Credit cards Italy and Greece

David I can tell what is the least accepted.. Amex. Some big hotels accept it.. but most small shops and restaurants don't as it carries the most costs to them.

I bring my Visa.. (aka Carte Bleu) and I have never ever had a problem with it being accepted.. WHERE they accept credit cards. I also bring my ATM card for cash withdrawal.. as cash is king everywhere( especially in small shops, getting gelato etc.. )

I have not been to Greece lately, but in Italy (and all the other countries in Europe I've been to) Amex is least likely to be accepted. I believe it has higher fees for the vendors or some similar disadvantage.

Visa and MC seem similar to me, some people say Visa is a bit more accepted but I haven't seen anywhere that accepts Visa and not MC. My experience is some places accept no cards, some take Visa and MC, and fewer accept Amex as well.

Take both your Visa and MC cards. Put one away in deep, safe storage to keep as a backup. You never know if you will lose one or have your bank block a card. (Same is true for ATM cards).

Visa and Mastercard are universally accepted nearly everywhere. After that it is a dice roll.

As others have said, of the three, AMEX is less accepted, but that has changed to the better in the last 5 years or so. Not mentioned is what fees do the cards carry?

Many cards charge 3% for Foreign Transactions, many do not. I would take and use my card that has no fees, even if it were the AMEX, using other cards as back-up.

I also would travel with no less than two credit cards from different issuers, I would even carry all three, keeping one of them in deep security/storage, away from the others. Even ATM cards I now have at least two options, one to use, the other as separately stored back-up.

Thank you all. Will bring all and 2 atm cards.