We are going on the South Italy tour and wanted to know if anyone has been to those locations post-pandemic to shed some light on if they are cash heavy or credit card heavy?
Here in the US, it’s hard to find places that even take cash (sports stadiums, amusement parks etc are cash free). While I will bring euros with me for some small things, just wondered if most places are card only these days or if I should rely more on cash? Thanks in advance for any insight you all have!
I was in southern Italy this past spring with another tour company. I used very little cash and probably could have used 100% credit cards.
I think you can still plan on using card with a little cash. I think things have backslid from the pandemic, when it was nearly all card, with some businesses indicating they prefer cash, but they do still take card.
Better yet, if you don’t already learn how use your phone or better yet you watch. No digging for CC.
Safe travels
I was on that tour in 2023 and loved it. I rarely needed to use cash. The two exceptions were really small purchases, like a quick espresso, or when eating a meal on free time and then splitting the bill with other tour members in a restaurant that presented one bill for a group.
We spent 11 days in Sorrento in April and only needed cash for the 3 guided tours we booked. All else was credit card.
One thing we noticed - and we see it here is the State as well: lots of places discount if you use cash. We were in Sorrento last year, paid cash for our hotel because they offered a discount; same for many restaurants, etc. Something to keep in mind, even if places do take a card.
What Rebecca said. Last year in Rome we got a 10% discount and in 2017 in Venice we got a 20% discounts for cash. That was a big one because it saved us a couple of hundred Euros.
I was on this tour in June 2023. I used credit card for mostly everything with the exception of small purchases such as gelato, etc.
