Euros - Costa del Sol

[Buninthecorner]

We are heading to Costa del Sol in the next few days. As we haven't travelled to Spain since before the pandemic, I'm feeling clueless about how much cash to bring. What's advisable? Are most cafes, shops taking cash or card? Got so used to paying with card here at home, even for small amounts.
Any advice please 😊

We took quite a bit of cash to Fuerteventura and ended up paying mostly by card. Had to force ourselves to spend the cash as we're so used to paying by card at home.

Cards in the vast majority of places including taxis. You might need some cash for local markets and small independent shops.

What percentage do you pay on a card? What's the cheapest way? How much percentage is a withdrawal?

It depends on the card. Our debit and credit cards from our bank didn't have extra fees for purchases so we used them. We didn't withdraw any cash abroad as that can sometimes have extra fees too (we took euros with us)

How long is a piece of string...

How many travellers?
Food and drink package at hotel?
Big drinkers?

You'll get better advice is you add a few more details

We're a family of 4 eating out twice a day. Just normal HSBC cards. Not been away as a family before. I used to have free withdrawals abroad, but not anymore.

Check the Martin Lewis MSE site for advice on fee free credit and debit cards for use abroad.
many regular high street bank cards charge a fee on withdrawals and payments, and you don’t get the best exchange rate.

from memory Barclaycard Rewards is a good card to use abroad. You might already have one of the other cards with similar benefits.

Ours are Nationwide cards and our particular ones have no extra fees for purchases

Get a monzo. You can withdraw £200 fee free if you need to but you probably wont.

It will take around 3 days to come though probably

You'll need hardly any cash, nearly everywhere accepts cards. Just make sure you have the right card (look on Moneysaving Expert, I think Chase is now the best as you get the best rate, no charges and cashback).

Don't use a normal bank debit card without checking the charges, some charge a percentage and a fee, which can get very expensive if you're using for every coffee, ice cream, bus fare etc.

As it's also now quite difficult to withdraw cash in Spain without any charges, we just tend to take around £100 of Euro with us, bought in the UK from wherever is convenient (friend or family member who has some spare or supermarket bureau de change) for the odd occasion when it's easier or cash only (buses in Menorca is a recent example for us - there are at least two different bus companies, the first one we went on took cards, the second didn't so we had to find a cash machine before we could use the bus, which was annoying).

But as we go away 2/3 times a year, we tend just to save what we have left until next time.

Cards are mainly used in Spain

If you don’t have time to wait for a card in the post, look at Revolut which you can use with Apple Pay. You transfer cash in from your current account as and when you need it, and there aren’t any fees for using it abroad.

Wow I haven’t thought about taking cash on holiday for about a decade!

The £is fairly low and ia almost equal to the € so things are a bit more expensive. Get a wise account so you reduce charges when using your card