Two questions

[almitra]

1.) Should I bring euros with me or wait til I get to an ATM to get some with my credit card? I am assuming that ATM's in Rome give euros, not US dollars.

2.) Do the taxis that run from the Rome airport to the Civ. pier charge per person or is the fare for the vehicle? TIA!

[cberge]

1.) Should I bring euros with me or wait til I get to an ATM to get some with my credit card? I am assuming that ATM's in Rome give euros, not US dollars.

2.) Do the taxis that run from the Rome airport to the Civ. pier charge per person or is the fare for the vehicle? TIA!

Up to you if you want euro's before you leave,and I would not take them out with a CC...use an ATM card as CC's will be a loan and interest will hefty,And,yes ATM's in rome do not give out dollars,but euro's in Rome.There is a lot of info about taking euro's and using ATM's on this board if you want to do a search.

Taxi fare is NOT per person.

[almitra]

Good tips. Thanks!

Can I use my US mastercard/visa card to pay for things like Entry into Pompeii or train tickets?

[Keith1010]

You can use your credit card for most items. But, I would highly recommend using the ATM's and just pay in cash.

 

On a related note, before you go on your trip notify your banks (both credit cards and ATM's) about your trip including where you are traveling to and the start and stop dates for the trip. If you don't call them they may think it is fraud and not allow the transactions to take place.

 

Keith

[Linda VH]

On Flyertalk they had a big discussion re this topic. You should find out what European bank your bank is affiliated with so you don't have to pay a fee. We will lay over at Heathrow for 2 1/2 hours and the Barclay bank is affiliated with Bank of America so we'll get our euros there. I googled Barclay's Bank and they showed me where their ATM's are in the airport. Linda

[tom_uk]

On Flyertalk they had a big discussion re this topic. You should find out what European bank your bank is affiliated with so you don't have to pay a fee. We will lay over at Heathrow for 2 1/2 hours and the Barclay bank is affiliated with Bank of America so we'll get our euros there. I googled Barclay's Bank and they showed me where their ATM's are in the airport. Linda

 

What's the fee for? - use of the ATM, or buying foreign currency?

 

In the case of UK banks, almost all of them add 2.5% to all foreign currency transactions, including taking money out of overseas ATMs, as a 'foreign currency transaction' charge. I'm pretty confident that Barclay's are one of the banks that do this, as there is only one major bank/building society in the UK that doesn't, and that's Nationwide.

 

Also something else has just struck me - Euros at Heathrow? You're in the UK at that point, so I would have expected ATMs to offer £ sterling. Unless you've confirmed to the contrary.... (The UK is not in the Euro zone.)

[lambs2]

Good tips. Thanks!

Can I use my US mastercard/visa card to pay for things like Entry into Pompeii or train tickets?

 

No. You will need to pay for train tickets and entries, like Pompei, in Euros only. We found an ATM right next to where they were selling tickets at Pompei so that was easy. Not so easy at the train or bus stations, we found. We always tried to find a location near the port docks to get our Euros from the ATM before heading to the train station. We planned ahead and when we did find an ATM tried to stock up the money belt for a couple days ahead. Actually I did a search for Visa and Master card ATM locations online and had a map printed for where the ATM's were at each port. There were actually MORE ATM's available than the map showed!

[almitra]

Great advice from ALL of you guys! I have just applied for a Capital One mastercard (here in the US) as I heard they don't charge the 3% fee for foreign purchases. I hope it's true, but I need to call after I get the card to confirm it. Sounds like I'd better get lotsa euros and just deal in cash as much as possible....would it be best to wait til I get to Italy to draw $$ outta my ATM or should I do it before I leave? Thanks again ya'll!

[lambs2]

Great advice from ALL of you guys! I have just applied for a Capital One mastercard (here in the US) as I heard they don't charge the 3% fee for foreign purchases. I hope it's true, but I need to call after I get the card to confirm it. Sounds like I'd better get lotsa euros and just deal in cash as much as possible....would it be best to wait til I get to Italy to draw $$ outta my ATM or should I do it before I leave? Thanks again ya'll!

 

 

To answer your questions. YES, it is true about the Capital One Mastercard! Best deal going for charge cards IMHO! We were very pleased when we got our charge statement after being in Europe a few weeks ago.

We waited to get our Euros until we got to the airport of our first European Destination - in our case, Venice. If you get Euros in the US before you leave it is GUARANTEED that you will be paying a higher rate than at the bank ATM's in Italy. But some folks want to get them anyway for the peace of mind. We waited and are glad we did, but we like to make our dollars stretch just as far as possible.