than in the US, in my experience. I only take dollars in case of an emergency, and try to avoid exchanging them.

Even better don't change cash at all, and just use your ATM to get cash when you arrive. You get much better rates from ATMs or credit cards than you do if you exchange actual paper currency. The one exception might be if your ATM charges hefty rates for using other banks' ATMs and for using overseas ATMs — but even then, it may still be worth it, depending on how much you withdraw.

I've been in the Europe the last two weeks and none of this has changed from what it has always been.