My wife and I are booked for a weeks stay in Prague in March. I love to use my Visa and AmEx cards to rack up frequent flyer miles and wonder if they are safe to use in the Czech Republic.<BR><BR>It seems that I have read on this board some negative experiences with travelers using plastic there. What are your own personal experiences. Has anyone had any problems?

Royd,<BR><BR>I had no problems using my Visa, MasterCard and debit card in Prague. But, I don't recall seeing a lot of signs for AmEx, but I wasn't looking either. Before you use those credit cards check with both companies to find out what percentage they are charging for "foreign sales". I was being charged a 1% fee for the use, but I know this percentage differs. Also, I watched the cashiers ring up these charges. I did not use credit cards in restaurants because I couldn't see the card being swiped. Just a suggestion, keep your eye on your credit card when you use it to prevent double billings. I was not in any stores that used the old carbon paper receipts.<BR><BR>Leslie<BR><BR>

USed all cards in prague. Less chance of using American express though than visa or mastercard. My suggestion? USe the atms that are all around town.<BR>YOu do not need to take cash.<BR>Take out max amount on your ATM each time. there is fee to use but better than carring alot of US money or anyother than theres.<BR>Feel free to ask i have been there many times. I just came back actually.<BR>Also know great airport pick up service that you can email for that also.<BR>Dan H<BR>email [email protected]<BR><BR>Also know a super little hotel.

I used my VISA there plenty with no problems. Don't have an AmEx so never looked about that. I don't recall having read any negative experiences with CCs in Prague, don't know to what you might be referring. Are you talking about fraud (ie, bad charges?). If so, I'm sure that can happen anywhere, I didn't use them except for hotel, major purchases in well-known stores and a few meals (I didn't use them for many meals as they are so cheap I didn't need to).

Used Visa a lot in Prague. Absolutely no problem. We did find that some of the merchants would give you a better price if we used CKs. They would often take 100-200 CKs off for cash. We probably did more ATM withdrawls in Prague than any other city for that reason. Don't use the currency exchanges in Prague though, they nail you on service charges...whereas ATMs are $1.50 only (our bank didn't charge us at all).<BR>