Pay by card for most things in Europe, carry a small cash float, and always choose the local currency when a terminal or ATM offers to charge you in your own. Get that cash from an ATM attached to a bank, using a debit card, in a few larger withdrawals. Region changes the size of the float: the Nordics and the Netherlands barely use cash, while the German-speaking centre, Italy, Malta, Slovenia and the rural east still lean on it.
This page is for travelers whose home currency is not the euro, on a first trip or standing at an unfamiliar ATM screen. It walks the questions in the order they come up: where cash still matters, which currencies a multi-country trip meets, how to use an ATM, which card to put in it, which button to press, and the few things cards still do not cover.
Cards Cover Most of Europe, but Carry a Small Cash Float
The right way to pay in Europe is a mix: card first, a small cash float, local currency at every terminal, and cash drawn from a bank ATM with a debit card. The mix exists because Europe itself pays both ways. In the ECB’s latest study of payment habits, cash still made up 52% of euro-area checkout transactions by number against 39% for cards, while cards led by value with 45% against 39% for cash. Small purchases skew to cash; big ones go on a card.
Either extreme costs you. A card-only traveler hits the market stall, the village bus or the café with a card minimum and has nothing to hand over. A cash-heavy traveler pays ATM fees and exchange markups on every withdrawal and carries more than is safe to lose.
How far to lean depends on the trip. A city-only route through Scandinavia, the Netherlands or Belgium runs almost entirely on contactless. A trip built around markets, small towns, the south or the Balkans needs a bigger float and more frequent top-ups.
Size the float as a method, not a number: one withdrawal’s worth of local cash, topped up when it runs low. Daily spending is a separate question, covered in how much a Europe trip costs per day. The float only needs to cover what a card cannot.
Your cash float is a fee decision before it is a budget decision. Every top-up can trigger the same fixed charges again, so the right size is the largest amount you are comfortable carrying, not the smallest that gets you through today.
Where Europe Still Runs on Cash, and Where It Barely Uses It
Cash use in Europe splits into two poles: the Netherlands and Finland sit at the cashless end, Malta and Slovenia at the cash-heavy end. The ECB’s latest study puts cash at 22% of checkout transactions in the Netherlands and 27% in Finland, against 67% in Malta and 64% in Slovenia. The further a trip sits toward the second group, the larger the float should be.
| Region | Cash reliance | What still needs cash | Tipping norm |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nordics | Near-cashless; some places refuse notes | Very little; a few coins at most | Not expected |
| Benelux and British Isles | Low; contactless almost everywhere | Occasional market stall or small café | Service often on the bill; UK service charge common |
| German-speaking centre | Cash-heavier; card minimums and cash-only bars persist in Germany and Austria | Bakeries, beer halls, small restaurants, kiosks | Round up, often to around 10% |
| Southern Europe | Mixed; cities take cards, Italy and Malta lean on cash | Markets, coffee bars, beach kiosks, small towns | Service often included; round up for good service |
| Central-Eastern EU | Mixed; cards strong in capitals, Slovenia cash-heavy | Rural buses, markets, guesthouses | Round up, often to around 10% |
| Balkans and rural east | High outside the main cities | Intercity and local buses, small shops, rural lodging | Round up; check the bill |
Read the table by the row your trip spends most nights in. That row decides how big the float should be and whether to expect a card minimum at the counter. A route that crosses rows — from the Nordics down through the German-speaking centre to the Balkans, for instance — needs the float of its most cash-heavy stop, not its first.
Which European Countries Don’t Use the Euro?
The euro covers 21 countries, and Bulgaria is the newest euro country. Inside the EU, Czechia, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden keep their own currencies. Outside the EU, a trip meets the British pound, the Swiss franc, the Norwegian krone and several others across the Balkans and the east.
A card removes most of the problem: it pays in whatever currency the terminal charges, and your issuer converts. Cash is where the border matters. Withdraw small in each non-euro country, spend it down before you leave, and do not carry leftover notes across a border, because buying them back costs you twice.
Avoid airport exchange bureaus for any currency; an ATM on arrival beats them. The currency-choice question at the terminal also follows you into every one of these countries, so the rule in the local-currency section below applies to koruna, forint and pounds as much as to euros. For deciding which countries the route takes in the first place, start with planning a trip across Europe.
How to Use an ATM in Europe Without Paying Three Times
Use an ATM attached to a bank branch, put in a debit card, decline the conversion offer, and withdraw fewer, larger amounts. That routine avoids the three charges that stack on a careless withdrawal: the machine operator’s surcharge, a poor conversion rate offered on screen, and your own bank’s foreign fee repeated on every small withdrawal.
Bank ATMs beat independent ATMs (Euronet and similar)
Bank-attached ATMs are the better choice because independent machines, Euronet being the best-known name, add an operator surcharge, push an on-screen conversion at a poor rate and often default to high withdrawal amounts. They sit where tourists walk: shopfronts, station halls, main squares, outside currency exchanges.
A bank ATM is easy to recognise once you know the cues:
- It is built into the wall of a bank branch or stands in the branch lobby.
- The bank’s own name and logo are on the machine and the screen, not just card-network logos.
- It opens with a language choice and no fee warning before you have entered anything.
- It does not suggest a large amount as the first button.
If the screen announces an operator fee or offers a “guaranteed rate”, cancel and find the bank down the street. In a city centre there almost always is one.
How much to withdraw at a time
Withdraw as much as you will use over several days, not a day at a time, because most of the charges are per withdrawal. Up to four layers can apply: your home bank’s foreign-transaction fee, an out-of-network fee, the ATM operator’s surcharge, and the exchange markup if you accept the machine’s conversion. The first three are often fixed per withdrawal, so ten small withdrawals cost far more than three larger ones.
Type the amount yourself; the suggested buttons are set to suit the machine, not you. Withdraw during bank opening hours when you can. If the machine swallows the card, staff inside can retrieve it the same day.
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Debit or Credit Card at a European ATM?
Use a debit card at the ATM and a credit card for purchases. A credit card at an ATM is treated as a cash advance: the issuer charges a fee, and interest usually starts from the day of the withdrawal, with no grace period.
The two cards do different jobs. Credit suits hotels, car rentals, train tickets and larger purchases, where purchase protection and a deposit hold do not tie up your own money. Debit is for cash only. Keep it away from hotel and rental holds, which can freeze part of your balance for days.
Carry one of each, on different card networks, and store them apart so one lost wallet does not take both. If the debit card is lost and only the credit card is left, withdraw small amounts and repay them at once to limit the interest.
Pay in Local Currency, Never in Your Own
When a terminal or ATM in Europe offers to charge you in your home currency, decline and choose the local currency. Yes, you can be charged in your own currency; that is the option to refuse. The offer, called dynamic currency conversion, lets the machine’s operator do the conversion at its own markup, typically several percent and sometimes far more. EU rules require that charge to be shown before you confirm, which is why the screen asks at all.
| What the screen shows | What to press | Why |
|---|---|---|
| “Pay in USD / GBP / your currency?” | No, or the local-currency amount | Your currency means the operator converts at its markup |
| “With conversion” / “Without conversion” | Without conversion | Leaves the conversion to your own card |
| “Guaranteed rate” or “Fixed rate” | Decline | The guarantee is the markup, presented as a benefit |
| “Accept” / “Decline conversion” | Decline conversion | Declining still completes the payment, in local currency |
| Receipt or slip shows your home currency | Ask staff to cancel and re-run in local currency | A shop can void the charge before you sign or leave |
The wording varies by machine, and some screens make the home-currency option the large green button. Read before you press. At ATMs the question usually comes after you choose the amount; at shop terminals it can appear on the card machine or be asked by staff; at hotels and on online booking pages it may show up as “pay in your currency” at checkout.
Choosing the local currency hands the conversion to your own card at its own network rate, with no operator markup on top. The home-currency option feels safer because you see a familiar number. That familiarity is what you pay the markup for.
What You Still Pay Cash for in Europe
Cash in Europe is for the small and the unattended: tips, markets and street food, small shops with a card minimum, public toilets, rural and small-town buses, and the tourist tax at many short-term rentals. A float that covers a day of small purchases handles all of them.
- Tips. Many card terminals have no tip prompt, so a few coins left on the table or handed to the driver are the simplest way.
- Markets and street food. Stalls often take cash only, and the amounts are too small to argue about.
- Small shops and cafés. A card minimum or a cash-only sign is common in the cash-heavy rows of the region table.
- Public toilets. Station and beach toilets often charge a coin at the turnstile.
- Rural and small-town buses. Drivers in the Balkans and parts of the south and east sell tickets on board for cash.
- Tourist tax at rentals. Hosts often collect it in cash on arrival; keep part of the float aside for it.
- Unattended machines. Ticket kiosks, fuel pumps and motorway tolls may want chip and PIN; the FAQ below covers whether your card works there.
Tipping in Europe Is Lighter Than You Expect, and Often Already on the Bill
Tipping in Europe is modest: service is often included across much of Western Europe, a tip is not expected in the Nordics, and rounding up to around ten percent is the habit in parts of the south and centre. Check the bill for a service charge before adding anything.
Western Europe usually builds service into the price, and a small round-up rewards good service without being owed. The Nordics pay staff in a way that makes tipping optional. In the German-speaking centre and much of central Europe, people round up as they pay, often to around ten percent, by telling the server the total they want charged. In the UK, a service charge is often added to the restaurant bill; if it is there, nothing more is needed.
Taxis and hotel staff work by rounding: round the fare up, leave a coin or two for housekeeping or the porter. Because many terminals have no tip line, coins from the float do this job better than the card.
Tourist Tax: Card at the Hotel, Often Cash at the Rental
Hotels add the city or regional tourist tax to the bill and take it by card at checkout, while short-term rental hosts often ask for it in cash on arrival. It is usually charged per person per night and is rarely included in the price you booked.
Anticipate it before you land. The booking confirmation normally states that a local tax applies, and a short message to the host settles whether they want cash and in which currency. Keep that amount separate from the float so the arrival does not send you looking for an ATM.
Each city or region sets its own rate, so the amount belongs to city pages, not here. What matters on this page is the method: card at a hotel, cash ready at a rental.
Set Your Cards Up Before You Fly
A Europe trip runs smoothly on two cards from different networks, stored apart, with foreign use enabled in the app, a four-digit PIN you know, and contactless switched on. Each step takes minutes at home and saves a blocked card at a counter abroad.
- Foreign use on. Turn on travel or foreign-use settings in each card’s app, or tell the bank where you are going, so the first foreign charge does not trigger a fraud block.
- A four-digit PIN. Many European terminals and ATMs expect four digits; change a longer or forgotten PIN before you leave.
- Contactless and a phone wallet. Enable both; the phone works as a backup if a plastic card is lost or refused.
- Daily ATM limit. Check it, and raise it if it would force you into many small withdrawals.
- Foreign-transaction terms. Read how each card charges abroad and use the cheaper one for purchases.
- Day-one plan. Know where the first bank ATM is, at the airport or station, and carry the two cards in different places from the start.
Money is one piece of the preparation. The rest of the groundwork sits in first-time Europe travel tips, from packing to getting around on arrival.
Before You Reach the ATM
- Pay by card for most of the trip and carry a cash float of one withdrawal, topped up when it runs low and kept larger in the cash-heavy south, centre and rural east.
- Withdraw from an ATM built into a bank branch, and walk away from any independent machine that announces an operator fee or a “guaranteed rate”.
- Put a debit card in the ATM and keep the credit card for purchases, because a credit-card withdrawal is a cash advance that usually accrues interest from the first day.
- Whenever a terminal or ATM offers to charge you in your home currency, decline and pay in the local currency so the operator’s markup never applies.
- Keep coins and small notes for tips, markets, small shops with a card minimum, public toilets, rural buses and the tourist tax a rental host collects on arrival.
How We Checked This
This page settles how to pay and get cash anywhere in Europe (the card and cash mix, ATMs, the currency choice at terminals, tips and how tourist tax is collected); it is not a trip budget and not a country-by-country money guide.
Written with AI assistance, these payment rules were then gone over by Alex Perrut, working in tourism since 2015, for the Tripstou editorial team. How we work is set out in our editorial process.
Official sources consulted: European Central Bank, Bank of Slovenia, EUR-Lex.
Cash and Card Questions Travelers Still Ask
Is it better to get cash before you go or once you are in Europe?
Get it once you are in Europe, from a bank ATM when you arrive at the airport or main station. Buying currency at home or at an airport exchange bureau usually costs more than a withdrawal at a bank machine. A small amount from home is worth it only if the first stop is rural or you land late at night, when a bank ATM may be hard to reach.
What percentage of cash to card should you plan for a trip to Europe?
Plan by type of purchase, not by percentage: pay by card wherever there is a terminal, and keep cash for the small purchases cards miss. In practice that is a float of one withdrawal, topped up when it runs low, with more frequent top-ups in the cash-heavy rows of the region table above.
Will your card work at European ticket machines?
A chip card with a four-digit PIN usually works. Swipe-only cards, and cards that ask for a signature instead of a PIN, can be refused at unattended ticket kiosks, fuel pumps and motorway tolls. Carry a little cash for these, try contactless or a phone wallet where the machine takes it, or buy at the staffed counter.
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