Originally Posted by Boofer
One note of caution - not sure where you're going in Europe, but I had some trouble with ATMs in France. First, at the CDG airport, especially in terminal 2A and 2C, there are only a few ATMs and they run out of cash quickly. ...
The other problem I had in France was a tough time finding an ATM that accepted my Amex card, which I use for cash when on company business. Don't know if that will translate to difficulty using your ATM card, but a word of caution nonetheless.
You'd think that a place like CDG and a city like Paris would be totally simple for using ATMs to get Euros.
I'd like to note that to buy a train ticket at CDG can be a frustrating exercise: the ticket vending machines do not accept swipe cards, which are the cards dominant in much of the world, except France (where chip cards are prevalent).
IIRC the ticketing machines often accept only coinage (I think the Euro note readers are frequently broken); and the surly shopkeeper near the vending machines refuses to sell cheap items where the sale would break large currency notes. Welcome to Paris!