Portugal--currency and safety of drinking water

"Portugal uses the euro, correct?" - yes, correct

"How about credit cards? We have American Express and MasterCards. Are they usually accepted in hotels and restaurants?" - Most places accept MasterCard and Visa. American Express acceptance is rarer. Street stalls, small items (less than about €10/€20) will be cash only. But always check, there may be the odd restaurant that is cash only.

"Do any places accept U.S. dollars?" - No. Not even banks exchange US dollars cash. Exchange offices (airports and some tourist city centres) will, but give you a worse rate than ATM's

"Drinking water: is the drinking water safe" - Yes

"Do the hotels generally provide bottled water in the rooms?" - Never heard of that.

I will add to the previous poster - It is somewhat rare to be able to get tap water in restaurants. Most only do bottled water. It’s starting to change in the last year but not a lot - at least not the places I go regularly.

I’ve been told the only time tap water might not be good is in very old buildings. In these the pipes may not be in good shape and it would affect the water.

And it’s easy to get euros from multibanco machines, but be aware if your bank or credit union charges foreign transaction fees. They can add up.

Also, you can only withdraw 200€ at a time. But, you can withdraw twice in rapid succession to get 400€.

Yes, there are ATM’s at the airport. I don’t use them as I always land with 100-150 Euros in my pocket. This topic (whether to buy some Euros at home and pay a fee and perhaps a poor exchange rate) is debated endlessly on this forum. The Multibanco ATM’s are all over the place. Be aware that Portuguese can pay bills and do other multiple transactions via these machines. So, if the person in front of you seems to be taking forever consider moving on. Also, be aware that by default the machine will ask if you want your conversion in dollars (dynamic currency conversion). Always answer no-you want the conversion in Euros otherwise you are paying a lousy exchange rate. As for water-I have a sensitive GI tract and drank tap water throughout Portugal with no problems. If you are worried bottled water is widely available.

Bottled water is so cheap, it's not even worth fretting about. You can go into any small market and buy a few bottles for a pittance. House wine in restaurants can actually be less expensive than buying some bottled water. I personally wouldn't drink tap water from old pipes whose condition may be questionable.

We used ATM's to get our euros. Use the ones that are actually inside the bank when they are open in case there are any problems.

The water in Portugal is probably a lot better than most of the water in the US. This is not a 3rd world country and you can safely drink the water from the taps in your room or if they have outdoor fountains that say Potable.

1. Amex isn’t widely accepted in Europe compared to Visa or MasterCard. Hotels will accept cards. Some restaurants accept credit cards and many are cash only. It’s not necessarily the smaller places that only take cash. Dollars are about as acceptable as trying to pay in your home town with euros.

2. In many parts of Portugal, they provide a jug of tap water, as it’s safe to drink. I haven’t come across any hotels that provide bottled water. It’s very cheap in the supermarkets.

I buy bottled water whenever I travel in Europe because it's cheap, but I've also had the tap water in Portugal and other European countries. Wouldn't worry about it.

Currency and ATMs work like in other European countries. Portugal has a modern first-world economy.