We will be going on a 15-day tour of Eastern Europe and stopping in Austria,Czech Republic,Germany, Hungary and Poland. Do these countries freely taken traveller's cheques? Any suggestions about what to do about money in 5 different countries? I've noticed that many restaurants don't take credit cards.Has anyone had experience with this?

In my experience in Europe, checks of any type are not as widely used as they are in the USA. The society is more cash based. For that reason, last summer, we carried more cash on us than I normally do at home. Credit cards were accepted at hotels and for gasoline and at some restaurants. <BR>Visiting as many nations as you have on your schedule, you will be using your ATM card or check (debit) card a lot to withdraw cash. But check with your bank and find out what kind of fees might be imposed. <BR> <BR>When confronted with the same problem that you describe, I carried a supply of US dollar American Express Checks as well my ATM cards because my bank charges $1.50 for the third and every subsequent use of a "foreign" ATM machine. So it was a toss up between cashing a travelers check and using the ATM card. <BR>In some cases at towns around the border, you can make purchases in multiple currencies. In some airports, the duty free shops accept any major currency. For example, in Amsterdam last year I saw people paying with a wide variety of currencies, including Japanese Yen. We were able to unload all of our European paper money that way, getting home with only a few coins. <BR> <BR>In Hungary and Poland you might be able to bargain with crisp, new US bills. <BR>Perhaps some other posters will have more insights into this issue. <BR>

Hi! After reading all of the articles on this forum about foreign currency, I <BR>decided to check around and get foreign currency before we leave, so that I would at least have a little change in our pockets to suffice us until we located an ATM machine. We will be traveling to 4 countries (yes, in 4 weeks) and I thought that this would be easy to do. I live in a small southern town and every bank that I called told me that they did not do this. I think we will just carry travler's checks for just in case, but will rely on our ATM card and charge everything that we can to our visa. I am so very excited about our trip,and I have enjoyed this form very much. I read it daily and have reaped lots of valuable information. Thank you, everyone. Kathy

That is a good article referenced by Mike, who is climbing Tour Eifel it appears when one references his web site. Where acquiring foreign money is concerned, I too have that "little town" problem described by Kathy. <BR>There are a couple of ways around it. <BR>If you are an American Express card holder (or know someone who is), you can order major foreign currencies on the card. But the rate of exchange is a little more expensive than the "wholesale bankrate" and you probably will want AE to ship the money via FedEx rather than via the US Postal Service. <BR> <BR>Some of the large branches of various banks sell foreign currency, but at a price. Just to see what the situation was, I called the local Nationsbank. <BR>The main branch where I live seels French francs, but at a premium. Today the bank wholesale rate is .1663 cents per franc. Nations Bank is charging .17728 at the local main branch. So to purchase 1000 francs, the bank would charge you about $11 more than if you made a Visa card charge for a 1000 franc purchase or drew it out of an ATM machine in Paris. So you are paying about 6% for the pleasure. I wish I could make 6% on my bank CD. <BR> <BR>What you carry and how much you carry depends on where you will be arriving and when. All major airports have ATM machines on the premises. My suggestion is to have travelers checks in US dollars for backup, but rely on the ATM machine for local currency. And, I guess if one is risk averse like I am, show up with a couple of hundred bucks in local currency. <BR> <BR>

I went on a 7 country tour a couple of years ago. About a week before I left, I went to the bank and got $50 in currency for each country that I would visit. Once I arrived I used my credit cards and ATM without any problems at all. It was handy to have cash on hand immediately upon arrival.

AAA is advising travellers heading out to Europe, specially to those going to more than one country, to get euro-denominated American Express Travellers Cheques. Apparently, several hotels, restaurants, and local tours companies, are accepting euro cheques as form of payment. If anything, it does have the advantage of act as a contingency fund.