Until you know the best banks to use and the ones to avoid, escaping ATM fees in Greece is a bit like a game of Russian Roulette. Depending on which bank you choose, the fee for making a cash withdrawal from an ATM in Greece can range from €2.00 to €3.00. Then again, if you choose the bank carefully, or just make a lucky choice, you can make a withdrawal without paying any charges at all.
When I first arrived in Athens, I tried to make a withdrawal, from an ATM owned by Piraeus Bank. The machine wanted to add a charge of €3. I don’t like paying to access my own money, so I cancelled the transaction and redeemed by card.
After a little wandering around I found an Attica Bank and the ATM dispensed the money I wanted without charging any extra fees at all. Guess which Bank’s ATMs I’ve been using ever since.
One day when the ATM outside the Attica Bank wasn’t working I had to go looking elsewhere. I went to Alpha Bank. The machine wanted to charge me €2.50 and a message on the screen informed me that this would be on top of any fees my own bank charged me (in my case zero). I cancelled the transaction and continued my search.
My next port of call was NGB (i-Bank). This time the ATM only wanted to hit me with a fee of €2.00. That’s a lower cash withdrawal fee than Piraeus Bank and Alpha Bank wanted to charge me, but I was still unwilling to pay it. Two or three euros here and there can add up to a lot of money by the end of the year. I work hard for my money. I’m not going to throw it away.
So, if you are visiting Greece and want to make a withdrawal from an ATM and avoid paying any fees at all, Attica Bank is the one to use.
UPDATE (January 2020)
If you check out the comments section below this post you will see Attica Bank now charges for withdrawals and there is no longer a way to avoid paying ATM fees in Greece. However, NBG is apparantely the best bank to use because its ATMs only charge €1.40 (Thanks for the info Alexandros 🙂 )
UPDATE (June 2020)
Apparently the best ATMs to use in Greece are the ones belonging to Optima Bank.
Panagiotis was kind enough to provide this information in a comment. Spyros also left a comment confirming he had made a cash withdrawal and did not have to pay any fees. Thanks for sharing guys 🙂
How to Avoid Fees from Your Own Bank When You Use an ATM in Greece
It’s also possible to avoid the ATM fees your own bank charges when you withdraw cash in Greece, or any other country of the world.
The trick is to open a Transferwise Multi-Currency Account and send the money to it first. The funds are there within a few minutes and you can then with withdraw the money using your Transferwise debit card.
I’ve been using my account for over a year—every week. It saves me a fortune on fees. Based on my own experience, I recommend the account 100%.
You can get more information about the Multi-Currency Account HERE
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Actually, I think that (at the time that I am writing this) there is a bank that has no fee per withdrawal from its ATMs. The bank is called Optima Bank, which was created in the summer of 2019.
Hi Panagiotis,
I think Optima Bank has been around longer than that. Are you sure there’s no fee? You have a Greek name, so I’m presuming you may be Greek and have a Greek bank account.That would probably make ATM fees less likely.
It’s usually foreign visitors who get the extra charges.
It would be great if Optima Bank doesn’t charge fees though. Judging by the other comments on this blog post, if there are no fees, Optima will be the only option for foreign visitors who want to avoid fees.
I did withdraw today from optima bank without charges
My account is Singaporean and I keep in it euros
When atm asked for currency conversion ( that was strange) I selected NO
Was happy to see no fees.
Cheers
Hi Spyros,
Thanks for sharing your experience. Your comment may help other people who visit Greece and want to avoid ATM fees. I’m going to update the blog post for people who don’t bother to scroll down and read the comments.
I’ll add to this – I also withdrew from Optima Bank today without any fees. UK account holder.
As Spyros said, do not accept the extortionate conversion rate
Further confirmation that Optima is a good bank to choose. That’s great news. When I return to Greece, I’ll know where to go. I’ll probably try a few other banks as well. Just in case there are any other options travelers need to know about.
Happy to help! I am not sure when this bank was officially created, but it is fairly recently that Optima has opened many branches in the Attica region. I do not have an account with this bank, but I tried with both a French and a Revolut card and both worked without any fixed fees (when you select a withdrawal in euros).
Thanks for the info Panagiotis
Bad news Attica started to charge foreign cards! 2.00€ is fee there is no free withdrawal in Greece anymore but good news is the other banks have changed the tariff by the time of writing this the cheapest is NBG 1.40€
Hi Alexandros,
That is indeed bad news. Thanks for letting me know and sharing the cheapest option. People may not be able to aviod the ATM fees in Greece anymore but at least they can reduce them.
The 2 to 3 Euro fee is nothing. What matters is the foreign conversion rate the bank uses to dispense cash.
Piraeus bank is the biggest thief of all. I have being charged nearly 10% for my ATM withdrawals using my US issued debit cards. Try Panellinia bank. They are very reasonable, of simply stay home
Hi Steven,
Those two and three euro fees all add up. Especially if you travel full-time like I do. Nobody should line the bank’s pockets if they don’t have to. I write posts like this to try and help people avoid the fees if they can and pay lower fees if they can’t.
Thanks for the tip about Panellinia bank. I may try that one next time I’m in Greece. If there are any fees though, I’ll stick with Attica Bank, presuming it’s still not charging any fees, that is.
I agree, the foreign conversion rates are always bad. You can save money by not accepting the offer of Dynamic Currency Conversion and letting your own bank sort out the conversion instead. You don’t have to let your own bank screw you on the conversion rate either. As I mentioned in the blog post, I use TransferWise instead. There are plenty of other similar services you can use instead.
Stay home? Where’s home? I’m a nomad. For me home is wherever I hang my hat. It’s easy to travel and pay little or no extra fees to access your money abroad. Nobody needs to stay “home” or anywhere else. Life is an open road.
But it is not just this fee, the ATMs in Greece seem to all take commission of around 5.5%. I checked four banks today. I will try Attica later.
Hi Mahlee,
Sometimes it can be hard to tell if the fees come from your own bank or the machine. The ATM usually just hits you with a set charge. You didn’t use dynamic currency conversion did you? Dynamic currency conversion is when the machine offers to do the conversion for you. It’s a trick by the banks do. The machine does the conversion at an ufavourable rate. It always costs you more. You need to select the option that shows you the amount in Euros.
Could you share locations for some of the attica atms? Can’t find them in the city on Google maps
Hi Dylan.
Sorry, I can’t help with that. I’m living in Spain at the moment. I left Greece earlier in the year. There are plenty of Attica ATMS in Athens though. I saw a lot but used to use the one in Dafni because that’s where I was living. The best thing to do is ask a local for directions. Alternatively, use the normal Google search engine and enter the search term “Attica Bank near me” then click on the options that provide directions.
Hi Alexander,
I’m happy to help. However, although Attica wasn’t charging ATM fees when I visited Greece earlier in the year, this may change in the future. I just went to one of my favorite ATMs in Spain and discovered the bank is now charging a €2 fee. I hope Attica remains fee free though. It’s very hard to find fee-free ATMs in Greece.
Really useful man. Thanks so much, going to be in Athens for a year and thought I would have to pay €3 on every transaction, you have saved me a lot of money. Very grateful.