Austria - how much cash to take?

[PumpkinPie2016]

We go to Austria in August and it is some years since we have been abroad so not really used to planning!

I'm trying to decide how much cash we should get? We have debit and credit cards that work abroad so I am thinking just a small amount of cash and use cards for the rest?

What have others done?

cash is still required, especially if you are going somewhere very rural or very seasonal.

A surprising amount of places in Austria don't accept credit/debit cards even in tourist areas. I would take roughly half of what you think you will spend in euro's. You can always top this up from an ATM.

If you are half board then for a week I would be budgeting spends of around 300 euros between you for drinks/coffees, lunches etc then whatever tourist stuff you fancy doing on top of that.

Cards are now much more widely accepted, thanks mainly to the pandemic I think. I'm in Austria and can't remember the last time I paid cash anywhere - no, I tell a lie, I had to pay cash at the bakery a few weeks ago as their card machine wasn't working. We don't live rurally, though.

DH does pay cash if we go out for coffee and he pays, as he finds it easier just to hand over a €10 note (we sometimes - but not always - get change). You're generally expected to add a tip even if you're just having a drink (unless it's counter service, but that's quite rare). Not necessarily a huge amount, however; if it's under €10, you would normally round it up to the nearest euro.

Thank you for all of the replies- really helpful!

I will take more than I was planning to, to be on the safe side.

We are staying in a hotel half board, so we get breakfast and evening meal (plus option to take a packed lunch from breakfast) but we will need drinks etc and tips.

We are just back from zell am see and Kaprun. you need cash. was in Zell am see with DD sat down in the old town after consuming 2 milk shakes. went to pay. no card payments. went across the square to an atm which was part of a ye olde bank. -still charged me 4.90 euro to withdraw a 50. I was fuming.
Lots of restaurants take card but some dont like even for service/ souvemir shops.we had to 'borrow' cash off DD 15 yrs old. we live in Ireland here mains are 18 euro but for mostly really good food. omg 20 euro for a burger and chips where the burger was like from Icelands basic burger range. we started sharing mains/ cooking in as the food quality wasnt even enjoyable. poor DH 30 euro for a steak was the cheapest we saw with chips/ mushrooms/ sauce extra.the dearest steak was 54 euro on a menu.Mad!! we stil had a fab time- every view was a postcard. oh Desserts 7.50 to 12 euro . what we did was cook in andgo out for drinks and desserts. The best meal we had was in an cafe ran by turks with turkish music playing but over the door said pizzeria - I was dubious the " italian" food would be terrible but DS bolognese was great. -that was our one and only nice meal. its great you have half board. we had a lovely time BUT the cooking in was a pain. That would put me off going again. one pm we all had mains and at the next table - 2 parents and a maybe 9 yr old child.the child had a quarter of the dads burger and a few chips and the parents shared the rest- its fabulous there- the people are lovely but its expensive

@Radyward sorry you had a hard time with food (although glad you had a good time otherwise!)

Thank you for the advice re cash. Definitely going to be getting cash!

Its fabulous it really is but the food quality is terrible ( sorry!)

as we just discovered - many shops only accept certain cards, but not every debit card or credit card.

I won't suggest you to take cash on international tour, just carry as little as possible for sudden expenses. Rest use your card.

The point of the question is whether or not it is easy to use a card for payment in Austria - and the answer as many have already stated is that not everywhere in Austria accepts cards, even in some of the larger, tourist destinations, and so visitors are advised to carry some cash.

Many restaurants, shops, cafes and bars are cash-only, so carrying enough to buy a meal or have a couple of drinks is always recommended. There are ATMs everywhere in the towns - but obviously not in places like restaurants in huts at the tops of mountains.

Also going half board in August so this is useful as I'd imagined I'd just use my card everywhere!
Thanks for the advice!

Sorry for my short reply. What I meant is, don't carry a large sum of cash. You can withdraw from atm whenever cash is required.

Yes we are more rural based south, but lots of tourists. It’s still 50/50 now whether card is accepted, even things like boat trips on lake aren’t particularly cheap but it’s all cash only. So if a family needs 4 tickets plus drinks on board it’s easily €100 cash.
a recent thing is many supermarkets now allow for cash back at till which might be easier to get more if needed.

Cash is very much still king here. Most banks charge a high monthly basic fee to have account, then charge per transaction or online fee if you don’t have the most premium monthly option. Bank charges per year are €€

Glad I read this. We’re also going to Austria in august and it hadn’t occurred to me to take much cash!

If you're going into the mountains you definitely need cash - no ATMs in sight!

... and the other problem when you're in a hut or restaurant on the top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere is that there is often no signal to connect to the bank payment systems, so your app won't connect to your bank and the restaurant cannot take a card or mobile payment.

@JoanOgden - actually there’s no correlation between mountains and cash only. Many mountain huts easily work off card as the 4g WiFi coverage is everywhere. It’s just lots prefer not to. So some mountain huts will takes card, some swimming pools in valley only accept cash.. it’s strange. Our local post office and doctors surgery are both cash only as well

Yes, I agree @Caspianberg - my point was that if you find yourselves without cash at a mountain hut which only accepts cash then you're screwed (or at least left hungry), whereas at an urban swimming pool you can probably find an ATM nearby.

Generally however, always good to have some cash to hand.

Agree.
Wouldnt be fun to hike an hour uphill and not be able to get a giant plate of kaiserschmarm

I actually stayed at an Austrian mountain hut last week which took cards for dinner but cash only for lodging. Baffling!

I'd take 500 Euros and use my cards where I could. Saving cash for when your cards are not accepted.

We're off in a week and it never occurred to me that we would need cash!

We're off next week and whereas we are taking cash, I assumed we'd only use it rarely

Very grateful that the London Underground and DHL strikes have been averted!

I'm hoping that it's not too hot as well. The weather forecast seems very mixed- don't want the heatwave but don't want persistent rain either