Best way to get pounds
 

Is it still the best strategy to wait until you arrive at Heathrow and get pounds from an ATM machine in the airport? I think I read in JanisJ's trip report that the exchange rate at banks in the US is not good and it was better to wait till you're in UK.

For sure wait.

Exchanging cash for other currency costs more -- whether its in the States or in London. The cheapest option is to withdraw ££ from cash point/ATM either at the airport or a bank owned machine in town. Be sure to read all the ATM display screens - and to request the withdrawal WITHOUT conversion. In other words, you want the withdrawal calculated in £, and not converted to $. There will be small fees from your own bank but IMO not enough to fret about.

The ATMs at LHR are mostly owned by TravelEx (not a bank) but that's OK -- as long as you do the transaction without conversion. (Getting £ at the TravelEx booths is a different matter and is much more expensive)

I prefer to use the ATMs attached to an open bank just in case there is a problem with my debit card. Our card was once "eaten" by a machine in Italy and we had to wait until the next day to retrieve it during the bank's business hours. London taxis take credit cards and you can pay for the Underground with a credit card as well, so you can wait until you get into London if you can't find a convenient ATM.

The ATM at Heathrow for our Virgin Atlantic flight was out of cash. We were in London for 3 1/2 days and ended up never getting cash just using cc and Apple Pay. However most people are going to want cash and using an ATM is definitely the way to go.

I was in Edinburgh and London a month ago. Prebought a ticket from the airport to Edinburgh and then stopped at an ATM and got pounds. I got 200 pounds for 2 weeks. I was shocked. Many, many, many places had signs: credit cards only, no cash. it was the same in London. Had almost no use for about 120 pounds. Going onto Amsterdam and Paris were cash friendly.

I’m an American who lives in England on my US pensions, so may have a different perspective than tourists, but here’s what I think. I can’t remember the last time I paid in cash, but still carry some sterling around just in case. If your US bank has no foreign transaction fees, using a card for purchases is the way to go. Some of my US cards are chip + signature and don’t have Contactless payments (tap and go), and this is irritating. Check that your cards default to Chip + PIN and have the Contactless symbol. If not and you have an iPhone you can load them into the phone’s wallet and use Apple Pay. I normally use Apple Pay in shops, restaurants, etc.

For ATMs it’s best to use one from a bank or credit union rather than a private machine which sometimes charges a fee (that’s how they make their money). Examples of banks are Barclays, Lloyds, and HSBC. Don’t count on getting your card back if it’s swallowed by the machine, even if the bank is open. Standard procedure is to destroy the card rather than handing it back. Best practice is to have more than one card so you don’t get stuck. I only use my debit cards for ATM withdrawals, and credit cards for everything else. I pay my balance every month so I don’t get charged interest. My credit cards have no foreign transaction fees and even give me cash back on transactions, so it’s a no brainier to use them.

Lastly, don’t fall for the dynamic currency conversion trick where the ATM or POS terminal sometimes asks if you would like the transaction shown in your home currency (see janisj’s above post). That allows the vendor to choose what exchange rate to use, which is always higher than than your home bank. If you want to see what you will be charged in your home currency, both Visa and MasterCard have websites for that.

Another hint: if your cards are Contactless you can use them in London on tubes and buses rather than buying an Oyster card. Be sure to tap it when you leave the tube station or you will be charged for the furthest stop. You only have to tap the card when you board a bus, and not when getting off.

It is true that in London many people use contactless cards to pay for everything. However if you want to explore further afield and/or go to markets, you will still find having some cash useful.

Yes, or perhaps leave a daily gratuity for your hotel housekeeper.

That’s true, but I live in rural Suffolk and nearly everywhere, except taxis, accepts card payments. Even the stall holders on the street on market day often have portable card readers.

As I said we were in London and Paris and ended up never getting pounds or euros. We quickly discovered in London that many places didn’t even take cash and Paris was also card friendly. I use my Apple Pay on my watch for most things here in Calif and I used it in Europe also. Restaurant’s we used a credit card. Now the tip for a hotel maid was my one issue and that was a bit confusing. I was told in Paris that no one leaves tips when I inquired about leaving money and that a cleaning lady might get in trouble for finding money and keeping it. Tip culture is very different in Europe and I do think that servers and others are paid better plus health care and some other issues we have here are not such a worry there. Pretty sure if I had gotten 100 pounds or euros I would have been returning home with 90% of it.

I live in rural Yorkshire and use cash roughly every couple of months. Market stalls have card machines (I use debit cards all the time and have no real use for credit cards), hairdressers etc. As a visitor to the UK I imagine you might need cash to tip the cleaning staff in a hotel and that is it. Taxis will take a card tip.

Tips in the UK are a whole different subject

So, I live in rural Suffolk (East Anglia) and Bilbo lives in rural Yorkshire, a different part of the country, and we both have little use for cash. It’s been awhile since I used a taxi (other than Uber) so perhaps they now accept cards.

Regarding debit vs credit card, when travelling overseas I try to use credit cards whenever I can because of the greater protection against fraud, and the possibility of someone emptying my current (checking) account if they shoulder surf and get their hands on my debit card. It actually saves me money to use my credit card, because I pay the balance off monthly and get 1.5% back on every transaction.

With the higher limit on Contactless charging these days (£100 in the UK) a thief doesn’t even have to know your PIN to make several quick transactions before you have a chance to cancel your card.

I split my time between central London and rural Oxfordshire. I can't remember the last time I had cash in my wallet, probably pre pandemic. I mostly use ApplePay or contactless cards. Make sure your cards, be they credit or debit, charge zero for ATM withdrawals or foreign transactions.

I split my time between Buckinghamshire and Northumberland. Whilst it is perfectly possible to avoid using cash, I’ve noticed that not all market stall holders have cash readers and some of the smaller shops have a £5 minimum limit for using a card. It can be useful to have some cash - I was in a shop the other day and their machine wouldn’t work, so I paid cash.

With regards to the tip issue, every country has their own rules. In the UK, most restaurants add 10% with some adding 12.5+% to the bill. This is not obligatory and if you’ve had bad service, you can ask them to remove it. Others don’t add anything to the bill itself and staff appreciate being left a tip. Legally the owners have to give the tips to staff whether cash or on card. Some divide it between all the staff (front and back of house) whilst elsewhere it’s for waiting staff. If you are travelling in other European countries you may want to Google it for that country, or post another question here.

Wow - this has been very interesting! Even here in the US, I rarely use cash - too many benefits for using credit cards.

Thanks for the advice, everyone!

In my last several trips to the USA, I used less than $50 in cash. On one trip, I used none at all.

"Make sure your cards, be they credit or debit, charge zero for ATM withdrawals or foreign transactions."

That is not always possible with US cards. I have 3 debit cards with three different banks/credit unions, plus one Amex and 3 Visa cards and one mastercard with different institutions. All three debit cards do have out-of-system ATM fees but one reimburses them. All have on foreign transaction fees. And of my credit cards only one has no foreign transaction fees.

I do primarily use the debit card that reimburses fees and the Visa without foreign transaction fees but do use any/all of them. In any case, for the small amounts of ££ currency one needs -- the a small debit card fees won't add up to much and I wouldn't even worry about it.

What about pubs? I will be staying in Chipping Camden and there are several pub visits planned :) Cash or contactless credit cards?

card.

If you have to use a paid for public toilet you might need a £1 or 50p, but really there are always some options.

Honestly, ever since the pandemic nearly everywhere takes cards, pubs included. Haven’t had to use a pay toilet recently, but for sure you would need coins. There used to be an expression here in England when you were caught short: “I need to spend a penny”. That’s inflation for you! 😂

Wait, there are still pay toilets? Haven’t seen one of those in decades.

The Eight Bells Inn in Chipping Campden is where I began my love affair with Sticky Toffee Pudding. (:

There's a 2theloo in Covent Garden that charges 1 pound - very clean with an attendant there, and you can pay with a card.
Lots of those type of toilets in the Netherlands and Belgium now. And on motorways too. Always with a card reader.

Very true that contactless credit card is almost always the way to go.

Hopelessly American, I do like to leave the hotel breakfast server a coin every morning, and something for the hotel maids.

The little shop where I get my newspaper has a £3 limit for cards.

I think remembering the hotel maid is ‘admirably American!’

I did not use cash for anything in Chipping Camden. We used our Apple Pay everywhere but a tiny parking area in Cornwall. MaiTai Tom is right about Eight Bells Inn. Great food and the sticky toffee pudding was delicious.

I just realised that I haven't bought a newspaper for 12 years now. The internet has replaced it

Do Europeans leave tips for hotel maids? That was my question since it was the only time my having no pounds or euros was an issue. In Paris, I was told no one leaves tips and the maid probably wouldn’t be allowed to keep it. Tipping etiquette is so different everywhere.

I only discovered it was a "thing" from Americans so I guess not. Since then I've done it in Egypt because we stayed a week and, frankly, I saw how they lived. But Europe, no.

May I suggest you open a Wise account (UK based I think) ... or a similar banking service now increasingly available. It is absolutely fantastic and has been a game changer for how I have managed the financial aspect of travelling since 2018 when I first opened an account with them. They are an app based banking system offering foreign exchange services for the most competitive rates on the market. Just google wise.com to see how it operates.

You can load a variety of foreign currencies at the cheapest foreign exchange rate (in my experience) into your account, and they will issue you with a Visa debit card with contactless capability and a PIN, which holds the various foreign exchange accounts.

I purchase the currencies in the amounts I require before travelling, such as pounds, euro, Canadian, Singapore and Australian dollars, and then use my account to make various online purchases, e.g. accommodation, car rental, tickets etc so I am paying in the that country's currency. While travelling I use it in the same way as I would a credit card (except it is a debit card), making purchases either contactless or PIN and also to draw cash at an ATM, no charge because you are drawing in that country's currency. I used it seamlessly to get myself around on the underground in London. It is also bliss to come home and not face a horrendous credit card statement with all the additional exchange rate charges for each purchase.

Oh yes, you can also just swap one currency into another while on the move via your phone app. for instance if you have surplus pounds leaving the UK and are travelling to Europe next, a couple of button presses, and the pounds convert to euro, at a very tiny cost.

It took the younger generation to get me on to it!

I use Revolut for the same reason.

I understand from this site that some US cards already have the best conversion rates on their credit cards.

I don't know, I leave this stuff to Mrs Bilbo

I use Wise to move money to my Italian bank from the bank where my US pension is deposited. I considered getting a Wise multi-currency account, but most of my travel is within the EU and I have the US account which I can use when I travel in the US. I use the debit card from the US account when I make online dollar payments. I decided it wasn't worth keeping money tied up in an account I wouldn't use much. If you get one of these accounts, be aware that the funds are lot guaranteed, so I wouldn't put a lot of money there.

The Wise app is sometimes a bit flaky, but in general it works very well.

​​​​​​I can vouch for their reasonable fees, although they've been creeping up.

I've also been using the Wise app, and their Visa debit card, as KathNZ mentions. I just load it up with my Canadian currency and let them do the conversion as I make a transaction. It has worked well for us in the Netherlands and the UK,

I've noticed that, as well.

As an aside, for any Canadians reading this, Scotiabank offers a Visa credit card that does not charge a foreign transaction fee. It is called the Passport card and it also generates Scene points, for those who care about such things, plus access to some airport lounges. It does have an annual fee, but it may be worthwhile if you have certain travel patterns abroad.