Cape Town - Travel Money

[Doidontimmm]

Has anyone been recently? I’ve read travellers cheques no longer an option, debit cards incur large charges & cash unsafe? So no options then!! Help?!

Have you looked into payasyougo creditcards? Some of them are quite good especially when travelling and you can just transfer money from your bank acc. Also if they get stolen at least there won't be a huge amount on if you transfer every other day.

I used a mixture of cash & a revolut card.
Didn't carry much cash - left some in the hotel safe and mostly used Revolut as a contactless debit card. It was brilliant - before I'd got a receipt it had buzzed the app on my phone, before I ordered uber it made me change my settings on the app for online transactions.
Fx rates seemed decent.

We just used our debit and credit cards. There were no charges.

Utterly what bank are you with? Mine seem to charge a lot.
I just looked at the revolut card & you seem to have to pay monthly charges, we are only going for 2 weeks.

No charges with the basic card - unless it was a special offer when I signed up?
Only charges if you withdraw >£200 cash in a calendar month. I was only there for 5 days, so paid no fees.

Have a look a Starling bank. We didn't pay any charges in America and the app pings everytime a transaction is made so if your card was stolen you would know immediately.

@muddlingalongalone I’ve ordered the revolut card, it’s perfect. Thank you!

I went in Oct we used cash mostly. Some CC don't charge for abroad fees maybe have a look? Where are you staying? We stayed at the Waterfront and it was very safe. Cape Town is an amazing place!!

We are on Fan Walk, believe it’s near the Waterfront for some of it and staying with friends near Simonstown the rest. Very very excited! Just nervous about having large amounts of cash!

You will be absolutely fine. Waterfront are and Simons town are perfect! Enjoy the sun beached and mountains

Be careful using ATMs and go into a bank or somewhere secure in one of the high end shopping malls. I missed the bit in the guidebook which advised this. I was using an ATM on Long Street and two men came up to me one was looking over my shoulder and the other "helpfully" offered to show me how to use the machine. I walked away but I could have been in trouble.

The Waterfront is safe as there is so much security.

Avoid the township areas and don’t go anywhere alone. Just take the cash you need for the day. Use a no fee card - we have Halifax Clarity. SA is perfectly safe if you are sensible. Keep jewellery to a minimum and anywhere you stay will give you tips on security. Just do what you are told.

Thank you so much.very excited now!