Prepaid visa card to take abroad?

creeping_future

Hello,
I know this is not the right section but I looked around and not found anywhere to post my question, so please feel free to move it.

I'm about to flight to Italy in September. So I have to take some euros with me. I have some stored on my Starling Card, which is a MasterCard. Now, a friend went to Italy a couple weeks ago, and he's a starling account holder too, so he had some euros there, and told me that in some places the card did not work, as they only accepted Visa.

I have looked around to for a prepaid visa, but the only one I was able to find is the easyJet one.

Do you have any suggestions?

jet01

I think the real problem with regard to Italy is not that some places only take Visa but not Mastercard but rather many Italian banks still issue Vpay and Maestro debit cards instead of standard Visa and MasterCard branded ones. As a result some retailers, still a small minority of shops, only accept Maestro and Vpay cards because they account for the bulk of debit cards in circulation in a country where cash really is still king. This means that UK issued visa and MasterCard debit cards, including Starling,  are not accepted in a small minority of shops. The same is also true in The Netherlands as well (although card usage is much higher there). 

eDicky

Avoid the expense and hassle of cards such as easyJet prepaid, it will be cheaper and simpler to use your regular bank debit card or credit card with their fees. Take them anyway as backup, some are Visa, in case your Starling card is declined or lost etc.

I've been in Italy all this year and have never encountered rejection of MasterCard by any retailers, services or ATMs. In fact my Italian bank debit card is a MasterCard. If you do want a fee-free Visa you can try a Revolut account, the card they issue can (or previously could) be either Visa or MasterCard.