Most ATMs in Europe (and in my experience elsewhere in the world) do not charge a fee for withdrawals by non-customers, unlike many/most ATMs in the US. The bank that issues the card (i.e. your bank) may well charge a fee, and if you plan frequent travel you may wish to open an account somewhere that does not. Even if your bank charges at the upper end of fees, as long as you keep the number of transactions small this is still likely to be a far better option than anything stateside. Even the 2-3% commission you will likely pay on credit card transactions is not a bad deal; any transactions with credit/debit/ATM cards are made over a wholesale interbank rate, whereas cash you obtain from a bank/exchange point in the US or Europe will be at retail rates--which have their own built-in commission even before service fees and commissions are applied to the specific transaction.

Most major European airports have ATMs in the arrival halls, though I did once get caught at BLQ when one ATM was out of order and the other was out of cash, with no other options on Sunday. Fortunately (?) an exchange machine was happy to happy to exchange my £20 note for eur 28, enough to cover bus fare into th city (and a functioning ATM).