We are staying at two places in Italy that require we pay cash in Euros, totaling over 1,000 euros! What is the best way to do this, get Euros here and carry the wad with us or try ATM's or go to a bank over there?
Posted by
Seattle, WA
1317 posts
Cash is strongly preferred in Italy. You have a couple of different options.
First, are they requiring payment upfront or at the end of the stay? On my last trip, the first hotel we paid at the end of our three night stay, which gave us plenty of time to withdraw what we needed from the ATM in Rome (which is the best way to not get killed by the exchange rate). Our second place wanted payment upfront, but since it was our second stop, we already had enough to cover the bill.
Check with your bank to find out the daily limit on your card(s) and request an increase if necessary, or take more than one card. We had two accounts, and simply withdrew 300-400 euro (combined) the first two days of our trip, which covered the majority of our expenses.
If you need euro right away, you can get them here and accept that you will be paying extra for them. I generally like to land in Italy with about 100-200 euro already in my pocket, which is just a personal preference but means I can at least pay the first night's stay, should my card get eaten, every ATM be out of order, or some other unlikely but possible disaster occur.
Posted by
Richmond, Ky, USA
278 posts
Most everyone wants cash. We used Capital one Visa cards with much sucess. I thought I might have a problem getting the amount of Euros I needed until I realized that the daily limit applied seperately to my wifes card and to mine. The limit for us was 250 Euro, which was easy to work around. I liked capital one because trhere was no transaction fee for the withdrawls. Good luck. Jeff