On this page (3 sections)
The bureaux at the airport
Two Travelex counters, one before security and one after, open for the first flights and into the evening.
Birmingham has two Travelex bureaux de change, which covers most travellers whichever side of security they realise they need cash. The landside desk is in the ground-floor check-in hall, at the north end near the left luggage counter, open roughly 04:00 to 21:00 daily. The airside one is in the departure lounge past security, open a little later at around 04:00 to 22:00, so you can pick up currency after you are through if you would rather. Both carry the mainstream holiday currencies, euros and dollars foremost, and the more unusual ones to order.
The hours track the flight schedule and can move, so for a very early departure or a late-evening arrival it is worth not assuming the counter is staffed. If you are simply changing a modest amount for arrival money at the other end, the airside desk is handy once your bag is packed away; the left luggage desk and the wider facilities guide sit in the same part of the building.
The cheaper ways to get your money
The airport counter is the dearest option in the building; three easy alternatives keep more of your money for the holiday.
Here is the part the counter will not tell you: walk-up airport exchange rates are among the worst on the market, precisely because someone standing at the gate with no cash has nowhere else to go. There are three better ways, and none takes much effort. The first is to order online and collect: booking your currency on the Travelex website ahead of time gets a much stronger rate, usually with no commission, and you pick it up from the same airport desk, often within a few hours or the next day if you order by mid-afternoon. Same convenience, far better rate.
The second is a prepaid travel money card, loaded with your holiday currency in advance at a rate you lock in, then spent like a debit card abroad, which also sidesteps the problem of leftover cash. The third, and simplest for many, is a debit or credit card that charges no foreign-transaction fee; a growing number of UK current accounts and cards now give near-perfect exchange rates on spending and cash withdrawals overseas, so you may not need holiday cash at all beyond a small float. Any of the three beats changing a wad of notes at the counter on the way to the gate.
What not to do at the counter
A couple of habits quietly cost travellers money at the airport bureau; both are easy to avoid.
Two things to sidestep. The first is the impulse change: swapping a large sum at the walk-up counter because the flight is boarding is the most expensive way to buy currency there is, so carry a small float for arrival and sort the rest through one of the cheaper routes above. The second is changing leftover foreign notes back to pounds at the airport on your return, where the buy-back rate is poor and coins are usually refused outright, so you lose on the round trip. A travel card or a fee-free bank card avoids both, since you only convert what you actually spend.
None of this means the bureau is useless. For a forgotten arrival float, a last-minute unusual currency, or the reassurance of some local cash in hand, it does the job, and having it on both sides of security is genuinely convenient. Just treat it as the backstop, not the plan. Where that money tends to go once you are airside, and whether the duty free is the bargain it looks, is covered in the duty free guide and the wider shop, eat and relax hub.