American Express

I would say carry cash. AMEX is a limited credit card in most places. If you have time I would get a Visa card with no foreign transaction fees. Cash in very much accepted.

Some places in London will accept your Amex card. Many will not. Almost all will accept your Visa/MasterCard. Pretty much any place will accept cash (a few will only take cash, typically in small mom & pop shops, for small items - eg buying a gelato, a snack, a drink).

Amex has been the outlier for a long time overseas - traditionally only accepted at higher-end businesses. They have become somewhat more widely accepted in recent years, but they are still the odd one out. Do not count on your Amex card being accepted. You will still find many places that take Visa/MC but do not accept Amex. If you want near-universal acceptance, have a Visa or MasterCard ready.

BTW it's never a good idea to rely on a single piece of plastic (of any brand) for your survival. Any credit card can fail (for many reasons), can be lost, or stolen. I always travel with at least 2 Visa and 2 MCs (two of my own, and my spouse carries 2 of each, too...each one pointing to a different account). Always good to have options and backups.

Thank you so much for the quick replies!
I'm glad to hear cash can still be used...some people we've talked to about our trip have told us that we won't be able to use it anywhere because London has become a cashless city. That's why I thought I'd ask on this forum🙂

Amex acceptance is more widespread in Britain than many other countries but is not universal. So you have a reasonable chance but don't count on it.

Just to confirm from recent experience, AE is accepted about 1 in 3, 1 in 4 places. Mostly higher end hotels, restaurants but not the average tourist places. Cash is generally accepted. Just curious -- how to do you plan to obtain cash?

We were going to order some cash from a local bank. This is our first international trip so we are trying to learn everything we can... we have a couple people telling us to just exchange usd for gbp at Heathrow when we get there, and a few people tell us to order from a bank ahead of the trip.
Is the bank route the better way?

Unfortunately, neither of your suggested options are good choices. You will pay needless fees with either.

The best way to obtain local currency is to simply use your own ATM/Debit card, linked to your bank at home. Use that to pull cash in the local currency from ATMs overseas. This is the way to beat (almost) all the sneaky fees and skimming. It's simple, and almost always the cheapest option.

See the longstanding advice here from Rick Steves: Travel Tips: Money

The best way to get Pounds is at an ATM in the airport upon arrival.
Do NOT exchange USD for British Pounds at airport! Much more expensive.
Do NOT order Pounds in advance from your bank. . Much more expensive.
Get Visa cards before your trip. You can find them with no yearly charge.

Thanks so much for all the help! I really appreciate it

Cashpoint is the term most commonly used in the UK, is it not?

you can't just blanket say get your money at an ATM, what if someone is unknowingly using a credit card to get a cash advance?

The full and correct answer is, you can get money out of your checking or savings using a debit card. If you want to take the chance of getting that info stolen, because the safeguards are much lower than a credit card.

I think the bestest answer is, either open a checking account with debit card specifically for your trip and use a PIN you'll never use anywhere else, or get a free Schwab account and load it with only the money you'll be needing for your trip.

Of course, the most bestest answer is ... dump your Amex, get a Visa or Mastercard, charge your way across England (esp. big costs like hotel, restaurant and train) and pay them off in full when you get home.

Is the bank route the better way? NO NO NO !!! That is what I was afraid of when I asked the question earlier . The cheapest and most convenient to obtain foreign currency is with a debit card at a bank owned ATM in country. Under the worse case your fees would be about 2 or 3% but most likely about 1%. Purchasing money via your bank prior to departure or at airport money exchange could easily be 10% or more. I would get a hundred pounds just for pocket change from your local bank prior to departure so that you have some money for small expenditures. Once at you hotel find an ATM -- they are everywhere -- and get more cash as needed. Remember ATMs are there to service the locals not just tourists so they are very convenient. I like the ATMs that are inside the bank. And as someone mentioned earlier -- they are called CASHPoint in London but they are obvious. Sometimes you need to be cautious of airport ATMs because they may be owned by non-banks or private companies and the fees are higher.

Since you haven't traveled before, there is a practice called dynamic conversion where a merchant or even the ATM will ask you if you want the transactions completed in dollars when using a credit card. Say NO every time as you will receive a poor exchange rate. Always conduct your transactions in the local currency. The credit card will take care of the conversion.

we have a couple people telling us to just exchange usd for gbp at Heathrow when we get there, and a few people tell us to order from a bank ahead of the trip

As mentioned, don't do that ... if you don't have, or don't want to use, your own debit card, look into opening a free Charles Schwab account ... regardless, you want a no foreign transaction fee card (that goes for a credit card also) ... if you need a Visa or MC and don't have Global Entry / TSA Pre-check, maybe look into cards that offer that credit which will either cover the yearly fee by itself or, for the higher priced cards, can combine with other credits to offset the fee (but only if you are planning more trips overseas or domestic) ... or there are plenty of no yearly fee cards.

It sounds like you are going soon ... I am planning on going next April and was looking at the London Pass as a cost savings since it covers many of the places we plan to visit ... would love to hear your thoughts after your return on whether it was worth it and any tips and/or pitfalls you may have ... have a great trip!

Was in London in July and last November. Took out a 20 £’s at a Lloyd’s Bank in July. Still have it.

Use a tap debit or credit card.

Dq....
I will post our experience with the london pass- we are going over in mid January for our anniversary- so still a little ways off. I'm hoping that time of year will be ok. The colder weather won't bother us as we are from Minnesota but I'm hoping most places are still open to see.

I have an AMEX card along with a couple of Mastercards. My AMEX is accepted fairly widely but there are places where it isn't, mostly smaller outlets but there are one or two big merchants who won't accept it. If I only had one credit card to choose from it wouldn't be AMEX.

I also keep hearing this claim about London (and the UK in general) being cashless, it isn't. Contactless payment has become the method of choice simply because of its convenience but that doesn't mean that cash won't be accepted. There are very few places that won't accept cash and if they don't then there are plenty of alternative places that will.

I use AMEX almost everywhere in the UK, from my fruit and veg lady to tea at National Trust, and buying bits for the car, and ferries and every restaurant.

Where it hasn't been accepted (rarely) is a different farm stand (took a different card), English Heritage cafes (same), my Honda dealer, and somewhere else I can't remember.

I'll add to the pile on, I would not want to travel in the UK in 2022 with nothing but AMEX and cash.

Cash vs Card has almost become a holy war on these forums. My experience in May of 2022 was that many places were cashless, particularly chains such at Pret a Manager located in major tourist areas or business areas. Neither of my hotels in Liverpool and London accepted cash.

For me, I take Schwab bank visa debit and my Capital One Visa credit card, I also have a backup Chase bank credit card that I take for emergencies. I never use that card at home except for a couple of places I get a discount at. I also have Schwab and Capital One linked via Apple Pay on my phone.

I only needed cash once, and that was at a pub where the card machine was down. The selection of ales there was quite appealing so I went and got 40 pounds. I usually spend my leftover cash at the airport before going home but I had to set an Olympic record for the 100 metre dash just to make my flight as it took forever at Heathrow.

Take the AmEx and the cash along. I would also suggest having a Visa or MC with you too.. In England I use more often the Visa but still use cash too.

I noticed that no reason had been given for the aversion most merchants have to AMEX cards. From my past life (whew!) as a merchant, I can tell you that AMEX card fees are normally considerably higher that Visa/MC. AMEX typically is 3.5% or so, whereas the other two run about 1.5% less; that's a big difference to a merchant. Do that friendly merchant a solid and, if not paying cash, at least don't whip out an AMEX, in particular for relatively small purchases.
This is not to say there aren't other reasons a merchant wouldn't want AMEX, that was our experience, though.

Our largest business expense, after salaries-wages, was credit card fees.

"...Amer Ex fees were considerably higher....." How utterly true.

The proprietor of my Pension in Berlin told me that she used to accept Amer Ex say, , 25 years ago along with MC and Visa. One day when it was slow, thanks to the Amer Ex fees she didn't even break even on that day. I could tell she was animated, plainly ticked, saying what Amer Ex. demanded was "eine Frechheit" (Outrage in this context). Now, payment is only cash...no credit cards at all.