Earlier this week I wrote about the potential danger of traveling to Thailand without sufficient cash. The discussion in the comments section took me by surprise: how much cash is reasonable when traveling abroad?
Some mocked the $300-600 cash requirement for entering Thailand, claiming it was irresponsible to ever travel with anything less. Others, like me, pointed out that in this age of credit card and ATMs, there is no reason to carry wads of cash.
Cash is prone to loss and subject to money changers who invariably offer an exchange rate worse than an ATM. I hate carrying cash and changing cash and therefore avoid it where possible.
There are exceptions. I am forced to use cash in Germany at far more places than I’d like because Germans are so backwards when it comes to using credit cards. Step over the border into Switzerland, France, or the Netherlands and you can pay by credit card for anything, anywhere. When I went Cuba, I brought plenty of Euros (U.S. Dollars are penalized by 10%) because credit card and even ATM debit cards are not accepted. Other places, like visiting Burma, also required hard currency.
But for most of the world, you’re fine with a credit card and even when you need cash, an ATM is not far away. I always carry about $200USD of emergency cash, just in case, but that is most certainly a risk I am willing to take over the risk that I’ll lose the cash or be the victim of a horrible exchange rate scheme or even in receipt of counterfeit money (both have happened).
How about you? How much cash is reasonable to take along with you on a vacation? Do you feel you are “risking it” by relying upon credit cards and ATM machines?
I usually take about a $100 and 50 euros.
I generally always bring about $200 USD when traveling internationally. Typically, its just for emergencies and I use ATMs and credit cards and deposit the cash back into my bank account upon arriving home. Now that occasional time when you land and there are no ATMs and credit cards aren’t accepted, you’ll wish you had that cash.
$300-500 is not unreasonable.
$300-$500. It just lives in the travel wallet and stays at the hotel in case of emergency. Seems silly not to unless you’re broke and can’t spare $500.
There’s one important distinction that I think applies to this debate. I stay in decent hotels with in-room safes. I’d reconsider care in cash if I were a young backpacker staying in hostels or cheap hotels.
How about a blog post on being stranded without cash/cards? Do Amex offices even exist anymore?
Around €500/£500 in Europe but it really depends if you are traveling in big or small cities. In big cities credit cards are accepted everywhere and having a contact less card is a life saver. However, while in small towns cash is king since many places don’t take cards.
I do know that the premium card issuers will messenger a new card to you and also guarantee payment at your hotel with the card missing.
$200 – $300 for emergencies. Typically I don’t use it and look for an ATM as soon as I get out of customs. Sometimes, in remote towns, ATM networks can be fickle, ATM machines aren’t refilled on weekends, and successive failed attempts to get cash have cause my bank to temporarily freeze my card. In those circumstances I’ve been relieved to have the emergency cash on hand and use a money exchange service.
I am one that took part on the earlier debate. I agree with all of you that credit cards are accepted almost everywhere at these days, so my strategy is always to bring a couple thousand US or Euros (depending on the destination) and a few of my credit cards.
At my destinations, I always carry in my wallet a couple credit cards and a couple hundred dollars, leaving everything else at the safe in my hotel.
I believe taking a certain amount of cash is always safe in the case of an emergency. We never know when something might happen and it is good to be prepared.
Money changers in many places offer a better rate than atms.
Where? Maybe once you factor in ATM fees, but I haven’t seen better rates unless we are talking black market Argentina.
The only place I’ve seen money changers offer anything even remotely competitive is Bucharest. There, the exchanges rates were consistently within 1-1.5% of the prevailing Interbank rate. My bank doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees for ATM withdrawals, so you still lose a little, but not much. Anywhere else, I’m yet to find a non-black market money changer that doesn’t build in fees of 5% or greater, so I’m very, very curious to hear where you’re finding otherwise.
What the heck do you need $500 for???? I usually bring $20-40 USD, my ATM card, and 3-4 credit cards (usually one Visa, one MC, and one Amex, across different banks). I Carry two cards on my person along with local currency and $20 USD. Everything else goes in the hotel safe. There is no reason to bring that much cash unless you’re going to Cuba or some other country where you can’t use an ATM.
I am currently in southern Italy and in many small towns they do not accept credit cards for small purchases. Yes, they may be small but once you make many of them it adds up. Just today I stopped at a gas station and I needes a PIN for the pump to accept a credit card. Since none of my cards have a PIN I had to pay cash. That was not a small purchase. Also when you go to the beaches and want to rent chairs and umbrella it is a cash only transaction.
Dave, I love to visit antique and artisans markets and usually those do not take credit cards.
I have also once lost my atm card in Taipei, the first stop in our 2 week trip around Asia and fortunately I had brought enough cash for our trip and my wife still had her atm card.
Believe me, if you travel as often as we do, you will end up running into a situation where you will need more than a few bucks in cash.
About the same as you – $200-250 max. I’ve not had any issues accessing an ATM within a reasonable distance if the place I’m visiting doesn’t accept credit cards. I’m just not willing to accept the risk of carrying cash, even here in the US.
Get a Charles Schwab bank account because with their ATM card they will refund any withdraw fees the ATM will charge and their exchange rate is exactly the current rate. They also do not charge a foreign transaction fee. Some banks like Chase charge 3%. Do not leave home without it! Can open an account for free with $1.
Best thing is can take out money unlimited times for free so no need to take out large amounts at one time.
why you delete my comment?
You are so full of yourself!!!
FAKER!!!
?
It depends where I am travelling to. If I am just travelling within Canada I will bring whatever amount of money is in my wallet. When travelling to the USA I normally bring about $250 USD. When I go to Europe I normally bring about 350 Euros as emergency cash. To other countries it varies.
Typically around $500 or so. I’ve been to over 600+ cities around the world and many times I’ve run into situations where either ATM machines didn’t work, were empty, certain places didn’t accept credit cards, etc. I always try to use credit cards but found that sometimes it pays to have some cash.
I just stick it with my passport. You certainly wouldn’t lose your passport so you won’t lose the cash either. Always better to be safe than sorry.
Typically $500 to $1000. I get nervous carrying more cash than that. The risk of theft is real, particularly from your hotel room.
Maximum $300, but usually around $200. When I’m home in LA cash will literally sit in my wallet for months. Everything is charged, even if it’s a single soda for $1.09 at McDonald’s.
When going abroad you need tip money for porters and bellman, and usually taxis. But even then you can get cash at the ATM’s in the arrival terminal, so who needs more? I bank with an online firm that reimburses for every ATM fee anywhere in the world, (when I was in Cambodia there were $12 ATM charges) with no added percentage in the exchange.
I just don’t see the need for a lot of cash. More to lose or get stolen.
It amazes me how many people are against cash.
For Asia,
Like FabinhoBP, I carry a couple of thousand USD or travelers checks. I also carry two cash cards, and 4 or 5 credit cards. I only authorize one or two credit cards for travel. If I need to use the others, I figure I can call the bank and authorize them.
I guess you guys don’t remember. But for years, Thailand had a currency controls. As a result cash/travelers checks were getting about 33 baht to 34 baht per dollar inside of Thailand, but only 31 baht to 32 baht per dollar via the official change rate which the banks use.
Actually, I am considering carrying even more cash, as travelers checks are getting very difficult to use. However, it worries me because the in room safes are anything but safe. And I don’t want to carry it with me all the time.
For the USA & Canada, I just carry what is in my wallet when I start the trip (ie, maybe $100 cash, credit cards, and ATM cards).
In Europe, I don’t remember to be honest. I took back up cash (which I did not spend) and used ATM and Credit Cards for most of my expenses.
I bank with Wells Fargo and order up about $500 cash for the first country I will be visiting. They FedEx the cash to my house the next day. I do not want to have to deal with an ATM or money changer at the arrival airport to deal with a taxi, tips, etc. Later, I just use the ATM if I need more cash.
In Asia cash is king. Not to mention scammers are known to put card readers in atms. No thanks, bring plenty of cash for me always. If theres an emergency i’ll use an atm.
@Steve. That has been my experience exactly. Cash is King.
RE: scammers, I try to use the ATMs in the bank. Also, I do not use the ATM that I use for most of my major bills back home. All I need is to go back home from vacation and find that some scammer has emptied out my checking account and my checks have bounced.
Count me in as surprised how many people rely heavily on ATMs and credit cards.
Both my husband and I have had our credit card numbers stolen, were ripped off at a Mexican ATM and encountered ATMs out of cash. While the companies overnighted new cards when the numbers was stolen, it’s still a hassle and I won’t want to deal with that on vacation.
The bulk of our leisure travel tends to be out of the way areas and it’s not unusual for restaurants to be cash only. In the BVIs, its common to be told the processing machine is “down” as a way to force cash payment.
I’m grateful for this article ….it has got me to start planning/thinking for my trip to Puerto Escondido MX this December. I had been thinking I would convert some $s to Pesos in advance …say $100 …then take an additional $200 for conversion at a MX Bank as/if needed, and use credit cards for everything else. Does this sound like a good strategy?
that sounds like a prudent plan to me!
Okay, I’ll be an outlier here. I almost never have cash, either at home or when traveling. The only exception was Argentina, before they let the peso float. For my first trip to Argentina, I had enough cash to cover all expenses (including 4 cases of wine). Otherwise, unless I have leftover currency from a prior trip, I don’t bother getting cash ahead of time.
This was a minor problem for our first trip to Japan, but once we figured out that 7-11 atms worked, we were set.
I travel internationally from London ~3-4x a month. Excluding Cuba this year, I never carry cash. Buying local currency ahead of time is a total rip off. I guess I can see how cautious travels want to carry currency with them… but when there are ATMs everywhere that give you cash at the spot exchange rate – carrying cash just represents risk with little upside.
The only time I’ve ever been burned was on a 10 day holiday in Thailand. On arrival, I took out cash and left ATM card #1 in the ATM. Then on day#9, I drunkenly did the same thing again with my backup card. Stupid Thai ATMs dispensing cash before returning the card. lol
Related story. In Bangkok. I went to an ATM attached to a bank to withdraw some money (10,000 baht). There was a Thai person in front of me taking a long time. He walked away not looking at me. It seemed a bit odd but I did not feel any danger. I withdrew my money and walked away. I never check cash when I withdraw, because I do want to attract thieves.
Immediately after, a different Thai person, not looking at me, went to the same ATM. Felt a little odd. I went back to my hotel room, and only 5,000 baht came out, although my receipt said 10,000 baht. My suspicion is that they put something in the ATM that blocked part of my withdrawal. Then they recovered it afterwards. But, of course, that is just conjecture.
What’s interesting is I just got back from a trip to HK, BKK, and ICN. On entering Thai immigration I had about US$20 and HK$200. I was never asked how much I had. Of course, I withdrew about US$150 in baht from an atm once I got landside. That’s plenty for 4 days unless you’re planning on major shopping at night markets. I find credit cards are widely accepted in Bangkok. Really, I never travel with much cash and always use credit cards and atm.