Euros and holiday money

[tilder]

We are off to France again this summer and I have been looking at cost effective ways of paying for stuff.

Previously we have taken a credit card that didn't charge for use abroad (but the exchange rate was rubbish) and taken some Euros.

Does anyone have any tips on the best way to deal with holiday money? Am thinking just using my normal bank cards would be easiest but am not sure if the charges and exchange rates mean I would be better off with an alternative.

I will definitely get one of those things for automatic payment on toll roads though!

Look at Martin Lewis website for up to date info. Debit cards are the worst way to pay for things. We have a halifax clarity ccard which we only use abroad, and take a few hundred euros with us too.

Thanks derek. Looked at his money savings expert website and the Halifax clarity card definitely came out tops for us.I shall apply today!

The Post Office give a good Cash rate of exchange and will buy back your Euros at the same rate. You may have to book in advance at a smaller branch.

I use MyTravelCash - It's brilliant.
I can use ATM without charge and get 1% cash back when used in restaurants & shops.

We take a few hundred Euros cash and use debit card or cashpoints for the rest

My DP is working in Europe at the moment and using his debit or credit card is the worst possible way to finance things.

He uses cash (Sainsbury's have pretty good rates at the moment, the PO is dire!) and we have just applied for a card which you can preload online with a UK bank and then use as a debit card in Europe with no fees or conversion charges. As the Euro is stronger here in the UK it means we get a better value using the card.

I take a load of cash - and also load my Travelex Euro card. Keep an eye on the rates and purchase when it looks good.

I have used my UK debit card and credit card previously if necessary, but I don't rely on it.

The automated toll tag is worth it - no hassle at the peage :) Try APRR website- theirs is one of the better value ones - cost me only 10 Euros (iirc) 3 years ago, then for each month of use it is 1.70 euros - so this year I;ll be using it in July and August. The charges are taken from my UK Credit card which I linked to it, usually a few weeks later.

I applied for a Halifax Clarity card for this year, we've used pre-paid cards in the past but they doesn't work in the pay at the pump petrol stations.
We used a Eurotunnel special offer to get our bip and go tag, worked really well last year as we use the toll roads a lot.