Euro Currency

Our two European trips so far this year - almost no one wanted cash in the Eurozone and a couple times restaurants/cafes wouldn’t take cash, so you definitely need a good credit card that doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees.

Notify the issuer where your traveling and dates. Get your initial transportation prepaid by credit card and wait till your away from the airport to get cash from a bank owned ATM for best exchange rate. You can look at OANDA.com for the interbank rate, which is pretty close to what our Visa & MC charge us (eg $400 charge had less than $2 deviation). Good site - you can use it to check your statement later because you can choose the date for the rate that day.

Btw, the restroom in Amsterdam Central train station took credit cards for the fee (I think it was around 0.70€) 🤭

If you are buying food or small items, the preferred payment is cash. Many stores will not let you use a card unless your purchase is at least 20 euro. I second the information about pay toilets. You will need small change for that. Use your card for bigger purchases, and MC and Visa are preferred to Amex.

Yes, you can exchange at the airport, but the exchange rate is usually not very competitive, and the fees can be quite high. The best rate is always from a local in-country bank or ATM.

You can always exchange your money at the airport. I don't know if there's a fee associated with that or not, but when I went to Europe years ago, they allowed us to exchange money there.

Euro dropped yesterday. Value is $1.02 (not what you'll pay in an exchange) but very close to dollar parity.

Thanks for the information.

Plastic is accepted pretty much everywhere, but we bring euros for local vendors and tips. We plan for 100/day, but that was overkill as we used our cards most of the time.

Though we have not traveled to Europe or done a Med cruise, if looking for a decent MC/VISA logo credit card with no foreign fund transaction fees and a fairly decently inline with market exchange rate, try the ones offered at Capital One. We used them for years as our payments method when visiting Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, and a whole host of Caribbean and Bahamian cruise ports without any problems.

Don't worry about exchanging current before your trip - the exchange rates in the US and the airport are ridiculous. We always use our ATM card at a local bank at our destination to get cash. Most hotels can direct you to a local bank OR there are always ATMs in the destination airport usually in baggage claim if you want to get a few bucks before leaving the airport. Always good to have some Euros for incidentals, small purchases, tips, etc. Probably don't need more than $200-$300 for the week. We try to use our credit cards as much as possible, just be sure to let them know when you are traveling so they don't decline the purchase or think your card is stolen.