasn't as bad as in the US, it was still plenty high. A customs agent told us the best bet  was to exchange money at a "major" Irish Bank.

We carried about $2000 cash ($1000 each) with us for that trip. I guess I am just anal about the possibility of something happening to the plastic and not having money. At any rate, we were advised NOT to take $100 dolllar bills....they are easy to counterfiet, and many banks are hesitant or  flat refuse to take them. We were advised to take the pinkish-red colored $50 dollar bills, printed after 2004.  We each took 20-$50's and made sure we got the new crisp ones and they took up very little room in our moneybelts.

Today, I dug out the reciepts for that trip, and we ended up changing $1,395.00 US dollars in 5 different transactions at Allied Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland, and National Irish Bank. After all the fees were deducted amounting to 9.90 Euros (appr $14.45) we ended up with 916 Euros, which computes to an average of $1.459 per Euro after fees. During the same time period, we withdrew 410 Euros from ATMs using our debit card. The atm  transaction fees ($1 each) showed up separate on our bank statement and were returned to us by our bank as per our debit card/account agreement. This computed to $1.437 per Euro. The difference was 2.2 cents per Euro, or about $20.00 total for all 5 transactions...to exchange currency in the bank versus getting it out of the ATM.

The exchange rate last week was $1.41 by CC on a guided bus tour our friends booked out of Cork City, so the exchange rate is a little less today than when we went in 2009. Hope this is helpful to see what it might cost you in dollars to exchange at the banks vrs the ATM. Definitely stay away from the exchange booths at the airports if at all possible, because if I remember correctly they were charging 10 to 15 cents more per Euro than what the bank did.

Of course there is risk involved in carrying that much cash, and also risk using plastic in light of card readers attached to ATM machines, or an ATM eating your card and not giving it back.  We ALWAYS try to use an ATM affixed to a bank...and only during business hours in case it takes our card.  We felt that the cash was very secure in our money belts right next to our passports, esp in Ireland.  We  pay for all our B&B with Euros in Cash, our hotels, meals, and gifts using CC charged in Euros NOT dollars, and we pay for pints, snacks, and entry fees and incidentals with cash. For our upcoming trip starting  March 26, we intend to take about $1500 each in cash.

We did remeber to bring home about 50 Euros last time, so will have some seed money in our pocket to start off this trip.  We arrive on a Sunday and if we need more than 50 Euros for the day, we could stop by an ATM in Dublin.  Otherwise we will wait till Monday to find a bank.

Dan

I'll add that if you're going the ATM route, stick to the ones associated with a bank. Some of the commercial ATMs in petrol stations, pubs and shops have higher transaction fees.

Corey,

Good tip. ATMs outside of banks are becoming more popular. But you never know what they might be charging. Always best to stick with the banks.

Michele