Does anyone still take travellers cheques to Europe?

[lambanana]

Going to Spain for a fortnight and was thinking of taking half TC's and half cash for spends.

Went last year just for a week and just took cash. We used the in room safe to keep it in.

Any thoughts or advice please?

I took my Credit and Debit cards from Nationwide when I went abroad...as they don't charge any fees or commisson. it worked out a better rate than any of the currency brokers and I could just get cash out when I needed it or pay by Credit Card....which was helpful as I got stuck an extra week due to ash cloud!

It is worth the hassle because you save so much money...TC cost quite a bit in fees I think.

not sure about spain, but we tried changing travellers cheques in france last year and had difficulty changing them - only banks in really large towns miles away would have taken them. like polly we took nationwide card and got money out of cashpoint as easier

Thanks for that. I seem to remember a few years back the hotels were a bit funny about changing them. We have got a nationwide cc so think we will go with that option.

An alternative is a type of money card to which you pre-load currency. I know a number of people have used these with no ill effects. They have the advantage of having low costs when the card is pre-loaded rather than a fee with every visit to the hole in the wall. The post office does, one here's a link:

www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/po/content1?catId=96300778&mediaId=96400753

why not just use your normal bank card in a normal cash point? No need to faff about w. traveller's cheques (didn't know they still existed!) or carry large sums of money.

Many banks are pretty global now, eg HSBC and many don't charge extra when using one of their own cashpoints, even in another country.

It wouldn't occur to me to do anything other than use my normal bank card whereever I go, that's what I always do and have never had a problem.

Some people like to have a fixed budget for a holiday. I know my parents in-law do. Some of the things like money cards can be useful if people are travelling in a group and want a shared kitty for housekeeping.

Personally I have a euro bank account but that is an accident of history rather than being a recommendation.

lamb - prob worth telling your bank you are going abroad - can't remember if you have to with nationwide, but you do with lloyds for your cash card and for some credit cards - we had to stand at front of car hire queue for 30 mins whilst DH sorted ours once

Thanks everyone. There was a piece on watchdog last night. Martin Lewis said the best thing to do was take some cash and a Nationwide cc to make withdrawals with when there aso good advice from you polly.

Ernest we have saved up our holiday money so it's separate to our bank account money which is for bills. Also, some debit cards are not so good to use abroad due to the fees they charge and our debit card is one of them!

Ps thanks dreaming - have done that!