Money Needs for Italy
 

My wife and I will be leaving soon for 13 days in Italy. It is a planned tour with Brendan Tours.
In addition to using a credit card, how much cash should we take? What form should it be in, US cash, euros, or travelers' checks?
Any other info or tips would be appreciated.

I spent 1mo in Italy last summer and brought with me:

$200 USD cash.
100 Euro (left over from a previous trip)
$0.00 travelers checks

Using my Visa logo/debit card from my local credit union I withdrew cash when I needed it, usually in 250Euro increments. Bank ATMs in Europe charge $0. My CU charged me $0 per withdrawal. Visa adds on 1% international transaction fee, resulting in a cost to me 1% above the daily interbank exchange rate.

I returned home with

USD cash: $200
Euro for my next trip: 100
memories: priceless

If you want to buy a few €s in advance that's up to you but it really isn't necessary. You will get the best exchange by using your ATM card in Italy. Be sure to notify your bank that you will be using it in Italy. Traveler's checks are hard to cash, you will get a bad exchange, and you will pay fees on top of that. That goes for traveler's checks in either USD or €. Trading US cash will also involve a bad exchange rate and fees.

Once again, the most economical way to go is the ATM, hands down.

You can:
1) Bring USD and exchange it for Euro somewhere upon arrival
2) Take an ATM card and w/draw Euro direct
3) Purchase Euro from your home bank if you would feel more comfortable having it before your trip, although this is not necessary.

Guidebook writers tips:
-always have a few euro for the first taxi
-forget about travelers checks ..no Italian bank ever heard of AAA checks
-always have a back up ATM card
-no one in Italy wants US$
more tips and itineraries on www.elegantetruria.com

We made our first trip to Italy last summer.

We didn't take any traveler's checks.

We were arriving in Rome on a weekend. We brought 400 Euro's to cover our first two days expenses.

We didn't have any problems in Rome, but we arrived in Cinque Terre the next weekend and the ATM at the train station was out of money so we had to find another.

Typically we withdrew our "budget" for the day to manage our spending and to limit any losses in case of any unfortunate incidents.

We didn't wear money belts after the first day. We did witness someone on a bike steal a purse while in Lake Como. Just be aware.

I brought home 50 Euros to have for my next trip (maybe at a bargain rate!) If it's easy to get "some pocket money" do it, but don't stress. I bet you know someone that has some euros at home they would be willing to sell.

Enjoy.

Credit union Visa debit cards offer the best deal as far as no charge for withdrawals and only the 1% from Visa. So this makes it easy to withdraw only what you need from the ATM on a daily basis and you're not paying a per transaction withdrawal fee.

The only time we have used travelers checks was last summer when we rented an apartment in Rome and needed to pay cash to the owner. We were concerned that we wouldn't be able to withdraw 900Euro from an ATM,so before we left we got traveler's checks in Euro's from AAA. This was acceptable to the landlord as he didn't have to pay the exchange fee since the traveler's checks were already converted to Euros (in essence we had paid that fee). We also had some additional Euro travelers checks for the first taxi (not needed) and they were easily exchanged at the currency exchange offices in Rome and Venice.