Discover Card

No issue at all. You just can't use it.

Can't use discover at all? Really?

I have never seen anyplace over in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, or Italy that took Discover card.

You just asked the same question but called it MasterCard. I answered it there. I repeat: MasterCard OK - discover NO GOOD in Europe, anyway.
However - note that MasterCard will be accepted in places that take credit cards. Many places in Germany either take only or prefer cash; other places will accept German debit cards but no credit cards.

It is the network. The common networks in Europe are Plus and Cirrus. Discover Card is on the pulse network along with Diner card. It is accepted at a few places (very few) but the dependable cards are Master and VISA. DON'T leave home without either.

I can't remember seeing more than 1 or 2 places that took Discover cards in months of travel. You need at least a MasterCard or Visa and an ATM card. Preferably two of each from different banks because if one bank screws up authorizing foreign travel on your cards you need something to fall back on. Bank of America pulled that clever move on my wife a few years ago but fortunately PNC Bank did not mess up on mine.

In Europe Visa and Mastercard ok, Amex only at high end hotels and restaurants. Discover hardly anywhere. You need M/C, Visa and/or an ATM card or better yet two with large withdrawal limits.

We just spent 6 weeks in Europe and didn't find one single place that took Discover. Get a Master Card or, better yet, Visa. American Express is spotty at best...everyone I asked said that their fees are too high so they won't accept it.

Carrie-no guratantees, but a couple of things that might help: A Discover Card customer service rep told us this summer that Discover has eliminated foreign transaction fees, which could save you 3% or more compared to other credit cards. Also, our Discover has a Diner's Club logo on the back, in addition to the Discover logo, and we were told that our Discover would work as a Diner's Club in Europe (Spain trip this coming November, haven't had a chance to try this out yet in person). However, our Visa has been and will probably continue to be our main card for this trip -- will hope to use the Discover as a back-up. As others have indicated, Discover outlets are likely much fewer than Visa/MasterCard/JCB/Maestro, etc. I specifically remeber a resaurant in Lisbon 10 years ago promoting Snails(!) with a Diner's Club decal on their front door. We did try to use the Discover last month to reserve a room thru a Barcelona hotel's booking Website, which supposedly accepts Diner's Club, but our Discover didn't work there and we used our Visa instead. Don't know if that was an Internet thing, or if this was an isolated situation. The Discover customer service people assured us, again, that the Discover Card should be interchangable with a Diner's Club for any merchant who accepts Diner's Club. We'll have to see if that works in Espana, good luck in Deutchland.

Per Discover Card's website, Germany is NOT on their list offoreign countries where a customer can use the Discover card. Period. See their credit card customer service guide / foreign travel section.