Cash or card?
The answer is "mostly card, but never zero cash", and the ratio depends entirely on where you are going.
With a fee-free card, paying by card is normally cheaper than converting cash, because card networks convert near the mid-market rate while cash conversion involves someone's counter and someone's spread.
That is the general rule. It stops being useful the moment you are somewhere that does not take cards.
Where the split actually lands
| Type of place | Practical approach |
|---|---|
| Near-cashless countries — much of Scandinavia, South Korea, urban China | Card for essentially everything. Carry a small emergency note or two and expect never to use them. |
| Card-normal but cash-common — most of Europe, Japan, Australia | Card for hotels, restaurants and shops. Cash for markets, small cafes, shrines, buses and anywhere family-run. |
| Cash-first — much of South and Southeast Asia, rural anywhere | Cash for daily spending. Card for hotels, flights and larger purchases. |
| Effectively cash-only — remote areas, small islands, some borders | Bring enough in, and plan around the nearest working ATM being a long way away. |
The things that catch people out
- Small vendors have a card minimum. Often unstated until you try to pay.
- Taxis are the classic gap. Card-accepting in principle, machine "broken" in practice.
- Tipping is frequently cash-only even where the bill is card.
- Card outages happen. A regional network failure with no cash in your pocket is a genuinely bad afternoon.
- Some countries restrict taking their currency out. See closed currencies before you convert a large amount.
A rule that travels well
Carry roughly two days of cash spending, top it up when it halves, and put the rest on a fee-free card. Withdraw from bank ATMs rather than standalone machines in tourist areas, decline the machine's conversion offer, and keep a small emergency note somewhere that is not your wallet.
Work out what two days actually costs using the daily budget guide, and use the cheat sheet for the local currency so you can size a withdrawal without doing long division at the machine.
Convert with no signal, in one hand
RoamRate is free for five major currencies and $4.99 once for all 150+. No subscription, no ads, no account.
Download on the App Store