Capital One cards for most purchases or cash?

Yes, if your Capital One card has no foreign transaction fees, it makes sense to use it as much as possible. But you will also need some euro cash; get it at ATM's using your ATM card (not your credit card). Here's Rick's page of links to his excellent money advice. Read them all, and you'll be a pro: http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/money-travel-tips.htm

What advantage would using cash have over using your CapOne card? To have cash you have to get cash from ATMs. To use your card, well, you've already got it in your hands.

We are in Italy right now. I get cash from the ATM for small purchases, but use the Cap One card for everything else. That way I keep receipts and keep track of my spending. If something is under 10euro, I use cash

ok thanks for the replies. I will use my capital one card mostly and cash for small purchases. thanks for the tips!

Sometimes hotels give a 5%-10% discount for cash payment. It doesn't hurt to ask. Depending on your ATM fees, that may save you some money.

Hi, I used cash for anything that they gave me a discount for. There were a couple of hotels that gave us a discount for cash (always ask). Any other's, I used my capital one card. That being said, when I got back home, I had a couple questions about the charges on my card. Nothing I thought was fraudulent, just clarifications. Capital One did not have the best customer service. I may go back to AMEX when I travel overseas & pay the service charge. Thanks, Mary

Mary, were there extra fees when you used your capital one card once you looked at your statement?

It's always useful to have some cash on you because not every business (including restaurants) accepts credit cards, and when they do, they prefer Mastercard and VISA. Very many don't accept Amex because of the high merchant fees.

I have been living abroad all year and have used Capital one to avoid transaction fees. It's great. Just let them know that you are traveling and your itinerary. in some countries they froze my card for security issues. It was a drag!

You can set up a travel alert for your credit card account on Capital One's website. You put in the dates and as many countries as you need, one at a time. You are only allowed one notification at a time. I think you can cancel or change it up to the start date. I sometimes have a problem if I buy a ticket (event or train) or reserve a hotel in advance. The travel alert has to start no more than 120 days ahead, and sometimes that's not enough for me. Then I send a secure message through the website - sometimes it works, sometimes I have to call them - collect, of course, but it can be a hassle if you're not at home. Discover Card looks like it is successfully expanding internationally. I've had mine for years, and a few months ago they decided to stop charging f/c fees. They say that any place that takes Diners now takes Discover too.