Daniel

One figure circulates about Bali that is simply wrong: that BCA machines charge 5 percent. They do not. BCA charges foreign cards no fee at all — the 5 percent arises somewhere entirely different, and you decide whether to pay it. Understanding that difference saves more on a Bali trip than choosing the right bank

Vietnam has the widest scatter of any country in our dataset. Some banks charge foreign cards nothing, others take percentage fees above four percent — and the same operator charges more at the airport than in the city. On top of that comes an annoyance travellers often only notice back home: several machines never display

In Mexico the same withdrawal costs 21 or 197 pesos depending on the machine — almost a tenfold difference. The banks whose names feel most familiar to visitors are among the most expensive, and the free-standing machines in resort towns add considerably more on top. The cheap machines Bank Fee Max per withdrawal Caja Popular

In Japan the ATM fee depends on something that matters nowhere else: your card network and the time of day. With a Mastercard you withdraw free at 7-Eleven. With a Visa card the same machine charges ¥110 or ¥220. And a Lawson machine in the evening costs more than the identical machine at lunchtime. The

In Kosovo six of the seven banks charge €5 per withdrawal; only BKT works differently (€3 plus 7 percent, capped at €10) — there is no fee-free option. That sounds like bad news but makes things simple: because the charge at those six is flat rather than a percentage, your cost is decided not by

Withdrawing cash at an Egyptian bank ATM costs nothing — none of the ten major banks charges foreign cards an operator fee. It only gets expensive at one kind of machine: the free-standing units run by independent operators at hotels, beaches and tourist sites. Those take up to 200 pounds per withdrawal. The two often

Most ATMs in the United States charge $3 to $3.75 per withdrawal, rising to $6.95 in supermarkets and at petrol stations. Four operators charge nothing, and cardholders in the Global ATM Alliance withdraw at Bank of America completely free. Knowing which machine to look for saves $30 to $50 on a three-week trip. The machines

Türkiye has the widest spread of any destination in our dataset. Several banks charge foreign cards nothing at all, while others take 8 to 12 percent of the amount you withdraw. On 5,000 lira that is 400 to 600 lira you simply would not have paid at a machine a hundred metres away. The banks

Tunisia inverts the usual advice. Everywhere else the rule is to withdraw a lot in one go rather than a little several times. That does not work here: machines often dispense only 300 to 800 dinar, the lowest limits in our entire dataset. And even where you can take more, you should not — the

Brazil holds the most dangerous conversion trap in our entire dataset. At Bradesco the withdrawal itself costs nothing — but accept the conversion the machine offers and our data records a surcharge of up to 16 percent. On top of that sits something no bank and no machine can avoid: a government tax on every