Depending on where you want to send the money...
Anything involving a credit card will include the CC fee as well as the exchange charge. That's the same whether you pay the supplier at the other end by credit card, or have a friend handle the far end by PayPal. Hence, I'd not go the Paypal route.
The banks don't want to be bothered, so have a high "base charge" which makes it "Not a good deal" for small amounts. I never found a bank offering a "better deal", although there may be one out there.
If you have a friend with an account in both countries, you may be able to "come to an accommodation". I have a US dollar account (for historical reasons) and write cheques/checks for close friends and family - more than that would get me in trouble with the authorities.
When I wanted a large sum in dollars transferred from the US (Citibank) to my sterling account, the UK bank wanted five days to clear the money and would have charged me about £50. Citibank charged me £20 and the money was in the UK bank the same day. I don't know how they did that, but it proves it can be done. The Citibank exchange rate was very slightly favourable, too.