Card or Cash while in Euroland

CKhalvashi

Doshwaster said:

The cash vs card vs both decision also depends on where you are going.  Scandinavian countries are virtually cash free now  and you will be seen as slightly odd handing over Euros while some southern European countries cash in still king. Germany is also surprisingly dominated by cash.

The only country I've been to in recent years that has had a strong dominance on cash has been Albania, although after finding a store that does accept cards, everything was ok. Cash was needed for restaurants though and the best ones we found (and very well priced) were family establishments away from the hotel on the walk to the beach.

I do agree that this is dependent on where you are going though and with this information we can do a lot more to advise.

diystarter7

zagfles said:

Mastercard do usually have better rates, especially for smaller currencies. Looking at the calculators for GBP/BGN it seems VISA have a markup of around 1%, but it varies by day, sometimes more, and Mastercard it's around 0.5%.

https://www.mastercard.com/global/en/personal/get-support/convert-currency.html

https://www.visa.co.uk/support/consumer/travel-support/exchange-rate-calculator.html

I have M&S CC and Capone CC and Barclaycard CC and debit - which is best to use over there. Smaller amonths less than one hudred average 40ish pounds.

Doshwaster

zagfles said:

Doshwaster said:

The cash vs card vs both decision also depends on where you are going.  Scandinavian countries are virtually cash free now  and you will be seen as slightly odd handing over Euros while some southern European countries cash in still king. Germany is also surprisingly dominated by cash.

You will definitely be seen as odd handing over Euros in most Scandinavian countries as none of them use Euros apart from Finland

Fair point. I meant cash in general rather than Euros.

zagfles

diystarter7 said:

zagfles said:

Mastercard do usually have better rates, especially for smaller currencies. Looking at the calculators for GBP/BGN it seems VISA have a markup of around 1%, but it varies by day, sometimes more, and Mastercard it's around 0.5%.

https://www.mastercard.com/global/en/personal/get-support/convert-currency.html

https://www.visa.co.uk/support/consumer/travel-support/exchange-rate-calculator.html

I have M&S CC and Capone CC and Barclaycard CC and debit - which is best to use over there. Smaller amonths less than one hudred average 40ish pounds.

Check what the charges are on them, some Barclaycards charge, others don't. Not sure about the others. As above Mastercard probably slightly cheaper than VISA but the bank charge wil be the big thing if there is one.