How Much Is 9 Euros

[Cristy Borovetz]

Make sure you have a no fee for international use credit card and, as others have said, be ready to "tap it" almost everywhere. Also, try to find out if any event or venue you plan to visit is cash only and include that in your planning.

If you were going to visit any big city in the US, how much cash would you want to have in your pocket? It's the same basic question. If you need more during your trip, just stop at another ATM. High ATM fees aren't worth worrying about in the big picture.

Only use the ATMs inside of actual banks. Bank Austria, Erste Bank, BAWAG and Raifeissen are the main banks here. Do not use the Euronet ATMs or ATMs in hotel lobbies as these tend to charge service fees.

Both the bank ATMs and the Commercial ATMS (Euronet, etc.) are safe to use. Only use the ATMs inside of actual banks if you want to avoid additional fees. Do not use the Euronet ATMs or ATMs in hotel lobbies unless the situation is such that you need the cash for something or if the $3 to $5 fee doesn't bother you.

Personally I would have 20 to 30 euro in my pocket. Doesn't hurt to have it and might come in handy for tipping a guide or showing appreciation or for the occasional transaction that requires cash. Best if in smaller bills too. But I would probably wait until I walked past a Bank ATM to get it.

My wife and I are going to Spain in April for around 11 days and I would like advice on how much cash (Euros) to take. We plan to use credit cards when possible, so this cash will be for tips, small incidentals, etc. If it makes any difference, we will take the Ave bullet train to 3 main destinations (Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia) and stay mostly in hotels and AirBnB. We don't plan to rent a car, so will use taxis, bus, and subway when necessary. We will likely do some walking tours, museums, etc. - basic tourist stuff.

Start out with about 200 euros small bills only.
Use your credit card for everything. Nowadays most merchants only take cards everywhere. Only use cash as needed. You won't need to use much. If you happen to run out of cash use only ATM attached to a bank during open hours. Put you money in a neck wallet under your clothes with your passport.Do not put your wallet in a bag or pocket. Otherwise you could get pickpocketed easily especially in Barcelona

To the OP: Get cash at a BANK-RELATED Bankomat when you arrive. You may be offered the option to "get cash in your own currency" or something like that. This is the DCC (Direct currency conversion) and is a huge ripoff. Use a card with no or low fees - we use the Schwab bank card, which charges $0 fees and does not pass bankomat fees to us. I can't recommend them highly enough.

Mikel, did you mean to say there's sometimes a 10-euro minimum to pay with a card? I have seen (primarily in Norway/Sweden) places that don't take cash at all, but never a place that took large cash payments but not small ones.

We have been in Spain for five weeks and have only encountered two situations where we could only use cash - a bus in Valencia and one taxi driver in Girona. Everywhere else has been happy to take debit/credit cards.

David,
Obtaining cash via an ATM is simpler than describing the experience in writing. Research where your card works without being charged fees and you should be able to google the locations. We arrive without pre-purchase of euros and all works out. We prefer bank sponsored ATM's, but use a variety of locations (if possible we walk a few blocks away from tourist zones as additional measure to insure NOT using an ATM programmed with higher fees). Cashless has become a prevailing form of payment and suggest you do read up on avoiding Dynamic Cash Conversion offered in many tourist areas. Often a mobile card reader will be brought to you to process payment. If you are asked to select DCC please be sure and decline then CHECK to insure the option was not accidentally added PRIOR to you signing the bill or hitting the approval key.
We choose to leave cash tips, maximum would be 10 % and commonly 5%, on the table to avoid marking up the credit charge. We believe there is a rise in expectation of tipping within tourist zones and have found the pre-programmed question of "Do you want to leave a tip? with auto select percentages" more common. Most of Europe pays a Living Wage so tipping is not a vital element of their income. Forthrightly we find eating out in non-tourist areas to be less expensive and more enjoyable without the request for tips or DCC.
Strongly encourage asking for print out of all your charge card receipts and keep to compare with monthly bill. We rarely find an issue, but like the assurance of double checking the bills.

how much cash in Euros do we need on hand? We have cruised before but to the Caribbean where dollars were not a problem. I am thinking of cash for things like taxis, trains, shopping in bazaars where credit cards might not be an option.

I don't now if you will sit on a terrace and take a coffee or a lunch then you will see that in Italy and Spain on all the tourist spots its very expensive for you in Italy you pay easily 5 dollar for a cup of coffee (and now refill), on the other hand in Greece and Turkey you pay last.

I would wait until you get over to Europe and I would get them at an ATM. On a related note be sure to let your ATM and Credit Card companies know the dates of your trip and where you are traveling to so they don't think the tranactions on your cards are fraud related.

How much you need really depends on how much cash you will spend. Everyone is different. Based on what you have said maybe you should start with say a couple hundred euros but again it depends on how much you plan to spend.

If you have private tours booked, you will know how much you need for that. A couple hundred euro is a good start on a multi-port trip. I started out with 600 eu (had back-to-back private tours planned) and replenished as I went along. If I needed money I kept my eyes open for an ATM. They are everywhere.

The only place I'm not sure about is Turkey. We paid our tour guide in dollars. Market vendors asked for euro but I said "I only have dollars" and they took dollars. I think the ATMs there give out Turkish lira and I wouldn't want to be stuck with that.

I went to Austria & Hungary in 2001, thinking I could exchange my money there, I wouldn't get any ahead of time. I arrived in Budapest on a Saturday, their Independence Holiday. All banks and exchanges were closed until Tuesday. Then I had an all day tour planned for Wednesday, so I ended up 5 days with no Hungarian money. If the stores were large, they would take the credit card, but it sure put a damper on shopping.

btw I called my cc company in advance to let them know I would be using my Capital One in Europe, but it was still rejected at a merchant. When I called in, they said they had no information that I would be traveling in Greece. Huh?? So double check with your credit cards. (I had a backup cc, just in case. Same with debit card)

I remembering reading last year that Capital One had some advantage in Europe--can someone remind me what it is? I have gotten one since my last trip but can't remember why it's going to be a good thing!

Also, I plan to take $500 worth of euros with me because last year I had an incident where my debit card, which had been working fine, all of sudden was not accepted and it scared me to death! Still don't know what the problem was; but I found a different bank's ATM and it was fine. So I am just taking some euros as back up but plan to keep my stash at about that level--just in case! Most of the time it worked well and there really were atms everywhere--just like starbucks!

I got Euros before I left. I didn't want the hassle of searching for an ATM. Just my luck there would not be one when I needed it. Ordered them online through my bank and had them delivered to my local branch. Got a better rate than my friends did. I did have to get more euros while on the cruise but I just used the ship's ATM and then had the Guest Relations desk convert to Euros for me. When I got home what I didn't use I took back to the bank. Turns out of the $200 (+$6 fee) I only used about $55 of it.

We took 700 Euros last summer (trip totalled 18 nights) and replenished at ATM in Rhodes (200 Euros). One tip would be to ask your bank for some bills in small denominations; this may require a few trips to the bank as they don't have small bills on hand all the time.

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