Fyi - how much cash needed in Europe

This varies a lot by country. Albania and North Macedonia are heavily into cash. I used cash fairly frequently in Turkey last fall. I'm in Vienna now and even here I've noticed "cash only" signs at two food-related businesses (not temporary market stalls).

However, some Balkan countries aside, the typical tourist is not likely to need cash often except for really tiny purchases, so I'd discourage withdrawal of much money from ATMs lest the traveler be scrambling to spend it at the end of the trip. I had that problem in Norway in 2022. Not only do many Norwegian businesses refuse to accept cash, it is very hard to find a bank ATM in Oslo. The one I eventually located had a line of people (10-12?) waiting to use it.

I recommend folks have some cash because at times, you don’t know when you will need it until you do. Last Friday’s tech issues meant banking was affected in various ways and credit cards didn’t work in various instances. Last year in France we had a few occasions when credit cards couldn’t be used including trying to buy tram tickets in Le Havre on the holiday Monday; the station ticket machines were only accepting cash that day but the system was back online the next day.

I'm in the camp you should always have some cash, just prudent, you may not use it, but when you need it, you need it.

Use of cash does vary across Europe, but generally, if you stick to the tourist path, you can do OK with card/contactless.

Within the last year, I have run into several instances of needing cash, some examples:

In the UK, some parking pay points were not yet updated to contactless or took CC. Smaller launderettes it seemed had not updated machines to contactless, some specifically needed coins.

In the Netherland, especially if you wander away from the sights, you may find places that seem to accept card, but it is only the local debit cards, CC and Visa branded debit cards are not accepted. I ran into this in a couple doner/gyro shops, a couple market stalls, and many report some grocery stores.

In Spain and Portugal, we ran into smaller restaurants that were cash only, and some small shops either wanted a minimum purchase, or were cash only.

Still run into a strong preference for cash in Germany.

And, we also experienced something like the OP, getting on a bus, with six people behind you, just forking over cash can be quicker and easier than figuring out if your card will work.

For those of you traveling now, how did things go with the tech meltdown over the weekend?

I have been advocating for ApplePay/GooglePay for the last couple of years. The last 2 trips (Amsterdam /Paris/England and a separate trip to Scotland) found me using ApplePay almost exclusively.

HOWEVER , I’ve always had a little cash from previous trips. With the recent meltdown, I’m back to thinking new travelers should have at least a small amount of cash.

No meltdown problems for me in Vienna, where I've had multiple museum-entry, grocery store and/or restaurant payments go through every day. I have had a lot of tap failures, though--times when I needed to insert my card instead. That has occurred about 1/4 of the time since I crossed from Hungary into Austria on July 9, so it's unrelated to the weekend tech issues. It happens back in the US sometimes, too, so it may be specific to my card or the type of terminal the businesses are using.

We're in Belgium at the moment. The CrowdStrike issues hit as we were en route from London on the Eurostar. When we arrived in Brussels and then Ghent, business as usual.

We ran into an interesting problem in Brussels at a small restaurant* in the shadow of the Palace of Justice: credit cards were just fine, but not contactless payment using the phone. Their mini-terminal required physical insertion of a card with chip. If my wife were not with me, it'd have been serious, as I typically pay by phone. I will carry a chip card on my person henceforth.

We've not been anywhere that cash was actually needed. We have a few euros resulting from a service glitch that we'll be salting around the continent to get rid of.

*L'Inattendu; I recommend it. Superb omelette.

Fyi - how much cash needed in Europe

The flaw as those who know what set me off will understand, is in the last two words. And sentence that contains those two words together is going to be flawed.

I can walk the tourist zone of my European city for 14 days and buy a 100 things and never be asked for cash.

I can go to my favorite Buda wine bar for lunch on a Sunday afternoon and be told the credit card machine is down and end up using a EURO ATM so i can sit outside, enjoy my bruschetta and wine. But my wine ended up costing 8 euro instead of 5 euro thanks to the ATM Fee. Such is life.

I can go visit my son at Ramstein Air Base in Germany and stop in a German village on the way for lunch and discover that I am not eating lunch because not a place in the village will take a card. :-(

I can get a taxi in Sarajevo only to find out they are cash only .... another EURO ATM in the airport. But i negoiated a pretty good price so the hotel desk clerk told me. Good thing too cause the EURO ATM clipped me for 3 euro in fees. But better than walking.

I can stop for a glass of wine behind the opera while waiting for a friend to get off work. Pay the bill with my credit card, then realize I forgot the tip. So pull out 1,000 in cash and slide it in the receipt book. Once in a while i do have some cash in my pocket.

I can board the M1 Metro by tapping a credit card, thats convenient. But I am over 65 so that is someone elses benefit of a less cash society.

So In Europe, no, In Life, you are well served by carrying a little cash in your pocket.

Oh, how much to carry? $30 per person small bills. That will buy lunch or a taxi or handle some tips or ..... if need be.

Another worry for travelers that is not really a worry. If you want to pay all CC, do so. If cash, same thing. There is no real worry here at all, just preference. With an ATM card, fees reimbursed, and a multitude of ATM machines always around there is no problem.
Most travelers always have their CCs. So it is the cash carry end of it that you may prepare for. I am sure someone will say they were in farflungtinytownattheendoftheroad and could not find an ATM. Seems to me they were not prepared.

I tend to share Mr É's sentiments.

Another worry for travelers that is not really a worry.

And this one too.

At home, yeah, it's just easy to use the card for everything. When there's a hiccup at home they're easy to deal with. I do regularly use the local bus system which still runs on cash and I keep a supply of singles at home for fares.

When traveling it's just as easy to use cards, but I do travel with local currency and if I don't spend the cash it comes home and travels with me the next time.

So, how common is it, in any particular country, for there to be signage indicating a place only takes cash, or credit? One must ask first? Seems like a tip to be included in the guidebooks.

Here’s my spin, after getting caught in an IT issue last year. It’s not how much cash do I need for everyday, it’s how much cash am I comfortable with to make sure I successfully get to a from my trip and the days in between. I remember a thread from (I think) several years ago talking about making sure you have a plan B in your travels, “what if…”. Where might the need for cash fit in for you? Delta has cancelled between 400-600 (between CNN and the folks at FlyerTalk) TODAY? If you do the math that’s a lot of people fighting over a limited resource.

In the banking capital of Germany, you will see a lot of businesses that say "cash only" or if you want to use a CC it has to be for a certain amount, like over 30€, or they only take EC cards.
Lots of people visit Germany and don't ever use cash, but it is pretty common to see those signs on small restaurants /bakeries/cafes, food stands, and farmers markets, as well as public WC.

Thank you Ms Jo. I'm guessing "Bitte, nur Barzahlung"?

I tend to bring more cash if I am planning to visit antiques/flea markets--and I do seek them out wherever I go, wish I were visiting Ecseri piac in Budapest this year!!. Though many dealers accept cards, but if there is any haggling to be done it doesn't look good to whip out a credit card at the end. Otherwise I like to be prepared just in case so the minimum I want in my purse is the equivalent of $75-100...it always gets spent.

stan: "Bar, bitte." would be the answer to "Wie möchten Sie zahlen?" (How do you want to pay?).

@ acraven and jphbucks - thanks very much for the on the ground reports. So glad neither of you had issues but interesting comment about having to use the chipped card to pay in Brussels!

...will be needed...

The key word, in my opinion, is "needed". You might not need any. But if you have it and don't need it, no harm no foul. One the other hand.........

In the U.S. I don't often need cash, but I always have some on me. Technology is wonderful when it works. The key word, however, is "when". We have all experienced malfuntions involving technology. Lord forbid Murphee's Law happens when you are trying to pay a large restaurant bill, pay a taxi fare, or encounter an emergency.

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Good input / replies. To clarify, I wasn't saying there is a 'best' approach or suggesting that anybody should travel with no cash. As I said in my original post, I was just relaying my experience as one data point in case it's helpful to others. Happy travels!

I think it's clear that there's no single right answer to the question, "How much cash do I need?" It's a factor of many things, including how willing one is to go to another supplier of goods and services if the first choice is cash-only. What's right for me isn't right for many others.

For France, where we’ve been now for three weeks in different parts, we’ve used our credit card for most purchases. French can tap cards without using a P.I.N. for amounts up to €50, but if it’s more than that, they have to insert the card in a slot and also enter their P.I.N. We’ve discovered that with an American card, without a P.I.N., we can still tap and pay for amounts over €50, much to the amazement of several merchants and waitstaff.

One town, we stayed in a hotel for 3 nights, then moved to the apartment they rent for the remainder of our stay. For the hotel room, they accepted a credit card, but the apartment required a cash payment, and we got cash from a couple of ATM’s in different cities. Take note: all the ATM’s seemed to have nefarious DCC, where you can either simply make your withdrawal for the number of Euros you want, or get them with a grossly inflated exchange rate that the ATM bank calculates. Do it in Euros in the euro countries, not in Dollars. If you accept their sometimes not obvious DCC offer, you’re getting scammed and grossly overcharged. Credit Agricole bank is the worst, with a potentially confusing message on the ATM screen, and a very sensitive touch screen (no buttons) that takes commands with the slightest brush of a finger or hand.

Do it in Euros in Europe, not in Dollars

Do it in the the currency of the country you are in (Lek, dram, manat, ruble, mark, lev koruna, krone, lari, forint, krona, franc, leu, denar, krone, zloty, leu, ruble (2), dinar, krona, franc (2), lira, hryvnia, sterling, or euro), not in Dollars.

OK to elaborate for thoroughness, the currency of the bank where your card is based will determine what alternative to Euros the ATM will offer. U.S. bank card = U.S. dollars vs. euros, Canadian bank = Canadian dollars, Australian bank = Australian dollars, etc., and alway choose the currency of the country where the ATM itself is located; France = euros.

I don’t know where else in Europe, or in the world, are bank ATM’s attempting this financial sleight-of-hand rip-off. The only other place I encountered it at an ATM, besides in France this summer, was in South Africa two years ago. There, of course, you want your withdrawal calculated in Rand.

@Cyn, I have been told that the reverse happens here in the US to foreign visitors.

When I've explained DCC to people here, their eyes glaze over in a couple of seconds. There is just something about dealing in good ol' US dollars that people feel comfortable with. And many are willing to pay for that service.

Thanks, Bob, for the update!

We are finding we are using less and less cash each time we visit. We still have 250 euros from an Ireland trip five years ago that we will bring to Europe this year. I expect we will come home with most of them.

We needed zero cash in Norway last September.

I have some bills next week that I have to pay in forints ... cash. So today I went to a bank ATM and withdrew 100.000 forints using my Bank of America ATM card.

My account was charged $278.72.

My handy exchange app said the exchange should be: $277.60. Googling the conversion I got $278.19.

I am a happy camper.

If I had used my Hungarian bank account, Erste, the withdrawal fee would have been about $1.00.

European banks charge for everything, even deposits. At least in Hungary. Other places may be different, don't know.

Oh, the Euronet ATMs would have cost me about $5 more which is okay in a pinch

Cyn, et al;

Here is an interesting little oddity. Montenegro has no currency of its own. It unilaterally adopted the Euro in 2002. Unilaterally in that it did not ask permission. Montenegro is not a member of the EuroZone. The EU isnt really happy about this but hasn't interfered.

"I don’t know where else in Europe, or in the world, are bank ATM’s attempting this financial sleight-of-hand rip-off. The only other place I encountered it at an ATM, besides in France this summer, was in South Africa two years ago. There, of course, you want your withdrawal calculated in Rand."

I have encountered DCC in Canada.