[BatigoL5]

Alright here is another question for the group...

How are you guys doing it in regards to spending money while in Germany?
Taking cash?
Taking credit cards?
Taking American Express travelers checks?

Right now I'm looking at taking all three.

Any other suggestions on you guys are handling the money side of this trip?

[spidergoose]

Credit card and debit card for ATM use with a couple of travelers checks (left in the hotel room for emergencies) are generally the way I go. I wouldn't bring much cash over with you, you get a better exchange rate just taking it as needed from ATMs.

[dfb547490]

Only thing I can really imagine needing cash for is food from stalls and scalped tickets.

I'm budgeting $350 for myself for spending money...$50 earmarked for souveniers and general sightseeing stuff, $300 as an "overflow budget" in case my budget for food/drink, sightseeing, and/or game tickets goes over (particularly game tickets--only thing I have built into my budget right now is face-value category 3 tickets for the 3 US first-round games, if I end up having to get scalped tickets, getting tickets to non-US games, or having to get higher-priced tickets then obviously that will go up).

Right now my total anticipated cost for the trip is $1461.28

[dirk diggler]

I rely on ATMs exclusively when I travel to Europe. But I do carry about $300 in cash and carry it with me inside a money belt or in-room safe in case of emergencies. Remember that European ATMs only withdraw from checking accounts; they don't give you a choice of checking or savings. So make sure you have enough in your checking.

[Kevin Etzel]

Originally Posted by dirk diggler

I rely on ATMs exclusively when I travel to Europe. But I do carry about $300 in cash and carry it with me inside a money belt or in-room safe in case of emergencies. Remember that European ATMs only withdraw from checking accounts; they don't give you a choice of checking or savings. So make sure you have enough in your checking.

Having backup cash is a good idea. I also favor using ATM's in Germany. I do my banking at Citibank where I live in the USA. There are three Citibank branches in my base city, Stuttgart, that have 24-hour ATM locations (not all German ATM's can be used 24-hours), one is near the cental train station. I have been told by Citibank that I will have to pay a fee of 1% if I use Citibank ATM's in Germany. I have read that fees for using other non-Citibank ATM's would cost 2-3% of the total amount converted, or more.

[roadkit]

I'm bringing a combo of Credit, ATM, and cash which is what I usually do when I travel. I'm also thinking of getting an American Express traveller's check card - it's pretty much the same as a traveller's check, it just looks like a credit card.

I second the comment on using ATMs for the best exchange rate. Although the exchange rate is bad, I always get a stash of the local currency (in this case EUROs) before I depart the US - call it a comfort factor - I hate showing up without a little cash in my pocket, just in case.

[BatigoL5]

Interesting.
Never thought about using an ATM while in Germany.
I'll have to look into that.

[Kevin Etzel]

Originally Posted by roadkit

I'm bringing a combo of Credit, ATM, and cash which is what I usually do when I travel.

After finding that my current VISA card (which along with MC are the only two types of cards acceptable for buying tickets from FIFA) issuer would charge me a 3% "foreign" fee for using it in Europe I started to research getting a new card. I found that most of the other VISA card issuers charged similar fees for foreign transactions. On an out-of-date website I found that the two most likely to not charge a fee or charge a small fee were Capital One and Providian. The service rep at Capital One said that the don't currently charge extra for foreign transactions but that they were considering it in the near future. Providian charges a 1% fee, I applied for and received one fairly quickly. Next week I intend to apply for the Capital One card to give me a choice of two card. I hope that just before leaving for Germany that I can have both of the credit limits raised. Usually, it takes six months to raise a limit.

[dirk diggler]

Both Visa and Mastercard (which own the major atm networks) tack on a 1% fee; there is no way to get around that. In addition most banks tack on an extra 1-2% ! A lot of small banks and credit unions don't have that extra fee so it might be worth it to shop around.
For more info, check out this link:
http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/bank.htm

[IASocFan]

I've been to Europe twice in the last 6 years. Last time I bought some Euros to take with me, a couple of ATM cards, and a couple of VISA/Mastercards. In Germany, I reserved the car before we left. For housing and large purchases, we used the credit cards. For food, souvenirs, trains, amusements we used cash - getting one or three hundred Euros at a time (for 2 or 4 of us). ATMs were great! I haven't used travellers checks in several decades.