We are getting to St Jean Pied de Port on a Saturday. Are we going to have problems exchanging dollars over the weekend? Any suggestions on best places to exchange currency there?
You are advised to have at least a hundred euro before you leave home. I would suggest trying to get 1 euro coins for bus fare (if you plan to take a bus from the airport)
The best place to exchange dollars is at an ATM machine. However you cannot always count on the machines being operable at a given location. Sometimes the length of the line up may require that you get your money elsewhere or miss your transportation.
At Malaga airport I could not get any cash from any ATM (and there were several). I ended up trading dollars at a currency vendor for a painful remittance. I got more cash from an ATM at the bus station ... at least proving the problem was not with my card.
At Buenos Aires airport the line up at every ATM was at least 30 people.
You will not have problems exchanging currency on a weekend given that no other problems exist.
Note there is a fee for using ATM machines. It doesn't matter how much you take out so there is a cost efficiency to be had by drawing the maximum. There was an ATM at London Airport that had no bank fees other than the cirrus fee (but I don't recall the bank's name).