Credit card for travel to Ireland?

[stout]

We will be traveling to Ireland this summer. No tour, just flying into Cork, spending two week exploring by car and then flying out of Shannon. Everything is planned out, but I just started looking into credit cards...we have an AMEX with no foreign transaction fees, but (a) that is chip and signature and (b) I understand that AMEX is not widely accepted. Same with our discover card. We have a few Visa cards, but they all have 3% fees which I refuse to incur. So, I need to know what new card to apply for. It must be no foreign transaction fees and it must actually work in all places that we need it to (which I believe, but could be wrong, requires chip and pin). I am indifferent about other fees or perks...I just want it to work when I need it to. I would love to hear suggestions and real life experience on those cards working overseas. Thank you!

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

We will be traveling to Ireland this summer. No tour, just flying into Cork, spending two week exploring by car and then flying out of Shannon. Everything is planned out, but I just started looking into credit cards...we have an AMEX with no foreign transaction fees, but (a) that is chip and signature and (b) I understand that AMEX is not widely accepted. Same with our discover card. We have a few Visa cards, but they all have 3% fees which I refuse to incur. So, I need to know what new card to apply for. It must be no foreign transaction fees and it must actually work in all places that we need it to (which I believe, but could be wrong, requires chip and pin). I am indifferent about other fees or perks...I just want it to work when I need it to. I would love to hear suggestions and real life experience on those cards working overseas. Thank you!

I have the capital one quicksilver card. It has no foreign transactions fees, no annual fee and 1.5% cash back. I got it specifically to use for when we travel abroad.

 

[Albort]

I have the capital one quicksilver card. It has no foreign transactions fees, no annual fee and 1.5% cash back. I got it specifically to use for when we travel abroad.

capital one quicksilver card i think its a chip and signature card...
The only company i know that is chip and pin card Barclay... Perhaps the Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard is the best bet, 0% foreign transaction fee, chip and pin(not 100% sure, but i know my Sallie Mae is a chip and pin card), no annual fees either...

 

[BadPinkTink]

Hi , Irish person here

1. Yes you will need a chip and pin card here, not just at ATMs but in restaurants (they bring a hand held machine to your table) places like Starbucks, shops, theatres , getting train and bus tickets and so much more

2. Any card that is Visa or Mastercard would be best.

 

[disfanforlife]

The Chase SW premier visa has no foreign transaction fees. It does have a $99 yearly fee. My DH got it for the 50,000 Sw points since we use SW for traveling to WDW. But our DD is going to be in Canada this summer for 6 weeks and I researched which credit card to get to give her to use. Fortunately, we already have it so we just added her as an authorized user and she will have her own card to earn points for us!

 

[Alesia]

Check with your bank to see if they offer the Visa Travel Money Card.

 

[AnthonyLog]

We are in the beginning stages of planning for our 8 week trip to Ireland starting June 13th! It will be 5 total – my wife, 3 children and me…we travel extremely light – 1 backpack per person! That’s it! Anything we need we can buy there and leave there as donations if necessary. There are sooo many choices on were to stay so a bit overwhelmed…we prefer to stay in one spot most the time as a base and will rent a home. We will travel from there for smaller getaways to explore the treasures of Ireland. All the comments and your answers wonderfully helpful!

 

[sunshinehighway]

Finding a chip and pin card is harder than chip and signature. I had no problem using a chip and signature card in Ireland. It is my understanding that the only places you are likely to run into a problem is automated machines, so you won't be able to pay at the pump, use machines at bus/train stations. Someone up thread mentioned restaurants. I was able to use a chip and signaturs card at restaurants.
Oh, are you renting a car? Most credit cards do no include Ireland in their car rental insurance. I think Barclay has one that does but I'm not sure of the name.

 

[KarenAylwood]

Capital One has always been my go-to travel card. I have the Capital One Quicksilver card now.

 

[georgina]

Finding a chip and pin card is harder than chip and signature. I had no problem using a chip and signature card in Ireland. It is my understanding that the only places you are likely to run into a problem is automated machines, so you won't be able to pay at the pump, use machines at bus/train stations. Someone up thread mentioned restaurants. I was able to use a chip and signaturs card at restaurants.
Oh, are you renting a car? Most credit cards do no include Ireland in their car rental insurance. I think Barclay has one that does but I'm not sure of the name.

Agree. We have used our chip & signature cards in many places in Europe (hotels, restaurants, museums) without issues. We used cash at the automated machines. Our ATM cards worked fine for getting cash. My AmEx card insurance does not cover rentals in Ireland. As far as no foreign fees, many of my loyalty cards are going that route now, but they all have annual fees - Chase Sapphire, Marriott, SW, for example.

 

[mill4023]

Make sure you carry cash with you as well. I'm not sure if all banks are the same, but my bank charges a single $5 fee for a foreign ATM withdrawal, rather than a percentage. So it made sense to take out larger sums fewer times.
I've spent a few weeks in the Shannon/Limerick area and most places did accept Visa, but there were still a number of restaurants and other stores that didn't take credit cards at all. Amex is definitely accepted at many fewer places than Visa, although you shouldn't have any problem using Amex at hotels and for car rentals.