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Cash or credit preferred in Athens and Greek islands?

Cash or credit preferred in Athens and Greek islands?

Old Sep 10th, 2022, 12:50 PM
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Cash or credit preferred in Athens and Greek islands?

Hello all,

In many, but not all of the European countries we have visited lately, we have rarely if ever used cash. Is Greece the same way or is cash preferred in some areas of Greece? Many thanks!
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Old Sep 10th, 2022, 03:29 PM
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We visited Greece this past May. Our itinerary was Santorini, Naxos, Nafplion and surrounding area, and Athens. We used our credit cards all the time. Didn't have any problems at all. Well, one problem. We ate at a fish taverna (a small local place) in Ermioni on the Argolid Peninsula. Used our credit card. The waitress made a huge error on our card. Charged us about $4,000 accidentally, and they had difficulty fixing the problem. We had to call our credit card company. It did get resolved. The taverna accepts credit cards but perhaps most of their patrons pay with cash so they didn't know how to fix the error.
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Old Sep 10th, 2022, 04:34 PM
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We were in mainland (mostly northern + Athens) Greece this summer and used cash quite a bit. For small amounts, cash seemed expected. We also booked a few private tours where either part or all of the expense was to be paid in cash. We just got Euro at ATMs as needed. That said, most places of course take credit cards. I think we were even able to pay with cards at Meteora monasteries.
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Old Sep 10th, 2022, 09:01 PM
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I had no idea that you had to now pay an entrance fee at the monasteries at Meteora (we haven't been there for a very long time) and paying with a card in that environment seems surreal to me. I'm so out of touch. We're returning to Greece for our next holiday and I think the changes will be enormous. Sorry to go off track.
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Old Sep 10th, 2022, 11:53 PM
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Greek businesses are required by law to have POS machines and accept card payments. The law was passed several years ago to reduce tax evasion. You can still pay by cash if you wish, and should expect to receive a cash register receipt. For very small transactions cash is still preferred, and in some cases, eg taxis, you can’t pay by card. It’s best to have a small amount of cash for these small transactions.
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