Euro rate at moment.

I took out 200€ on Monday at the MB at Intermarche next to the Arte bar, I have been charged £169.43 which is a rate of 1.1804, this was using a Halifax Clarity card.

According to Currencies Direct the exchange rate on that day was 1.1869 so I got only just over half a cent below the daily rate and in my experience that is quite usual for it to be just half a cent or so less.

Well done pyrman and good advice about not accepting the conversion. 

The rate on the Multibanco machine is determined by the card though not the machine. Cheapest way to get Euros when in PT is to use a credit card that has no Foreign Transaction fee and uses the Visa/Mastercard closing daily Euro exchange rate. This rate gives an almost identical rate to the quoted rates that you see in papers etc, usually only half a euro cent lower. Best examples of these cards are Halifax Clarity and Barclaycard Rewards, the latter also gives 0.25% cashback on Euro purchases. Then pay off the credit card amount a day later when you know the amount. This assumes you have online banking and card apps on your phone, tablet or laptop.

As pyrman says never accept the conversion rate which will often cost you 10% and never use the ATM Euronet cash machines (blue) as they charge a fixed fee of 3.99 no matter how much you withdraw. So only use the Multibanco ATM machines which are usually yellow/orange and charge no additional fees other than your card provider's.

**I am not a qualified Financial advisor, this post does not constitute Financial advice. You need to accept personal responsibility for all your own decisions.