I settled for FAIRFX in the end. Bought Euros at £1 = €1.37 rate. Current macro rate being £1 = €1.40, they’re making 3 cents per on the deal. Much better than going through a local bank, even with a charge levied at the cash machine for withdrawals once I get there….

Not quite sure why torsoinalake claims that quite a few places don’t take cards, maybe 10 years ago but these days it’s a rare shop or restaurant that doesn’t. (Though quite a lot do have a minimum 10€ spend before they’ll accept your card).

On my last trip the only place that didn’t take cards was the black cab that brought me home from the station. And they complain about Uber …..

b r – Member
FWIW I never use my debit card for anything other than taking cash out of a bank cash machine – and that is in the UK. Abroad I always use a credit card, and have both MasterCard and Visa just in case they only take one or the other.

For payments abroad in shops, credit card is fine, just need a decent card with good rates and/or no fees. These days it’s usually one or the other now, e.g. no fees advertised but they load it on the rate.

However for cash at an ATM, almost all credit cards will sting you with a cash withdrawal rate and/or fee and will charge you interest on it from the day you take out the cash, i.e. no interest free period. This is the same whether UK or abroad. A debit card there’s no interest obviously and fees tend to be lower.

A way around it with credit cards is to preload it so it’s in credit enough to take out cash with no interest. Though some cards block you doing that I’ve heard.

Or there are the previously mentioned travel cards that are basically preloaded cards and good rates. Though I had trouble getting my TravelEx one accepted in certain places in the US. Some shops saw it as a debit card but the system would be confused or ask for a PIN and the PIN system over there doesn’t work like ours. Some just rejected it outright. Generally worked though.

p.s. watch out for places that see you’re British and try to charge you in sterling using their own (very high) exchange rate. The same also applies to certain travel companies when they try to get you to buy add ons during a package trip (ski passes on ski trips are a classic example, though some will now admit up front that charging in sterling will cost a packet and you should request charge in Euros/whatever).

Also, can find some places that will only take MasterCard and not VISA or vice versa, especially some ATMs.

I tried to use my Clarity card in 2 different places in Portugal, and they both said they only accept Portugese cards. Something to watch out for in some countries.