Or one from penfed.org

I dont live in Germany.
I'm quite often in Germany.
I never have cash on me.
I pay car rental, hotel, restaurant by cash.

Debit card at bank ATM machines to get local currency after arrival - yes.
Personal checks - no.
Travelers checks - no.
USD that could be exchanged - good as a back up plan.
Credit card - for large purchases or emergencies.
Currency ordered before the trip - another option.

I am always amazed how many posters who do not live in Germany appear as experts on this forum.

In Germany, it is always good to have 200-300 Euros in cash in your wallet. Plus a credit card, MasterCard or VISA. All other cards are not accepted. Cheques are not accepted.>>

traveller - a question - it used to be the position that German petrol stations could not accept payment by credit card; we were told this was because it would mean you were paying tax by credit card which was not allowed. Is that still the case? I seem to remember that on our last trip to Germany we did pay for petrol with a card; I agree that it's a much more cash-base society than many in Europe, even Bulgaria!

Well I'm no "expert" and I don't live in Germany. But I would never advise anyone to travel anywhere without cash.

It's just a dumb idea, even if someone here has managed to make it work for them up to now. All it takes is something going wrong with you home bank account, the chip on your ATM card, fraud, whatever and you could be cut off from all your funds and left stranded.

Munich and bigger cities are a bit different than smaller towns. We use a credit card for large hotels but never small inns, bars, grocery or mom and pop places. Big purchases are ok but anything under 20.00 you should have cash. We use our Andrews chip and pin card for gas if we have a car. They brought out this ancient credit card machine to use at the table for friends once that we were eating with in Garmisch a couple of years ago, It was sort of funny. I had not seen one like that in ten years.

No one will want to take US checks in europe. You pull cash from your checking account at ATMs with your debit card. And pay for anything sizable with a credit card - for the safety of not having to carry all that cash, for getting a much better rate of exchage than changing cash ANYWHERE, and for the protection that CCs provide against inappropriate charges.

annhig,

You can pay by credit card in almost each and every petrol/gas station in Germany. There may be the odd cash-only 'independent' petrol station, but all the chains take plastic money.

When I run out of cash, I never get more than €100 from the ATM.


street food, eateries, 'hole-in-the-wall' budget restaurants, convenience stores -> mostly no plastic money at all
regular restaurants -> irregular, look for cc stickers at the door, when in doubt, just ask
chain restaurants (BK, McD, Starbucks, Maredo Steak House, etc) -> always plastic
entrance to museums or other sites -> irregular, often no plastic
taxis -> irregular, some city ordenances require all cabs to take cc and dc (like in Berlin), in other cities you must specifically ask for a cc cab
ticket machines for Deutsche Bahn railways -> always cc
ticket machines for local transit -> often, but not always
regular supermarkets (similar to Safeway or Tesco) -> always cc
discount supermarkets (Aldi, Lidl) -> not sure

>> it used to be the position that German petrol stations could not accept payment by credit card; we were told this was because it would mean you were paying tax by credit card which was not allowed. Is that still the case? <<

This explanation was never true. In the old times, many vendors were reluctant accepting credit cards because of the fees that were involved. Since the European Union has limited these fees , virtually every petrol station takes cash.

However, fees are still higher than for MAESTRO, the European payment system, and you need special devices for credit cards. They are still not liked in Germany.

The hard figures: According to a brand new survey, still 55% per cent of all transactions in Germany are paid by cash, only 4.7 per cent by credit card. The bulk of the rest is paid by MAESTRO.

Hi ChevyZ76,

I live in a small town in Germany, and here -- yes, cash is king. Until about a year ago, it wasn't even possible to buy a season ski pass (about 600€) with a credit card! At the local electronics store, a big-box type place for this small town, you have to buy more than (I think) 200€ before you can use a credit card. I have never even tried to use a credit card in a restaurant. For a coffee & cake in a cafe -- absolutely not.

German merchants and banks don't use checks at all. To transfer money to a business or the town government or to another bank, you use a debit card (EC), or you go to the bank and fill in a form, or you transfer money electronically. Many may not even know what your checkbook is or what it's used for . . . It will be useless here.

I usually get enough money for the month from the ATM at one time -- 500€ or so. It's safe to walk around town with cash in your wallet, well, so long as you don't flash it around (don't thumb through 100€ notes while looking for a 5€ note to pay for coffee . . . ).

Have fun as you plan!

s

You can pay by credit card in almost each and every petrol/gas station in Germany. There may be the odd cash-only 'independent' petrol station, but all the chains take plastic money.

When I run out of cash, I never get more than €100 from the ATM.>>

thanks cowboy & traveller. BTW i didn't say I believed the explanation but it was what I was told.

Although we use c/cards more than the germans I still like to have some cash in my pocket and I usually take £100 from the ATM too, or get cash back from the supermarket, which is limited to a max of £50.