Buying currency is often one of the last things we do before we go on holiday, but in the last- minute rush to get everything ready, swapping money at the airport can be the worst thing you can do.
Using airport bureaux de change can be up to 10 per cent more expensive than specialist firms. And Eurostar terminals arent much better a family of four on a week long trip to Disneyland Paris could be 105 worse off buying their euros at the terminal rather than ordering through aspecialist provider, according to foreign currency provider Currencies Direct.
Comparing rates offered by currency providers on one day (7 August 2009), Currencies Direct found that a bureau at Kings Cross St Pancras was offering an exchange rate of 1.04 to the pound, and an American Express bureau at Heathrow was offering 1.0679, compared to a rateof 1.1575 from Currencies Direct. The best exchange rate for buying currency on the high street was found at Marks & Spencer, which was offering 1.1057 to the pound.