Credit Cards

The most widely accepted credit cards anywhere in Europe are Visa and Mastercard/Maestro. If they accept any cards, 99% of the time it will be at least those two. Acceptance of any other cards is much lower.
This is the same in most of Europe, Paris is not particularly exceptional for credit card acceptance.
But, that said, you cannot necessarily use credit cards for everything. Many businesses prefer cash. Especially for small transactions where the flat-rate commission that the shop has to pay on a credit card means for small amounts they have no profit. You can usually pay for your hotel, long distance travel and big evening meal by card. Local transport, lunchtime snack or other minor purchases may be cash only. Unmanned automatic machines, for example ticket machines, may only accept European cards and not transatlantic ones.

We've used good-old Visa cards in Paris with no problem, and as noted above, I believe MasterCard is also generally accepted. I've seen resturants displaying a decal on the door for Diner's Club (which is now affiliated with Discover). Last month in Scotland, someone at our table (a Belgian) used her American Express. So, although many different banks' cards might work some or most of the time, our Visa has always worked. As a cosmopolitan city, Paris should accept those same credit cards.

Because flying British Airways is usually our method of getting to and from Europe, the past few years we've used our Chase British Airways card. It has a $95 annual fee, but there are no foreign transaction fees when we make a purchase in Euros or Pounds, and the card has a "chip," which makes ringing up a sale more standard for a merchant than swiping the card like in much of the USA, although we still have to sign a receipt to complete the sale.

If you're referring to Chip and PIN cards (the standard in most places outside of the USA), where the card reader scans a chip embedded in the card, and the customer enters a personal identification number (like you use at an ATM) into the machine to complete the sale, than that TYPE of card is what Europeans use, but an American Swipe and Sign card works too. The merchant just has to use a slightly different method of ringing up the sale. American cards will likely be switched to Chip and P.I.N. at some point in the future, but for now, they still work. As noted above, some self service machines (for train tickets in France, and for gas after-hours at some filling stations in Italy without an attendant) wouldn't let us use our swipe or our Chip and Signature cards. If there's a human to ring up your transaction, and you're using a Visa or MasterCard, then, no problem at all.

We don't have anything to add, your questions have been answered very well above. Have a great time.

American express is NOT universally accepted and they charge a 2.7% foreign transaction fee. The other problem is sometimes a Visa or Mastercard won't work since you don't have a chip and pin card. Though I only had to pay cash once after the resto owner tried unsuccessfully to make my card work. Capital One has numerous cards with points accumulation for rewards - some free, some not. But there is no foreign transaction fee. I believe the Slate card from Chase also has no transaction fees. I use a CapOne Visa and have been happy with it.

And always pay in Euros. Some places will ask you if you want to pay in dollars, but you'll pay an additional percentage for the privilege.

American express is NOT universally accepted ......

But it's accepted at a lot more places than people who don't try it think -- else, why would my AmExp bill be twenty times higher than my c&p MC bill?

.....and they charge a 2.7% foreign transaction fee.

That went away seven evers ago, at least on mine.

We tried buying train tickets in Lyon a few years ago. No go without a chip and pin card. As soon as we got home I had Bank of America issue my card with the chip in it. I am not sure if other credit card companies can do that but Bank of America does have them if you ask. Our regular cards(Visa) were fine anywhere else in France, just not train ticket machines. Chip and Pin a must in them.

Because it has a chip in it doesn't mean it's chip and pin. Watch out.

I will be finding out in a few weeks! My daughter has been living in Lyon for the past 2 years and has used her card(same account) and hasn't had a problem. Fingers crossed that I won't either. My regular old TD bank debit card worked fine in Italian train ticket machines. Just not France.

American Express abolished foreign transaction fees as of May 1st, 2014. Over the years we have found our Amex accepted in Europe even at times when our Visa wouldn't pass. Amex was established as a card for travelers and had American Express offices in all the major cities, so of course it was and is very well known. However, now we use an Andrews chip and pin card overseas, but a mag strip card will probably still do fine in most cases.

Edit: I stand corrected. Some Amex cards no longer have transaction fees. Delta Amex Gold is $95 but you get a companion ticket for $150; the Delta Amex Platinum is $195 with a free companion ticket. Fees waived first year. No, I don't have stock in Amex and now use Andrews overseas.

Bank of America doesn't have foreign transactions fees, nor does a TD Bank debit card for purchases(not sure about their credit cards). Both TD Bank and Bank of America(BofA at sister banks, BNP Paribas in France) didn't charge foreign ATM fees up until recently. Both now do. BofA 3%, TD Bank $3. My whole reason for opening BofA accounts for myself and my daughter, easiest way to get $$ to her in France without fees. No more though. Disappointing.

Recently got a Bank of America Travel Rewards Card. No annual fee for the card and no foreign transaction fee. It has an embedded chip for security purposes but it is not a chip and pin card as is common in Europe.

In July, I prepaid two nights with my American Express card for a hotel in Nice to get a lower rate. Amex charged me a $10.38 foreign transaction fee. So, as far as I am concerned, Amex is charging such fees still.

I had just checked AM EX website recently. It shows 2.7% foreign transaction fees for most of their charge cards and credit cards. No FTF for their platinum card.

Amex Ex cards expensive for the merchant.. so many do not accept them .. in France or other countries. My business takes Visa, Debit and M.C.. sorry Amex people.
I noticed way back in 70s that the most widely accepted card did in fact seem to be VISA.

My Delta AmEx card has no currency conversion fees and is free for the first year (after that I plan to cancel it). I'very been surprised by how many places have accepted it on my current trip. As a backup, I use my credit union Visa which only charges 1%.
However, we weren't able to use any of our cards in the Paris Metro machines recently. Have they converted to only chip and pin? We were able to use our card at the ticket window (after waiting in a long line).

Just answered my own question on their website. Metro machines used to buy tickets require embedded chip credit cards and I just remembered that we used cash at the ticket window. The machines also won't take 50 Euro bills and that was the lowest denomination that we had on arrival.

Bank of America offers a travel rewards card with a chip. Will this card work in the metro machines even though they do not have a pin? Is a pin only required to withdraw money, like an ATM?

Having just returned from France after travelling for 4 weeks, whenever I used a credit card, it had to have a chip. I have an account with Charles Schwab, which does not have transaction fees, and called them before I left on my trip and requested a chip card. It also has a pin associated with it, however, it would not work at the unattended gas stations. I now believe that the pin cannot start with the number zero which mine does.

I used my credit card with the chip for every purchase I could. I was surprised at how many restaurants take a credit card--almost all of them. However, in Germany that is not the case.

Denise, it is an unkillable myth that a PIN must not start with a zero. My ATM cards and credit cards all have zero followed by 3 digits for their PINs and I have no problems in Europe.

We'be been in Beaune and Paris and used our non-chip cards everywhere. There were no problems except with the Paris Metro machines.

One place said it would only take Visa, which I had. Every other place took Visa and mastercard, sometimes with a minimum of 15 euros. My card is from Capital One, which does not charge a foreign transaction fee. Capital One says it is planning to introduce a chip-and-PIN card.

Denise,
I have a BofA chip and sign card. It has a PIN associated with it but the PIN is only for cash withdrawals from ATM's. It didn't work in train ticket machines or gas pumps but it did work in quite a few toll booth machines, it didn't work in 2(in those we used my daughter's French issued chip and PIN debit card).
As for the zero as the first digit in a PIN, my BofA debit card had a 0 so I changed it to be safe, my TDBank debit also has a 0 and I didn't change it. It worked fine with the 0 the whole trip a few weeks ago.

if you go to thepointsguy.com, they cover this in GREAT detail.

Bottom line, it's the luck of the draw. Sometimes a card works in a machine, sometimes not. Sometimes a merchant will accept, sometimes not. Some will take MC and not Visa, others the other way around. Sometimes you can use Amex or Discover, sometimes not. Cover all the bases and you should be fine.

We use a Capital One credit card (no foreign transaction fees). The card worked except in automated transaction situations. We also have a debit card through Fidelity (brokerage account required) that rebates all ATM fees worldwide.

Recent experience with BofA travel card in Paris first week of October. Bought a "carnet" of ten metro tickets from one of the automated kiosks at the St. Michael metro station. It accepted the card without any problems no prompting for PIN, etc., and the touch screen offered me the choice of English or French (can't remember if it offered German, Spanish, etc.). I was able to use the chip and sig BofA travelcard anywhere they had the little portable card machine without issue.

They also as promised didn't hit me with foreign currency conversion, although the one time that I used my BofA checking ATM card to pull Euro's, I did get hit with conversion and foreign fees, so I tried to use the travel credit card wherever I could to conserve my fancy European monopoly money. YMMV, but I was quite happy with the card, though the paying it off will be slightly less happy. :)

Glenn in Tucson

At unmanned fuel stations the issue is not the pin, but the card. They often do not accept foreign cards. I have had that experience in Belgium and France. My most recent trip to France involved getting diesel and my heart sank when I realised the kiosk was shut and it was pay-at-pump, but there a note on the pump indicating the accepted cards issued in the EU. This was at a supermarket and not in the middle of nowhere though! The PIN not beginning with a zero, that is a new one on me!