Cash vs credit card

Load your credit card onto ApplePay on your phone. I have rarely needed to pull out my credit card anymore. I just use cash for small purchases & for tips for street performers & normal tips.

I’d suggest getting €200, which works out to about €10 a day. Bonnes vacances!

There are a few places where you need cash. the butcher shop we use requires a 15 Euro purchase to use a card. There are other shops with 10 or 15 Euro card limits. And for small purchases like ice cream or crepes or whatever it is handy to have money and I always pay the cab driver from the airport in cash -- we take some home each trip. But you don't need much anymore. so get a little from an ATM on arrival so you have walking around money, but mostly tapping with your phone is perfect.

I've used very little cash on multiple trips to France since covid when people switched over to contactless payment. I like to leave a small tip for housekeeping daily so I usually wind up buying a bottle of water to get coins every few days. I am a solo traveler and last trip I wound up using cash when eating with friends when it seemed too difficult for the restaurant to split the tab. That was an unusual situation. I've never had a market vendor, restaurant or other venue you might use as a tourist not be able to use ApplePay.

I do check with the cab driver when I leave from CDG airport to see if they accept Applepay for the flat rate into Paris. They are supposed to all accept CCs but will sometimes say their terminal is broken and they want cash (tax dodge I assume), so I get that out of the way before I get into the cab.

I generally use ApplePay for everything. If you don't use ApplePay or google pay already, I recommend loading a couple of credit cards onto your phone and practicing at home before you travel. When I was learning, lol, I would go to a young checker at the grocery store because I knew they could talk me thru if I needed help.

As you mention travelling around France, I will mention on recent trips we have needed cash a few times in smaller towns. Once was a taxi in Caen when the driver indicated he was cash only and another time was in Le Havre when the tram ticket system wasn’t accepting credit cards as it was a holiday Monday (verified this was the issue the next day at the Tourist Information office). As others have said, cash is helpful for small purchases too. For 3 weeks €200 would be good.

The times I have needed to use my physical credit card has been for hotel stays and occasional vendors.

I use my smartwatch for 99% of all transactions. Local outdoor markets, a street musician, a 1 euro scarf at a thrift store = cash. I would only get 100 euros and I’m usually in France for a couple of months. I’ve had several circumstances where I was ASKED if I could use a card instead of a 5 euro bill for something that costs 1 or 2 euros. Okay, maybe they were short on change that day…? Restaurant bills have been divided, with each of us paying for what we had, on our smartwatch. In the US I find all this to be the opposite, maybe it comes down to service fees?

Vendors at my market (cheese, butcher, green grocer, bakery, fine foods) prefer that I use my tap payment so they don't have to spend time with cash. Card companies don't charge shops as much as in the US. The only vendor who prefers cash is our newspaper dealer who says he makes nothing if we use a card for our 2-euro weekly paper.

As you mention travelling around France, I will mention on recent
trips we have needed cash a few times in smaller towns. Once was a
taxi in Caen when the driver indicated he was cash only and another
time was in Le Havre when the tram ticket system wasn’t accepting
credit cards as it was a holiday Monday (verified this was the issue
the next day at the Tourist Information office). As others have said,
cash is helpful for small purchases too. For 3 weeks €200 would be
good.

The times I have needed to use my physical credit card has been for
hotel stays and occasional vendors.

Speaking of easy payments, having a flexible way to manage your money
while traveling makes a huge difference. Services like LinkPay let you
instantly create virtual credit cards, so you don’t have to worry
about carrying too much cash or dealing with card acceptance issues.
It’s super useful when you’re on the go and need a quick, secure way
to pay:
https://linkpay.io/blog/how-to-get-a-credit-card-without-credit/

I totally agree with Claire! Smaller towns can still be a bit tricky when it comes to card payments. I had a similar experience in a little café outside Lyon where their terminal just refused to work, and cash was the only option. Also, some local markets and taxis just prefer cash, no matter how digital everything else has become. But overall, France is great for contactless payments, and I find myself using my phone or smartwatch for almost everything.

In France I use both even when the card is accepted.

Paying cash in small hotels might get you a lower rate, depends on the town , if you are a regular , the total amount,, the proprietor, etc. In Metz I pay cash as a favour to the owner after a week's stay. Pubic transport tickets as well as the train I use the tap function.

Bottom line: I would not advise to depend solely on the credit card.

We almost never use cash. We just don't see any purpose. Other people almost never use credit cards. They clearly just don't see a purpose to using credit cards. Both perspectives are valid.

Bottom line: if you don't want to use cash at all in France, you can likely find a way not to. We plan to have maybe 50 euros total for several months' use.