Originally Posted by
sciconf
I am going to Germany, Paris, London, Switzerland, and Italy.
I have this Barclays MasterCard with no foreign transaction fee. Wondered MC may not be widely accepted as Visa?
This MC is touch less. I don't use Apple Pay or another pay.
In terms of carrying local currently, I am planning on taking cash out on ATM, 1% transaction fee with my CU.
Any other tips?
Anything else I should do?
We've visited major cities in all five countries on your itinerary. We've never had an issue using either MC or Visa. On our most recent trip (UK, Malta, Italy, Slovenia) we used our MC extensively without problems. We did take out some cash as needed for things like tips and small purchases like an ice cream cone, but mainly used plastic.
We do recommend contacting your bank to let them know when and where you'll be using your card. Most financial institutions will put a note on your account, and some will let you do this yourself online prior to departure.
I can't recall anywhere in Europe over the past few trips that we encountered a business which took Visa but not MC.