Traveler's Checks

Travelers checks are a thing of the past. You will find few places that accept them now. If you need cash go to an ATM - they are easy to find.

As someone who lives here, I AGREE with Kent and Sam - DO NOT bring or use travelers checks... NOBODY wants them.

And believe me, if you try to use them, you WILL get asked do have othe means of payment (probably in Italian!!!).

Ann, I find that hard to believe( your son is definately in the minority) ,, we are not kidding you ,, travellers checks are NOT easy to use, no small business , cafe or restaurant will take them , so you will always have to find banks, which will charge you for cashing them, plus then you are still carrying cash around with you for at least 3- or 4 days since you won't want to finding a bank to cash them everyday.

I started using my ATM debit card to withdraw cash from ATM machines about 13-14 years ago,, and we haven't bought t.c.s since. There are ATMS everywhere and they are open 24/7, unlike banks.

Ann, I checked with the hotels I am using out of Rick's Italy book. All but one, Orvieto, accepts Travelers Checks--in euros--the same as cash and will give the same discount as for cash. I'm taking them just for the hotels. This is 2 thousand euros I don't have to worry about getting from an ATM.

Patrica said, "I'm taking [Traveler's Checks] just for the hotels."

This is a good point. A lot of the agriturismos and villas say "cash only". What do people do to raise this many Euros in cash to make these major payments (sometimes over a thousand Euros)? It seems like the daily limit on credit/debit card withdrawals from ATMs would make it hard to get the cash together.

Options would be to get the pile of Euros from your home bank before leaving the home country, or use Traveler's Checks (do they count as cash?).

What other options are out there?

I've used travelers checks several times, but only as a safer way to get large amounts of cash. I've never tried to use them in stores. Ann, I've used them exactly like you wish to, pay for hotels, and to exchange to get walking around money, as a way to avoid setting of all kinds of bank problems when you are taking out hundreds of Euro's a day to pay for hotels on top of everything else.

Personally, I still use Amex travelers checks for this, there is no fee to get the checks if you have an Amex card and the rate at Amex's offices (there are still a lot in Italy) is pretty good and there is no fee on that end either.

I do think travelers cheques are getting hard and harder to use. ATMs are they way to go now. I think you will find using ATMs so much more convenient as there seems to be one in even the smallest towns in Italy. I found one in a little town on Lake Como where there was a church, a couple of cafes and shops and an ATM.