jane

Is one credit card more accepted in London, Paris or Belfast than another?

clairobscur

Concerning Paris : Mastercard is widely accepted, but Visa is clearly the best bet. I don't remember having ever seen an ATM, shop, etc.. accepting credit cards but not Visa

Ed

You'll find MasterCard branded as EuroCard in Europe. It is arguably accepted a tad more widely in Europe as a whole than Visa. I've never noticed a difference, though, very much as in the USA where both have roughly equal acceptance.

Ed

Patrick

This past summer we were refused use of Master Card three times, by restaurants that did take Visa. The first time I was so shocked I said, "you know this is the same as EuroCard?" The answer was yes, but they didn't take that either. No problem as one of us has Master Card and the other has Visa. The biggest shock was a couple of years ago in Stockholm where a restaurant wouldn't take either one, but asked if we had American Express! So from our personal experience (Visa was accepted and Master Card not a couple of times the year before also) I'd definitely say that Visa would be preferred over Master Card.

love2trvl

Jane:
I had trouble using my Visa in London (When I inquired I was told that Visa has been experiencing alot of fraud in London and some shops and restaurants refused to accept Visa)and no problem with Mastercard, Paris I used both with no problem. Hope this helps!

Sherry

Hi Jane. Some credit cards charge up to a 3% surcharge for foreign transactions. Some do not charge extra. You can call your individual credit card customer service to ask them if they have a surcharge. You may choose to take a card with you that costs you less to use. This may also help in your decision of which cards to carry on a vacation abroad.