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Discover credit card

We were told by the Discover credit card company that we could use our card in Europe. I have also heard that this particular card is not commonly accepted in Europe. Anyone have experience with using this card while traveling in Europe? We will be visiting Ireland, England, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Posted by
10344 posts

We've had a number of posts here saying their Discovery card was not accepted in Europe.
I guess you can leave home without it.

Posted by
11613 posts

Discover is adding more vendors in Europe but still not widely accepted, even if the vendor accepts Diners Club.

Posted by
19636 posts

I'd say bring it along and find out, but have MC and Visa as back up.

Posted by
23177 posts

Discover is accepted in Europe IF you can find some place that will actually accepts it.. Like American Express, in this case, DO leave home without it.

Posted by
1221 posts

The big redeeming feature of Amex in Europe is that, outside of Ireland, you can get 'super cover' car rental supplemental insurance for $25 per rental rather than paying a fat daily rate for same with the car rental company. Didn't have any problems with it getting accepted at IHG or Accor hotels either.

Posted by
7010 posts

I guess you could take it and try to use it wherever possible but definitely bring a Visa/MC for backup because you will run into places that won't accept it, lots of them. It's possible that larger chain hotels may accept it if that's where you plan to stay. None of the smaller hotels and b&b's I stayed in would take it and neither would the car rentals I used in France.

Posted by
11613 posts

I was able to use the Discover card at a small, family-run hotel in Tropea. They had a Discover logo posted (the only time I saw one that trip), but a couple of other places ran it through Diners Club and it was not accepted (even though Discover rep had told me it would be).

Posted by
15560 posts

In the past month, I've used my Discover card twice for online payments, once to Airbnb for a room in France and once to OEBB for a train ticket in Austria. I chose the Diners Club credit card and put in the Discover number and both transactions went through without a hitch. I haven't taken it with me on my European travels, though.

Posted by
150 posts

I tried to use my Discover card on our first trip to Europe and I couldn't find any country that took it (France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany). I ended up getting a citi card for our second trip because it has a chip in it and it worked everywhere!!

I left my Discover at home,

Posted by
8376 posts

I am pretty sure that the people at customer service are required to answer that way, even though they may have no personal knowledge or experience of using the cards in Europe. Same thing with bank staff advising you on card usage overseas.

Posted by
3 posts

Better leave your Discover card at home...was in Paris and south of France April of last year and was very disappointed that this card is not accepted at all even if was advised by the card company before I left that we could use it with no problem at all !!!