Originally Posted by NotDuncan

This. Amex is almost worthless in France, IME. SPG personal and corporate Amex are my everyday cards at home, but in Europe I use my Chase BA card (still non-chipped) because it offers the benefit of no foreign transaction fee.

I spent 11 days in Provence this past March, Chase card was accepted everywhere with no problem, and the savings on foreign transaction fees more than made up for the $95 annual fee I just paid on the card.