Usually in foreign countries I just get money at an ATM, but I was recently in Canada and decided to follow the advice to just exchange money in the bank. What a mistake. If I had withdrewn money at an ATM from my credit union account, it would have cost me 1% plus $2 (from my credit union) + the ATM fee of $1-5. If I had withdrawn $300, the max at some ATMS, the effective rate would have been 2% - just over 3% depending, for a total charge of up to $10 or so. The bank's fees were nearly 10%, a total of around $30! They lowered the exchange rate to benefit themselves and then charged a whole bunch of random fees. The exchange rate that day was supposed to be about $1 US to .91 CAD, but I brought in $300 US and left with about $303 CAD, and that was after fighting to have some of the fees waived.

If I had to do it again, I would order some money from my credit union before I left and take it with me, and then I would see if I could do what I do in the US and get cash back grocery stores/drug stores to avoid ATM fees. If that didn't work, I would use an ATM. I will never use a bank again.