Best card to use for inter-railing with multiple currencies

circoloco

Hello I am going interrailing around Europe and would like some advice on the best way to carry my currency to keep the best rates possible. I will be visiting multiple cities in Europe with different currencies, many with the Euro, but the likes of Prague, Zagreb, Budapest, Krakow each have their own currency.

I have a HSBC bank account so was considering just using this to make withdrawals but I am not sure of the charges and if I will get a poor exchange rate on withdrawal in each country. My other options are a pre-paid currency card or a credit card but again I am not sure what is the best way to approach this as all the ones I've read about only mention Euro.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, cheers !

NiftyDigits

Get to London and get yourself a Metro Bank debit card. If you can't, get a Halifax Clarity. Better still, get both.

circoloco

Thanks for the reply I looked into the halifax clarity card but I travel next week and it says it's take a few weeks to set up and deliver.

Thinking the prepaid currency card is my best option because of ease of use and not wanting to use a credit card in fear of overspending. Does anyone have any experience with these cards? With them if I get my set rate in euros on what basis are the exchange rates carried out elsewhere, meaning will I still get a decent rate drawing money out in say Poland for example?

benjus

You'll struggle to get any card at a week's notice. Except the Metro Bank card, which is printed in the branch, or the TravelEx cards which can be collected at some airports.

You should definitely get one denominated in GBP rather than foreign currency. If you get a EUR one for example, you'll pay one set of charges to convert from GBP to EUR, then another set to convert from EUR to local currency in a non-EUR country.

NiftyDigits

If you cannot get to a Metro Bank, Kalixa Pay if you have at least a week. Open with £50, just in case that it doesn't arrive in time.

Try to pay with the card as opposed to withdrawing cash each time.
Card is best for larger withdrawals.

If lots of small withdrawals...perhaps Caxton Global Traveller.

Travelex is no good in this case, as the Sterling card would be poor value.