Travel in Europe – Best Debit & Credit Cards

We live in a world where very little is free, and things need to be paid for. How you spend your money when travelling by motorhome, especially in Europe, can be expensive on fees unless you take care.

How to Pay for Everything While in a Motorhome in Europe? There are three main options to pay costs while travelling, cash, debit card, and credit card. Each has advantages and disadvantages, which we will explore.

There is a saying which goes, “if you can’t scratch a window with it, I don’t accept it”, which comes from a character in the book The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy talking about the power of cash. In the modern age, many businesses don’t want cash especially post-pandemic, preferring cards. However, unless you plan, using cash or cards abroad can attract all sorts of fees. Let’s try and unwrap that.

Paying by Cash in Europe

Long the most popular way to pay for everything, cash is going out of fashion. When you are in your motorhome in Europe, you will, of course, need some cash, most likely for parking, road tolls and your daily stick of fresh bread.

Before you leave home, drawn some Euros in cash. The best deals are generally at banks or the Post Office. Using the Bureau de Change in places like shopping centres, a port, or even travel agents, will generally attract poorer exchange rates or fees.

When you draw your cash, request some in 1-Euro coins. The reason for this is that the first place you stop or park, may have coin only machines and having only notes can be frustrating.

When travelling in France and Spain, I always aimed to hold about 25 Euros in coins, which I found generally enough for most occasional cash needs.

Drawing Cash from an ATM in Europe

At some point, you will need to top up your wallet with some more Euros.

Mainstream banks are the best places to withdraw your money, as generally, they don’t make any charge. Beware of some machines in small shops, who will often add a transaction fee, like many similar locations in the UK.

Which card you use to draw cash and which bank you use, is going to make a significant difference in fees. You may be fortunate that your bank doesn’t change to draw cash from an overseas ATM, but these deals are rare today.

Check with your bank before you leave to discover how much they will charge. Sometimes it will be a percentage of what you have drawn, other times a set fee – or both. It may be cheaper in fees to draw a larger amount in one go, rather than several small transactions.

However, there are ways to draw cash without fees, with a Monzo debit card, described in the next section.

Using a Monzo Debit Card in Europe

I use a Monzo card to both draw cash and to pay for most of my expenditure when touring my motorhome in Europe.

Monzo is an online bank, who provide you with a debit card and a handy app for Android and iOS.

The beauty of this card is that a purchase transaction doesn’t attract a fee. I use it for campsites, fuel, supermarkets, parking and just about anything where a card is accepted.

Without a fee, this is the cheapest and easiest way I have discovered to spend in Europe.

For cash, you can draw up to 200 Euros a month without any fees. Withdrawals over 200 Euros do attract a fee, but I didn’t use that many Euros in cash in a month, as I use the debit card to pay for virtually everything.

The Monzo card is topped up from your home bank account, but not automatically. This prevents anyone who steals your card from spending more than the balance. You will need to have online access to your main bank account to make the transfers while you are on the road.

Discover more about the Monzo card here.

Using Other Debit Cards in Europe

Your existing bank debit card is going to work just about anywhere in Europe, for purchases and drawing cash from an ATM.

However, you may find that your bank will either charge you a set fee each time you use the card or a percentage of the spend. Sometimes, banks will charge you both!

Over an extended journey, these percentages and fees will eat into your account. Check with your bank before you leave so you know what to expect.

Using Credit Cards in Europe

An alternative way to keep track of your costs is to use a credit card and then pay it off when you return home.

Again, depending on our card issuer, you can expect either a set fee each time you use the card or a percentage of the transaction. This can become a very expensive way to use your money. After all, we would all rather save the fees and buy another couple of bottles of local wine!

One solution is using the Halifax Clarity credit card. This card is designed for travellers and doesn’t charge any transaction fee or percentage when used in Europe. This can save a significant amount over time. Remember, however, that it is a credit card, which will attract interest if you only pay the minimum balance.

This card gives you some financial security while travelling, as in the case of a large unexpected cost, such as a vehicle repair, you won’t be hit with huge charges.

I don’t have one of these cards but have read many good reports from motorhome users who travel with the Halifax Clarity card in their motorhome.

Post Office Travel Card

This is, essentially, a topped-up cash card available from the Post Office. Here, you can load various currencies on the card and then use it to pay for items in local currency.

There are fees to load cash onto the card, but once it is there, you shouldn’t find any transaction fees when using it.

I signed up for one of the Post Office Travel cards but found the process frustrating and was never able to load money. I didn’t miss having the card on my trip.

Multiple Cards

You may remember stories in the media of banks card systems breaking down, sometimes for several days.

Can you imagine the frustration of filling your motorhome up with fuel, only to have the card refused when you go to pay? Now, what do you do?

For this reason, it is wise to have more than one type of card with you when travelling by motorhome in Europe. A debit card from one bank and a credit card from another offer some level of safety.

These breakdowns can happen with one of the major card systems, Visa and MasterCard as well.

Personally, I have a debit and credit card with my main bank which are both Visa, plus a separate Monzo card, which is on MasterCard.

Telling Your Bank, You Are Away

When a bank or credit starts to see transactions from outside the UK, it can sometimes flag possible fraud.

Depending on your bank, your online banking system may have the option to advise them you are travelling. For instance, my bank gives me the option to advise them online, that I will be travelling in Spain between two dates.

This means it is far less likely that the card will be blocked for suspected fraud. It is a sensible precaution to take before you leave and start using the card.

And Those Important Numbers

Take a note of the emergency numbers for each of your cards and keep them safe in the van. I don’t mean the card number themselves, but the telephone number contacts. These may be printed on your card, but this isn’t much good is the card has been lost or stolen.