We have just used the Post Office who are linked with Hi-Fx. Very efficient. Did the transaction online 3.30pm Monday money in Spanish bank account this morning. No fees at all.
Not sure about the exchange rate though, currency sidebar app on windows showed 0.803/1.245 and Post office gave us 0.8377/1.1937. This does not seem too bad, unless of course you know different
We used the Post Office mainly because it is a British Institution and also I am told that the British Government uses them for its own international transaction. Hearsay I know, but when you know nothing about FX you have to start somewhere.

Well.. if the sidebar app is showing accurate interbank rates (and it does sound about right), then you paid 4.3% of your transaction to the Post Office. It's a rather bad rate I'm afraid

Post Office rates are notoriously bad! That is to say, you can do a LOT better almost anywhere else.

If you are just changing cash for a holiday , say £1k its always better / easier to phone around the banks /travel agents / post office and ask the simple question "How many euro`s will I walk away with for £1k" , forget the commission and exchange rates ,they are set up to confuse you , the only thing that matters is what you get in your hand.

For Holiday as above say £500 to £1000 I use these http://www.travelfx.co.uk/
I find their rates for this purpose excellent and the service also excellent cash delivered to the door. Obviously if you want to transfer to Spanish account then different.

By the way I agree with Rotor it is the amount you get in your hand or account that matters so you just have to compare.

If you just need cash for a holiday this website is very good. I use it because living near London I order the cash online on the day fixing a rate ,then go to the place to pick up the money.I pay them when the pay me.
But the website is useful for everyone.
http://travelmoney.moneysavingexpert.com/
The one I use most "because its the nearest" deals at 1.2321 at moment
Not bad for cash ,only 0.7 % below actual rate

Currencies direct dont make a charge if you have a d/d in place for a regular transfer, and this months transfer was made at a shade over 1.20

I've used Oanda to transfer money at low cost, hedge against FX movements in days or weeks leading up to a transfer, and found that I can also make a few quid on the FX market along the way!

but last week received an email saying that Oanda is ending their global money transfer service July 6 to focus on FX trading, which is a real pain. I'll look at World First or Xe.com, but Oanda has been very reliable, flat fee with FX rates only a few pips from the central rate.

What an odd thing to write in your first post on these forums. I am a regular user of their service, and they are doing nothing of the sort.

thanks for the kind welcome!?? don't understand your concern...

here is the email from June 18th from Oanda:

Dear xxxxxxx,

We are writing to inform you that as of July 6, 2012, OANDA will cease its money transfer service, fxGlobalTransfer, in the US.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you and we appreciate the support you have shown for this product. This is a business decision that enables us to dedicate more resources to our core product, fxTrade. OANDA has begun a number of new initiatives to improve fxTrade and we believe it is in the best interest of our customers to focus on continuing to lead the market with innovative developments in forex trading.

If you have deposited funds with us for the purpose of initiating a money transfer using fxGlobalTransfer, you may choose to withdraw those funds, or you may use them to trade. Your OANDA account is unaffected and your full transaction history, including any previous fxGlobalTransfer activity, will be accessible through the "History" tab on our Fund Management System.

Sounds like they can no longer provide it to US domiciles. I'm not a US resident, so am evidently not affected. They're still advertising the service and accepting signups:
https://fxglobaltransfer.oanda.com/

Odd, though, that I can't find any reference to a US closure or discussion about it at all?

it is odd, because their email makes it sound like a business decision, but if they keep the infrastructure in place for everyone else, they won't save any money, just lose people like me as customers.
I'm dual citizen, not sure why US residents would be excluded from the service.

Annoying to say the least - no doubt it's regulatory headaches that they don't want to deal with.

I've fired off an email to them asking for comment. Would certainly be very inconvenient if they shut the service down entirely.

Im not sure why but my comment just wouldnt post the last few days. Thanks for all your comments, I done loads of research! Ive gone with axia fx in the end and done test trade which had very good rates.

So we shall see!

I contacted Oanda to check what's going on with their announced end to FXglobaltransfer service after July 6 for US residents, and the response is that they are only stopping transfers to 3rd parties. You can still transfer out of Oanda to a personal US account, see below:

"After that date, you are still able to deposit/withdraw funds from/to any bank account as long as this is held in your name. Instead of using fxGlobalTransfer, you will need to make a withdrawal request from your account page.
Please also note that if you did not use the recipient account (Must be in your name) for deposits (as a funding source), you will simply need to submit a document (recent bank statement) confirming that the account is held in your name"