Paying with cash

I kept my wallet in my front pants pocket and had absolutely no problems with anyone trying to pickpocket me. Maybe the pickpockets don't want to waste their time with americans anymore since we likely won't be carrying much money!

The safest way to carry cash is to wear a money belt underneath your clothing. Money Belts can be purchased from the "travel store" section of this website. You can also call you financial institution and ask them to raise the ATM limit.

We carry the euros in a money belts - split between the two of us.

We paper clip the euros and ID them for each cash hotel. I usually include the confirmation paper with the bundle. You can use larger euro bills for hotels so you don't such a large stack of bills.

Greg,
Yes, a money belt under your clothes is safest.

Make sure your daily limit is high enough to get the amount you need (your bank can raise your limit).
If your bank won't raise the limit call around to other banks in your town. Find one with low out of network ATM fees, no conversion fees, and no monthly fees on checking (fees levied by the check) and free ATM cards. Deposit half your vacation money in the new checking account and now you have doubled the amount you can withdraw.

Check with your bank, most have daily limits per card not per account so you can take out the daily limit and your partner using a different card on the same account can take out the daily limit. If the bankomat you use has a lower transaction limit than your bank's daily limit just let the machine reset then do another transaction.

Greg, the wife and I have found this to be one of the more annoying parts of European travel, especially because the banks have your daily limit set in dollars. Therefore your daily withdrawal of Euros fluctuates as the markets change.

The only thing we have been able to do to deal with this is to just plan ahead. You end up having to visit an ATM about once per day so that you have enough Euros on you. But if you know you're going to need 200 Euros to pay for your hotel 3 days from now, you'll need to start taking out more Euros than you actually need for the next two days. You may have to take out an extra 75 per day to make sure you have that extra 200 you'll need.

Your bank may be willing to increase your daily limit temporarily, but not like a credit card company would.

Given this minor annoyance, just plan for it. You get used to it after a while. It's also a great way to make sure that you're not overspending, as you know you have to ration your Euros!

I travel to Italy on a regular basis and I find the best way of paying hotel bills is by using my Capital One credit card. They do not charge a fee for using the card and you pay the exchange rate for the day you actually pay. I would also suggest check with your bank and call the manager on a regular schedule to track the exchange rate for euros. I just purchased some euros a few weeks ago and I bought them at a 1.35 even though my next trip isn't until March of 08. It is a good idea to either purchase a money belt or a pouch that goes around your neck and under your shirt, out of sight out of mind. When you do purchase your euros ask for large bills, 100.00 are good and they take up less space, and they are easy to use. Hope this info helps.

Greg

Bank's daily limit is for your protection if your card and PIN are compromised (ie Lost/stolen). It limits your exposure for a thief accessing your funds. I highly recommend that you visit with your bank if you feel your daily limit is too low. Prior to my last trip to Europe, I had my limit raised to $800. This allowed access to cash without visiting the ATM everyday.

Is there a limit to how many Euros you can bring in to Italy. I'm thinking of buying here before we arrive, at least to cover the first few days (a week of accomodation in Euro cash on arrival for our apartment)
Marina

Some suggestions:

Greg, hotels may PREFER cash payment but unless they are willing to cut the price for cash, use your credit card if they take it. As to getting cash, open an account at another bank. We, in fact, brought 3 ATM cards, one for regular out-of-town credit union; one for local bank in which we normally keep minimal cash so we can cash checks but which we supplemented; and one internet bank which we open and funded solely for our trip and which refunded all fees and offered great rates as internet-only banks often do.

Andrea, as to paying for apartment, we wired money to the apartment manager. She had been highly recommended by Paula Frommer's Italy book and she treated us very well providing the bank statement showing the exact number of euros she got. Saved having to come up with 850 euros for 2 bedroom place for 8 nights in Florence.

We did a similar trip in October, and got 5-10%discount for cash at hotels. You also avoid bank charges for foreign credit card transactions. There is not enough fluctuation in the value of the $ to be concerned.

My Schwab account includes ATM card, and they refund any charges imposed by the banks. I had gone to my local bank to get my daily limit increased, but they "could not". I called the bank 800 number, and they could, and did. So, I took 2 ATM cards, which gave me extra peace of mind, just in case.

Get cash from ATMs close to your hotel, put it in a money belt or neck pouch, and take it to the hotel to stash in the room safe or at the desk. I got so I could be fairly slick at putting the cash into my neck pouch, even on the street. This was the first time I did virtually all cash transactions, and it went fine. Another advantage: your trip is paid for, no credit card statements in a month to remind you how much your trip cost!

Ciao

If a pickpocket wants to target you they will. Don't put our money in your back or front pocket, wear a money belt of neck belt to be safe. We have traveled a bit and my husband was pickpocketed in Zurich the beginning of a trip. He now always wears a money belt. Think of it like wearing a seatbelt in your car. How often do you really need it, but when you do it helps protect you. If they say cash payment prefered, but accept credit cards, I would go with the credit cards unless they are offering you a discount with cash payment. Cash payment instead of credit cards means extra profit for them. Have fun on your trip. We did Rome 4 nights, CT 3 nights and then Venice on our trip the end of Sept.

We just returned from 25 days in Italy and used a money belt to store the majority of our cash with maybe 75 to 100 euros in a neck puch for the day. Credit cards and ATM cards went in money belt. We paid cash for everything so as to avoid huge credit bills on return and this way we could keep better track of our expenses. We went with euros in our pockets just in case there were difficulties with ATMS however we encountered no problems and since our bank was Capitol One - we had no fees. Also it cost less to take money out via ATM than to have our bank secure some euros for us prior to leaving.