What do you recommend for a 10 day trip to Florence and Venice .... Cash, credit card, traveler checks or a combination? We will be using the train, bus and maybe a rental car, staying in hotels and/or bed and breakfast. (we are 50 years old by the way!)

Credit card, preferably one not adding additional foreign currency fees from banks such as Capital One or USAA, for all purchases large or small (making sure they don't pull the dynamic currency conversion near criminal scam on you) supplemented by cash withdrawn from ATM's for those few places not taking credit cards.

I found it difficult to use my AmEx (in Euros) Travellers Checks this summer. I still carry one or two for "emergencies" and use them for souvenirs on the last day of travel if they were not needed during the trip. I don't rely upon being able to use them. ATMs were far tooooo easy to use in comparison!

Use your credit card for large bills and get cash from an ATM for ordinary expenses. The hotel will probably accept credit cards, the B&B might require cash. TCs are passé.

1) ATM machine to withdraw euro is my primary method of funding a trip.
2) Credit card for large expenses only like the hotel bill.
3) Travelers checks optional (unless you need a large amount of cash to pay a hotel bill, TC's are not that useful except in an emergency and plan to go to a regular bank during normal business hours to cash them).
4) Cash tucked away for emergencies another optional and would need a trip to the bank to make an exchange into euro.

Just out of curiosity...

why do people suggest credit cards only for large purposes...why not use credit cards for every purchase no matter how small wherever and whenever they are taken...I have no problems of giong into a convenience store and buying something for 1 or 2 euro and paying with my credit card; that's one less trip to the ATM....cash only for those places that don't take credit cards which may I admit may be more so in Italy than in say the UK and in the US where credit cards are taken most everywhere including fast food places in this day and age.

Why CCs for only large purchases? We left on May 19 and did not come back until July 5. We check off every credit card charge agasint the receipts. For $1 or $2 charges, this would be a pain in the neck. It is much easier to check off the $300 withdrawal than 100 $3 charges.

Don't bother with the Travellers Checks unless you want to take for emergencies--they are hard to cash unless you go to an AMEX office and few people accepted them. Take 2 CC's from different sources in case 1 doesn't work that day--you will have a cash limit.

I don't know if this holds true in Italy, but in Portugal a couple of years ago my husband and I both had a great deal of difficulty in using our ATM cards. Now, we had not warned our banks prior to our trip that we would be using the cards abroad. Was that the problem or was Portugal not up to Italian standards for electronic banking? In using them in Italy, I just need to use my regular PIN?

RomaSuz, it's sometimes better to get a Visa debit card from your bank instead of a regular ATM card. For the most part a regular ATM card will work, but a few posters, myself included, have learned the hard way that a visa debit card is easier to use in some countries.

PS: It is always best to notify your bank in advance that you will be traveling overseas. Your 4 digit PIN s/b fine, although my bank recommends that the PIN s/not begin with a zero. I'm not saying this is the rule for everyone, just repeating the recommendation of my bank.

I notify my banks; my husband doesn't. I am not sure why not, but he never had a hold placed on his credit card and ATM card.

Another thing to remember is to know your PIN in numbers since the pushkeys do not have letters on them.