Returning to Carvoeiro on 28th June
Last year brought euro travellers cheques.
Whilst the main bank at the top of restaurent hill was charging an unearthly commission rate, the smaller bank down by the square
and the excursions booking shop were charging the far more reasonaable figure of 1 - 2%
Does anyone know if this is still the case.

On the topic of Travellers Cheques:

I went to the Going Places today to get some TCs for my hols in Turkey, £800 worth. They were charging 2%, £16. I thought, no way! I then went to the Post Office. Here they were charging 1.5%, £12. Again I thought, no way!

I finally ended up at the Halifax. 1%

Way to go, Halifax!

If you are staying somewhere with a safety deposit box - you can't do better than cold hard CASH - never yet had to pay a penny to change that - Portugal, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, USA, Gambia, etc

And three of those, can you guess which three, give you masses above the going rate for cash!

Forget the travellers cheques - just put loads of money in your current account and use the ATMs to get cash its cheaper.

Last year I just used the ATM but this year I am also taking t/cheques as a back up in case the machine gobbles your card for some reason or if it gets lost. A case of covering your rear end. I've got sterling cheques so if they are not used you can pay them back into your bank account just like ordinary cheques ( with no commision charges!). Enjoy Carvoeiro -- it's a great place... this will be my 4th year.

Well said Bica and Martin!

Bring your cash card and keep a few quid (Euros) in reserve in case the bank forgets to top up the machine OR the Lisbon-ites come down and raid the lot. In August you see trails of people going from ATM to ATM!

If I remember to speak to my old banking buddy I will shock the website with details of exactly how much dosh goes out of a bank ATM each weekend