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I'm travelling to Glasgow and I am looking for the place with the best rates. I want to change EUR to GBP.

I've been searching on the Internet but I can't find what is the best way to do it. Some people say that the better way to do this is to exchange the money directly at the Bank of Scotland. I've been looking for the exchange rates of the Bureaux but I didn't find them.

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    I find the best exchange rates on the high street in the UK. Bureau de changes in Marks & Spencers, the Post Office or some Travel Agents compete against each other. I am not aware of exchanging money directly at banks.
    – medina
    Nov 18, 2014 at 14:06
  • @pnuts Good to know for the future!
    – medina
    Nov 18, 2014 at 14:15
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    related: travel.stackexchange.com/questions/14334/…
    – Dirty-flow
    Nov 18, 2014 at 14:20
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    According to this post tripadvisor.com/…
    – JCalcines
    Nov 18, 2014 at 20:07
  • I work in a bank - you'll get better rates at the money changers. Nov 19, 2014 at 6:27

1 Answer 1

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In the uk you can usually exchange currencies in most major banks, lloyds, nat west, hsbc, royal bank of Scotland. However from personal experience the rates are not competitive.

I have found that travel agents (Thomas Cook, and Thomson/first choice/tui) and marks and spencer department stores with buearax de change in them offer a better rate than the banks, and are usually close in rate to each other.

Larger department stores in bigger towns and cities may offer the option to buy in foreign currency, some marks and Spencer's definitely do, but the rate will not be to your benefit.

In larger towns some supermarkets such as Asda tescos and Sainsburys now also have exchange beaurax

The best rates in my home town can be found in a couple of money lending / pawn / cash converter shops, in particular for euros and U.S. dollar exchange.

You can change money at most post offices in the uk but there are some limits. There are several types of post office, and in smaller local 'sub' post offices you can only exchange euros and dollars, larger main or 'crown' post offices are likely to offer a fuller service, and the rate is normaly a few pennies better than the smaller ones.

There is a website rue by a uk financial advice guru called Martin Lewis

http://travelmoney.moneysavingexpert.com

You Imput the amount you want to exchange, and it will provide you with a table showing the best rates. if you are changing euros to gbp then you need to use the buyback option.

It also sometimes has downloadable codes / vouchers to get a slightly better rate (often if you are exchanging a higher amount of currency)

Final point. The most expensive place to change money is at the airport. The rates offered are often attriocious, due to having a captive audience.

Enjoy your trip.

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