Greece is one of about 30 European countries that uses the Euro as currency. You may get better deals when working with cash rather than your debit or credit card with merchants, but you'll have to ask nicely for a discount for cash, its unlikely to be just given !
Also - you will be charged less of a transaction fee if you withdraw Euro’s from the numerous ATM machines (that can easily be found in any of the towns/cities in Greece) rather than credit card transactions (which can charge a 3% transaction fee or more for foreign purchases). Note that in general, you will get a slightly better exchange rate if you buy something directly with a credit card, rather than with cash taken from an ATM. Make sure when taking your credt card or debit card abroad, to tell your bank/credit card supplier you will be doing this, so that they dont stop your card because it looks like fraud. And its always a good idea to have a second card as a spare just in case. For U.S.A travellers, note that PINs in Europe are 4 numeric digits only, if you have a 6 digit PIN, change it to 4 numeric before you leave.
Either credit card or debit card will be substantially better (perhaps as much as 10%) than with cash that originated via Travellers Checks. If you change TC's at hotels or shops (for the few shops that will do this) there will be a charge and usually a poor exchange rate. Even for Euro TC's, there is nearly always a charge, dont exect to get 100 Euros when you hand over a 100 Euro TC. Maybe you'll get 95 - 97.
Greek banks have limited hours: Monday-Thursday from 8:00 AM - 2:30 PM and Friday from 8:00 AM - 2:00 PM. Some branches are open extra hours in the evenings and on Saturday mornings. It’s important to bring your passport and patience, as you’ll undoubtedly experience at least one long line. Larger hotels, travel agencies and “authorized” bank agents will exchange money, but beware the extra fees and commissions. Travelers’ checks and small-denomination foreign-bank notes are the safest forms of money to carry.
N.B. Many smaller less visited Greek islands will not have an ATM or if there is one sometimes it will not be working, so take sufficient funds in cash with you or withdraw when you have the opportunity in case it runs out later. Larger, or the more visited "touristic" islands, will always have several ATMs but its always a good idea to withdraw cash when you can rather than leave it until later.
Also, airports do not neccessarily have ATMS in them (Kos being an example) so make sure you either know where to go to get cash when you arrive, or that you have enough on you for your arrival.
The site of each bank has a page where you can look up for their ATM network or for their branches. So find below the links that will take you to this page of each bank, starting from the major ones:
- National Bank of Greece -General address: www.nbg.gr
Bottom right of the page there is a box saying service points where you can search for ATMs: http://www.nbg.gr/wps/portal/!ut/p/c1...
You can also search for branches in Greece or outside Greece. - ALPHA BANK - Address for ALPHA BANK is www.alpha.gr
Click on the drop down menu “Quick Links” there is an option saying ATM search. It will take you to the page where you can search for the ATM either by Prefecture or by Post Code: http://www.alpha.gr/tools/eatms.asp - Piraeus Bank - Address: www.piraeusbank.gr
You can change the language to English by clicking on the link at the bottom right corner of the page (It may take some time to find it as it is not at the top). There is a link saying “Branches,Kiosk, ATMs” which will take you here: http://www.piraeusbank.gr/ecPage.asp?... You can search for what you want using a map which is much easier since you don’t have to know the prefecture. - EFG Eurobank - Address : www.eurobank.gr
http://www.eurobank.gr/online/home/ - This will take you to points of presence where you can check ATM locations. - AGRICULTURAL BANK or ATE BANK (ΑΓΡΟΤΙΚΗ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ) - Address: www.ate.gr
Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be an English version where you can search for ATM network even though they have a page for this in the Greek version. So if you are in Greek page click on “Δίκτυο ΑΤΜ” and it will take you to a map of Greece http://www.atebank.gr/ATEbank/QuickLi... . From there you can search by pointing over the area you want but everything will be in Greek.
Lastly, if you wish just to check ATM locations for Visa or Mastercard then you can use the following links
VISA - http://visa.via.infonow.net/locator/g...
MasterCard -http://www.mastercard.com