Originally Posted by
DeeGee26.2
When I used to work in an international tour operator, all international transactions were done in CHF because, at the time, that was the most reliable currency for holding its value against all the others we used.
Most (all?) railroads in Europe/Asia still clear their inter-railroad invoices in CHF.
Originally Posted by
trueblu
However, I've never actually travelled to a country before without having some local currency with me...so it's the 'strangeness'/ newness of doing so that disturbs me more. Pragmatically, I'm assuming ATMs are fairly plentiful, so I can always find one if needs be for a cash purchase.
Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland - went to all without taking out cash - cards accepted everywhere.
Switzerland - I don't think I took out CHF last time I was there, but I did encounter one public transport machine in Geneva that wouldn't take cards (or bills for that matter). Ended up paying with Euro coins, which I did have. No need for local currency otherwise.
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia - 90%+ of cases no need for € cash. The only exception was at the local market. I was able to pay for a local bus in a 3rd tier city using a CC though to compensate for that.
Belarus - paid everything by card, including the metro, where you can use contactless payment right on the turnstile like in London.
UK - haven't bothered to take out GBPs in a while either.