ATM Availability?

[Portia1]

I know there are lots of ATMs on the France Route but what about this one? Can I count on easy access to ATMs in all but the smallest towns? Is there a summary as there is for the French Route with availability of banks, ATMs, and hostals by town? Many thanks.

 

[oursonpolaire]

I'm not sure which route you're referring to, but my experience of western Europe is that every town has ATMs all over the place-- I have the impression that they are more common than they are in North America, but I could be wrong. I have passed through Spanish villages without cafés (rare, but it happens) which had ATMs. One more frequently sees small villages in France without ATMs.

The only exception I have seen is the stretch on the Camino Francese between Astorga and Ponferrada which, curiously, had no ATMs even as recently as 2009.

 

[jeff001]

You won't go more than a day or 2 at most without finding an ATM.

 

[chrisinvermont]

June and I walked from Porto last September and found ATMs all along the way. We did have a few problems with our credit cards in some places (at Hotel Do Terco in Barcelos, for example), They are not the "chip on board" type - just Visas from the US. So, we got in the habit of carrying enough cash for a day or two.
Chris

 

[Portia1]

Thanks, Chris. We are walking from Porto to Santiago in September. When I walked from SJPP to Santiago, I was able to mark on my map when I needed to be sure to draw money since I usually tried to stay in the smaller towns rather than large cities. This will be a much shorter Camino so we should be OK. Thanks for the information about the chipped cards. We recently discovered that our new cards were "chipped" and also the security risks with them as they can be "read" by others with a chip reader and then scammed. I carried my passport in a special envelope so the chip in it couldn't be read. Guess I will have to carry my credit card in a similar type envelope.

 

[Beverley]

Hi Portia, I did the CP from Porto to Santiago and back last September. ATMs are everywhere just like all the posts say I have just one thing to add. SOME ATMs only accept their cards. It happended to be in Spain and in Portugal. Do not worry. Around the corner or next door you will find one that will accept your card. You can do your banking in many languages and if the ATM doesn't take your card, it will tell you at the END of your transaction in English if that is the language you chose.
Re Visa cards. My experience has been that small stores will often tell you that your card isn't working. What is really going on is that it costs the shop keeper too much to make a transaction so they tell a little white lie. You likely will NOT be able to use your ATM card in a store so just thought I would add my 2 cents. (No charge :wink: )

 

[Kialoa3]

I had a recent bad experience in Spain with ATM withdrawals using my debit card. On three occasions the ATM would not process my requested withdrawal. As I recall the message on the screen was something like , we cannot process your request at this time. I thought that's odd but I'll try another machine. When I returned home I discovered about 800.00 USD had been debited from my account that I never received. I contacted my bank (Wells Fargo) and filed a claim for the money taken from my account. It was denied. This was my first experience with this sort of problem. My only advice is to contact your bank immediately if you have a failed transaction at any ATM. International 24 hour numbers are usually on the back of the card.

John

 

[lynnejohn]

That's disturbing! Anyone I know who has had an unauthorized withdrawal from their account has been compensated by the bank after a brief investigation (even my daughter who was at first told "you must have given your PIN to someone").

Is it just Wells Fargo, the time to report, or some other factor, do you think? I hate to think I would have to go to my bank account online frequently to ensure that this isn't happening. We've had this discussion here on the forum about the relative safety of internet cafes in Spain.

lynne

 

[lynnejohn]

Forgive me if this is redundant information, but it was new to me. Today I talked with my bank/credit card company to provide them details of my travels. They told me that I could save the $5 transaction fee on cash withdrawals by using ATMs in the Global ATM Alliance, of which my bank is a member. For Spain, I would have to find Barclays/Woolwich ATMs, which I remember seeing only in larger cities. Still, every little $5 is better in my pocket than the bank's.

I also found out they've added another element of security. In addition to dates and places, they asked what the maximum amount per day/per withdrawal I would be taking. So I just chose a realistic figure which will now make it impossible for anyone to withdraw more than that.

Here is the link and you can find out more about it, including if your bank is a member:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_ATM_Alliance

lynne

 

[Kialoa3]

Lynne,

I'm sorry but I don't have any answers to your questions. This is all new to me. I can only relate the experience I had and hope not to find myself in a similar situation again. The only way I know to be sure is to contact your bank if there is something odd going on with your ATM transaction.

John

 

[camino-david]

I walked the Caminol Frances last year and there are loads of ATMs. My card is a Westpac card which is a member of the Global Alliance so in theory I could make fee free withdrawalls from Barclays Banks in Spain. Unfortunately I didn't see a single Barclays ATM so used the Spanish banks and found the fee varied between $2 and $3 each time. I always carried at least 3 days worth of expenses in cash with me. I also have 2 cards in case of loss, or stoppages by my bank which have happened twice in previous years, once by a bank's mistake and once by fraud. If a withdrawal is stopped by the bank, contact your bank immediately - the number is on the back of your card so make a note of it. This is usually a toll free number.

 

[joeymello]

I just walked the camino portugues and only found ATMs in the bigger towns that was along the route. If you stay in albergues (many of them are new from 2010) it only costs 3-5 euros a night per person. If you go during off-season, I doubt the albergues will fill up on this route. For me, on average there were 6-8 other pilgrims staying at the same albergue I was staying in (and it can normally hold 40-60 people).