Is American Express accepted in Germany, Italy?
 

How widely accepted is this card?
Thanks for your help!

You've posted this on the USA forum, so you may not get too many responses. My experience is that it's not widely accepted. Visa seems to be the most common card, followed by Mastercard.

Margy

As the previous poster said; it's not as widely accepted as Visa or Mastercard, but many shops and restaurants do take it. I would not rely on Amex alone.

It's not even accepted everywhere in the USA. You really need to take along one other card. I use my AMEX when ever I can, but sometimes I would be in a bind if it were the only one I had.

You should keep in mind that most smaller restaurants and stores in Germany (and I believe, Italy as well) do not accept any form of credit card. Beyond that, American Express is not as widely accepted as Visa/MC, which gives you a very small number of places where it will be welcomed.

Tourist areas, large hotels, and large department stores are likely to accept credit cards in general, and I imagine some of them will also take AmEx. But in my opinion, you'd be better off relying on cash. Most German ATMs will allow you to withdraw cash from an American bank, and you don't have to worry about changing currency when you do that, either.

I agree with getting cash out of ATMs where you'll get the best exchange rate but there are, obviously, many advantages to using a credit card.

In my experience I would agree that Visa and Mastercard are more likely to be accepted than an AMEX card in many places. I always carry a Visa and use it as much as I can (it earns airline miles) but have another Visa from a different bank and a MasterCard which i also carry as back-ups whenever i go to Europe.

I would not go without a backup credit card if you are planning to use a CC a lot.

Somewhat off-topic, but I just want to add that the Discover card is almost never accepted ANYWHERE in Europe. Don't even bother to take it outside of North America.

I'll have to disagree with wolflady 26 when she says that Amex is accepted "in a very small number of places." True, it's not as widely accepted as Visa or MasterCard, but much more than a very small number of places.

AMEX is accepted in most upscale hotels and restaurants - but in many moderate, less expensive or smaller places they may not take it. You certainly can;t go with that as your only card - you would need at least a Visa as well.