Greece - Visa acceptance vs. cash?
 

Quick question... is it common for restaurants and vendors to accept Visa, or will I need to be carrying a lot of cash for 2 weeks in Greece (Athens, Santorini and Mykonos)?

Thanks :)

I've never had a problem paying restaurants, museums, and brick and mortar stores with Visa in Greece, or anywhere in Europe for that matter. However, you will encounter street vendors who will not take credit cards.

When traveling in Europe I always bring one Visa Card, one MasterCard, two ATM debit cards, and 100€ to cover initial expenses. I use the ATM cards to get cash as I go along and generally pay everything except hotel bills and maybe museum entries with cash. The hotel bill always goes on one of my credit cards.

BTW: You should notify your bank before leaving that you'll be traveling and using your debit card overseas so that they don't freeze it due to <i><u>suspicious</i></u> activity. This is also the reason I bring two ATM cards, once while traveling Wells Fargo froze their debit card (even though I had alerted them) and so I was very happy to have the BofA debit card to use until that got resolved. I've never had a credit card frozen in such a fashion, but it would not hurt to alert them also of your upcoming travels.

--gatorbill

I found visa to be widely accepted, however, some stores were not willing to accept credit cards for small purchases. I'd been on a cruise to Mykonos, Santorini, Rhodes and Athens. On the islands there were many jewelery stores, and most of my tablemates had bought jewelery, they did comment that they were quoted better prices if they were paying with cash.

Although many businesses are set up to take credit cards now it would be a mistake to assume that the smaller shops and restaurants offer that service. The service charges that the CC companies charge the vendors are in many cases too much for them to justify the added business expense. Your best option is to bring your CC and use it whenever it's possible but take along a VISA or Mastercard ATM debit card from a bank that has a Plus, Cirrus, Star or Interbank alliance to use in the machines you'll find everywhere in Athens and on Mykonos and Santorini.

Gatorbill's advice about notifying your card companies and banks about your intention to use them in Europe is a very good idea.

gatorbill,
You may find that many smaller-to-medium size, non-corporate hotels will give discounts if you offer to pay cash, including some of the better known hotels on Santorini.

In general, quite a change from USA, where I will use a credit card for even $5 purchases. In most USA shops, scanning a CC is faster than fumbling for bills or change, plus cash back rebates on purchases :-)