Sweden and cash: is it really cashless?

[Justfivemoreminutesplease]

We’re off to Sweden and have just got the travel tickets and other stuff through - it says that Sweden is a virtually cashless place and very few retail outlet still accept it. Is this true? We’re in Stockholm but also going off into the country and now I’m not sure what to do re taking money. Any thoughts please?

We hardly used any cash when we were there. My general rule is if cash is needed in a place, there's an atm and the exchange rates are generally better than if you just order a v small amount of an obscure currency at home. Check out what your bank charges for cash withdrawals, for nationwide its not too bad (but revolut is even better)

Thanks - I meant to add I’ve got a Halifax clarity credit card that doesn’t charge foreign exchange fees, so was going to use that and also Monzo. It just seems ‘strange’ not taking cash!

We had no cash and needed no cash when we in Gothenburg last summer. In my experience, the more out of the way the place is (eg on one of the islands, the only bar), the less likely they are to take cash. The only time we were worried was when we had no coins for a locker at the art museum - but they were geared up for this and had tokens on the desk, so clearly we weren't expected to have any cash! Have fun!

We used a mixture in Gothenburg but mainly cashless.

Perfect - thanks all. I’m really looking forward to it!!!

I've done short trips to Denmark and used no cash, even for coffees, although those did cost nearly £5 a time, but were at the airport.

I'd wonder if small purchases like a single bottle of water/postcard or similar would be a sticking point, but if not, I'd just pay by card, but I did notice that they charge extra for credit cards as opposed to debit cards in Denmark, I don't know if this is the same in Sweden.

This, along with Halifax refusing to give me a decent credit limit, which is fair enough considering that I don't have any other accounts with them and only use the clarity card for foreign exchange mean that I have now switched to Starling for foreign spending, with a Santander Zero account as a back up, and I normally use this card for the massive hire card deposit we need to leave, because we buy the insurance in the UK as opposed to the much more expensive version sold by the car hire company.

For day to day spending, I just transfer an appropriate amount of money into the Starling account and use the card to pay or withdraw cash.

The only people who took cash only were the hotdog sellers! Coffee shops etc were cashless.

Enjoy! Sweden is the best place ever! Spent a very happy year living there about 15 years ago. Been back twice but would go again tomorrow!

" Is this true?"

No, it's complete bullshit.

Just to give the opposite point of view, DS is recently back from Stockholm (and Oslo) and only used cash, so he would argue that to say Sweden is cashless is a bit of an exaggeration.

Haven’t been for seven years but only used cash..unless things have drastically changed, I’d guess cash would be fine!

We're just back. It's a mix. Some places won't take cash others will. I came back with some cash but not loads. Outside the city might be different.

Have a fab time. We loved it!