Credit Cards vs Foreign Exchange

[vellamint]

I am trying to decide if we are better off exchanging our $ for Euros and paying cash for everything or if we are better off charging everything and only bringing a few Euros.

I have a credit card with a 3% fee to use internationally but now I have read that they also charge an exchange fee...so this leads me to believe I would be better off with cash....

I am soooo disorganized for this trip it is not even funny

 

[Ware Bears]

I always do a mixture of both ~ I bring euros in cash to pay for the shuttle to/from the airport, ice-creams, drinks, tips etc but put our restaurant and shopping bills on a credit card, although I use a fee-free one that also doesn't load the interest rate.

There probably won't be a great deal in the difference between the rate you'll get to change your $ into € and the rate your credit card will use once it's been loaded so if I were you I'd bring some euros in cash and put the rest on your credit card, that's certainly safer than bringing everything in cash.