How much cash to take on holiday to Majorca

[TickledOnion]

I’m going to Majorca for 1 week all inclusive with transfers included with my 2 DCs. I applied for a credit card too late so just have cash or debit card.
Does anyone know if I can use my debit card? I’ve used it in an ATM in mainland Spain but heard that it might not work in Majorca.
How much cash would you take? I imagine we may go out 3 or 4 times to the beach and maybe a water park.

Hi,

Yes your debit card will work in Majorca. You may just want to. All your bank and advise you're travelling in case they think it's a 'dodgy' transaction, just to be safe.

We have travelled to Majorca every year for the last 15, each tone self catered in a villa. If I tell you that we take between £300-400 for a week that would prob shock but it's actually very cheap to shop for groceries.

As you're AI it will be cash for trips/ice creams etc.

Enjoy!

Yes your debit card will work and you can use it to get cash out of an ATM.

Of course it will work, why on earth wouldn't it?

Just watch out for the charges and spend in the way that keeps these as low as possible. Eg some debit cards charge a fixed fee per transaction, which makes lots of small transactions very expensive. Sometimes you have to pay to take money out of a cash machine (charged by either your bank or the cash machine operator or both). Check with your bank or the travel money section of Moneysaving expert to find out what your bank charges.

If you all go to the waterpark, I'd probably just pay that on debit card and then take a reasonable amount out in one go (100-200 euro?) to spend on the other stuff - don't take it all to the beach in one go obviously. If you come back home with euros, you either just save them until you next go away, or offer to sell them to friends/family/colleagues for the bank rate, which is win win for both of you.

You might get offered to pay in pounds, but that's almost always more expensive because the retailer sets the rate and takes a chunk of commission for themselves. If you have a debit card that charges, it might work out about the same either way, but some places, eg a cash machine in a hotel, the exchange rate used by the machine can be awful - we saw one that was about 10% more expensive than our Halifax credit card, which gives just about the best exchange rate possible.

Thanks for all the good advice. Good to know my card will work. Not sure why I thought it wouldn’t.

When using an ATM machine abroad always withdraw in EUROS. See Martin Lewis tips on moneysavingexpert.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money/#euros

Have a lovely holiday.

Do let your bank know you will be there and for how long.

If you go to Thomas cook they do a pre-paid credit card you load here, as do the post office which is safer than using a current account card (as one whose card was once skimmed!)

The fraud team atcmy bank said a credit card is much easier to isolate and sort out.

Hope you have a fab holiday Majorca is brilliant

I've never told my bank or credit card issuer that I'm going abroad and it's never been an issue and we usually withdraw about £1k in a week because we self cater and scuba dive and generally pay for everything in cash because most dive operators charge extra for credit card payments.

Since you've already got food and drink covered in the main since you are all inclusive, I'd probably take around about £300-400 to cover drinks / snacks if you are out of the hotel, souvenirs and visiting attractions.

Of course your card will work. And with my bank you don’t need to tell them either.

I'm currently away using a pre loaded card free from the Post Office. You load it with the currency you need and can top it up via an app on your phone if you run out of credit. It's been great