Apple Pay - Amsterdam / Haarlem

It seems you’ve copied this question on various country boards.
I’ll copy the answer I gave on the Belgium forum as it applies to the Netherlands and Germany too;

Apple Pay is just another way of presenting the debit or credit card you’ve connected to your Apple wallet to the payment terminal. Every payment terminal should be able to read the NFC chip in your watch or phone, that’s not the issue. The issue is whether or not the establishment accepts the card you connected to your Apple wallet.
If an establishment doesn’t accept American Express credit cards and you’ve connected an American Express credit card to your Apple Pay wallet, you won’t be able to use Apple Pay. Not because the establishment doesn’t accept Apple Pay, but because they don’t accept American Express.
So what you should be asking is; whether or shops/restaurants etc in Bruges and Brussels accept your particular credit card. If it’s Visa or MasterCard you should be okay, if it’s American Express or Discover you will find that lots of places don’t accept these cards.

Thank you! Yes, I did copy to other destinations as we are traveling between countries, Thank you for the comprehensive reply! I guess my initial inquiry did not hit the topic spot on - thanks for the clarification(s) - I am setting up my wallet with the cards now and will take note that Visa/Mastercard are the way to go! Appreciate the help, cheers!