Opinion: Why you should still travel with cash overseas

Across Europe, cash is the easiest way to pay - but pick pockets are still a problem for travellers. Photo / Getty Images

When travelling in Europe, it seems cash is still king, writes Bob Wallace.

Having just returned from a trip which took in Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Greece, we very rarely used credit cards. Instead, day-to-day expenses were paid for in cash that we had set aside in Scandinavian currencies and euros when the trip was first planned, before injury, then Covid, delayed our travel.

Despite reports that Sweden wants to lead the world as a cashless society, we found that, even there, cash (Swedish krona or SEK) was warmly welcomed by businesses. But cash was probably nowhere more well-received than in Greece.

Some of the benefits are obvious. There can be fees for either (or both) the vendor and the customer when cards are used. And there is the opportunity for service providers to avoid tax on earnings when cash transactions take place – in any event, it also makes tipping an easier process.

But one of the big advantages for travellers is that they know where they stand with the amount they have in hand and what they can afford to spend – this can work as a natural brake on the potential for over-spending, including among those who don't bother to review their electronic devices to see where they are at financially.

My advice? Take two travel wallets with you – one to use on a day's activities; the other to contain the rest of your cash, stowed in your room safe or hotel security facility.

Athens is once again teeming with tourists, and local businesses welcome cash over cards. Photo / Getty Images

The downside of notes and coins, of course, is the convenience of cash for pick-pockets. The same rules apply, however, to cards – do your best to avoid the opportunity for theft. Even in otherwise orderly Copenhagen, we were told to be careful to keep wallets or money purses under personal control, carried in front.

Greece, in particular, is once again teeming with tourists – numbers are even higher than pre-Covid days as Europe free-wheels in regulation-less and mask-less post-pandemic fun. This could lend itself to cash pickings. But police are well in evidence in the same busy areas around Syntagma Square, the Plaka and Monastiraki – both on motorcycles and in cars, as well as on foot; sometimes in plain clothes.

The starkest case against cash is that, usually, once it has been pilfered it will be virtually trackless, while card fraudsters can possibly be traced. And, of course, hotels usually require a credit card upon registration; even if the bill is later settled in cash, so you are likely to need to carry cards, regardless.

But for your daily touring needs, don't spurn the idea of cashing in.