Originally Posted by
JBord
It should work. I don't use debit cards (other than for the ATM function), so I can't confirm from personal experience. It will certainly work in an ATM, which is how I always get local currency when I travel -- use my bank card in a bank ATM and get cash at the best exchange rate.
But for hotels and restaurants, I think you'd want to use a credit card right? Might as well earn the points, as long as you have no foreign transaction fees. It's truly, truly, truly not an inconvenience at all to use a chip & signature card in Europe. Sure you have to sign the paper, but you do that at home anyway right?
It's not an inconvenience... until you find yourself at one of the automats that absolutely require chip+pin. Everywhere else, chip+sig does work fine. I find that chip+pin actually goes faster even where chip+sig is accepted. Admittedly, this saves just seconds, so it's really not the primary reason for having a pin card.
I'm not sure if a debit card could be used at automats - probably. I tend to avoid using debit cards as much as possible for security reasons - they are linked directly to your bank account, so criminals can potentially drain your account. With credit cards, there's an extra layer of security, and credit card issuing banks have proven very willing to remove fraudulent charges. So I only use debit cards in ATMs.