Best way for spending in Spain

meishka

But is it best to do a one off transfer to euros of say £1000 in Wise then you pay directly in euros with your card? Is that cheaper?

eDicky

meishka said:

But is it best to do a one off transfer to euros of say £1000 in Wise then you pay directly in euros with your card? Is that cheaper?

In general, no, because of the % fee charged by Wise for the conversion. However, this could be offset if you happen to exchange when the rate is significantly better than at the time of using a GBP MasterCard while in Spain. But if you had the ability for such FX prediction you'd be too wealthy to worry about your spending method...

greyteam1959

Even when using a Wise debit card on your Wise euro account you can still be asked if you want to pay in Euro or GBP 

Doshwaster

greyteam1959 said:

Even when using a Wise debit card on your Wise euro account you can still be asked if you want to pay in Euro or GBP 

Yes, the terminal often detects the nationality of the card rather than the currency loaded so if you setup a Euro account on your Starling card and set the default currency to Euro then you can still be offered a choice of currencies to pay in.

NoodleDoodleMan

"Currensea card is good for withdrawing cash (free at Banca March) or paying in shops etc.  It links to any current account. ."

BancaMarch have an online ATM/Branch finder.

https://www.bancamarch.es/en/branches-and-atms/

They have a presence in several areas, however not as many branches as Banco Santander.

"You might consider identifying a bank that does not charge for cash withdrawals, and then paying for everything in cash Euro."

Not many banks in Spain now offering fee free GBP to Euro cash withdrawals.

Apart from Banco Santander as previously mentioned, the only other that I've seen is BancaMarch - Deutche Bank  also, however their presence is fewer and further apart in my experience.

Doshwaster

Unicaja Banco are also free for cash withdrawals as long as you ignore their kind offer of doing the conversion at "guaranteed" rates.

Voyager2002

NoodleDoodleMan said:

"Currensea card is good for withdrawing cash (free at Banca March) or paying in shops etc.  It links to any current account. ."

BancaMarch have an online ATM/Branch finder.

https://www.bancamarch.es/en/branches-and-atms/

They have a presence in several areas, however not as many branches as Banco Santander.

"You might consider identifying a bank that does not charge for cash withdrawals, and then paying for everything in cash Euro."

Not many banks in Spain now offering fee free GBP to Euro cash withdrawals.

Apart from Banco Santander as previously mentioned, the only other that I've seen is BancaMarch - Deutche Bank  also, however their presence is fewer and further apart in my experience.

I found Deutsche Bank in the fairly remote spot where I was staying, and they did exactly what I needed.

NoodleDoodleMan

Experiences clearly vary.

NoodleDoodleMan

Doshwaster said:

Unicaja Banco are also free for cash withdrawals as long as you ignore their kind offer of doing the conversion at "guaranteed" rates.

 Unicaja's version of "With Conversion" option ?

Doshwaster

NoodleDoodleMan said:

Doshwaster said:

Unicaja Banco are also free for cash withdrawals as long as you ignore their kind offer of doing the conversion at "guaranteed" rates.

 Unicaja's version of "With Conversion" option ?

Something like that. I'm sure most regular and MSE-savvy travellers will be fine but the language used by these machines is deliberately confusing so is sure to catch some people out.  The ATM rates can be up to 30% different to the Interbank ones.