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Tour - Currency question

Posted by on

Hey there, first time doing a proper holiday.
I'm doing a tour of Norway, Sweden, and Finland, then staying in Finland for an extra 9 days.

The main query I have is currency. I'm from Australia, and none of the Bank or Travellers cards do the Norwegian Krone or the Swedish Krona, but they will do the Euro for when I'm in Finland.

Wondering what I should do. Arrive with cash for Norway, then convert to Swedish, then to Euro? (I imagine I'll lose plenty with conversion) Or do I try find a low international type transfer card and just get cash when I need and deal with my own rates until Finland?

*Edit, preloaded cards which hold X amount of a currency and can hold up to three currencies at once.

Posted by
8889 posts

Your normal bank cash machine card (ATM, or whatever they call them in Australia) should work in most machines in Europe. So long as the card has Maestro/Mastercard or Visa logos on it. Double-check this with your bank, warn them so they don't panic and block the card when it suddenly gets used on the opposite side of the globe, and check what their charges are for foreign / out-of-network use.
You can then use that in each country in turn to get out cash.
Take a credit card as well, and take a second bank card in case you loose one or the bank blocks one of them.

Experienced and confident travellers arrive with no cash and just go to the first cash machine in the airport. First time and more cautious travellers prefer to have a small amount of cash up front for getting to the hotel, first meal etc. You could bring a small amount of Euros, on the grounds there will be more places willing to exchange this to Norwegian Krona than would accept Aussie dollars. If you don't need it, keep it for Finland.

Try to run down your cash as you are about to leave each country. You may be able to change small amounts at the border, or use it for a coffee just over the border, but don't count on it.

Posted by
5835 posts

none of the Bank or Travellers cards do the Norwegian Krone or the Swedish Krona, but they will do the Euro for when I'm in Europe.

I can only say that American ATM/Debit card when used in Norway will return Norwegian Kroner (NOK) and when used in Finland will return Euros (EUR). My home financial institution will debit my account in American Dollares (USD) and depending on intituion, will add a foreign transaction fee.

Scandinavia is pretty advanced (first world) and ATM cash machines are all over the place, even in the bush. Some Norwegian mountain huts (staffed and unstaffed) take credit card transactions for food.

Similar with credit cards (dynamic conversion aside).

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