My purse was stolen in France recently and the only card we had left was AMEX. We had HUGE problems using the card. Thankfully, our hotel did. Most restaurants on Rue Cler in Paris did not accept it. Many gas stations did not. The American Embassy in Paris didn't even accept it when we needed to pay for our replacement passports. I would never rely on AMEX in Europe again.

Christina - good point about the Amex fee. It no longer is 2% across the board (even before I think there were exceptions). I have a couple that are now 2.7%. And there are some Amex cards issued by other banks - such as Citi, with a 3% fee.

Cards charge different rates - but it deosn;t depend on Visa, MC or AMEx - it depends on which BANK issues your cards - they all have different rates. You need to check your banks to see what they charge.

And in general in europe almost everyplace takes Visa and EuropeCard (their version of MC) but some places do not take AmEx (usually less expensive places that don;t want to pay the higher amounts AmEx charges them).

We use AmEx wherever possible to get the miles all in one place and have found all of out hotels and most restaurants and stores will take it - but some simpler restaurants and some stores won;t. You should never rely on one card - but always have 2 or 3 with you as well as 2 ATM cards to pull cash.

Just try to avoid using your American credit cards abroad, just because the exchange rate sucks and you'll most likely be charged with an international transaction fee.

I only use credit cards for emergencies.

You will pay for exchanging money no matter how you do it. If you pull cash from ATMS your bank will determine how much they will charge you over the Interbank rate (that charged between banks when trading in million s of dollars). It' usually 1 or 2 %. Most credit cards charge about the same - but it depends on your bank and YOU must check.

Changing cash will cost much more - more like 8% or 9% - and you will be stuck carrying a lot of cash.

I don;t know of a less expensive/safer way than credit cards/ATMs.

Go with a Capital One Visa. No international fees. My husband and I use it on all of our international trips without any fees or problems.