• Get your Camino Frances Guidebook here.
  • For 2024 Pilgrims: €50,- donation = 1 year with no ads on the forum + 90% off any 2024 Guide. More here.
    (Discount code sent to you by Private Message after your donation)
  • ⚠️ Emergency contact in Spain - Dial 112 and AlertCops app. More on this here.

Search 69,459 Camino Questions

Credit/Debit Card without CHIP will work?

Diegomartine

Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Sept 1st. (2014)
Hi guys!

I have 1 credit card and 1 debit card both Visa from Capital One for my camino, the only problem is that they don't have the Chip technology.

I heard from a friend that in Spain they only accept credit/debit card with the Chip, basically what he said is the they don't swipe the cards, they only use the chip.

Is that true? whats your experience? do you think I'll be OK with 2 cards without chip on the camino? to purchase basic stuff with the credit card and withdraw money on ATM's with my debit card.

The good thing is that Capital One have no foreign transaction fee.
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
Restaurants, hotels, and shops that will accept a credit card do not swipe, enter your pin and go. ATMs work better with with the chip. Albergues usually do not accept cards and many cafe/bars or restraurants won't either so always have some cash, I pull 250 Euro and reboot whenever it gets down to say 50 especially if there are only villages over the next few days, you will be passing places with no ATM, Mom and Pop grocers (tiendas) where plastic not accepted. By all means take two cards but never keep them together, same with cash, not afraid of theft, just never know what might happen if Saint James takes a nap!
 
Cards without chips work just fine in ATMs. Make sure you have a four digit PIN. Anything longer and the ATM won't work. Two debit cards and two credit cards will be fine. Should you need cash from a credit card, you will need your PIN. Separate the cards and carry them separately, so that you do not lose everything at once. Keep contact number for the cards separate from the cards.
 
Technical backpack for day trips with backpack cover and internal compartment for the hydration bladder. Ideal daypack for excursions where we need a medium capacity backpack. The back with Air Flow System creates large air channels that will keep our back as cool as possible.

€83,-
Thanks Falcon! On your experience, can I use credit card without chip on other places? Like restaurant, hotels, convenience stores? Or do they required a chip?
 
On your experience, can I use credit card without chip on other places? Like restaurant, hotels, convenience stores? Or do they required a chip?
No chip required, but the number of places that will accept a credit card is not large. It usually is restricted to large businesses in larger cities. No one accepts American Express cards!
 
Down bag (90/10 duvet) of 700 fills with 180 g (6.34 ounces) of filling. Mummy-shaped structure, ideal when you are looking for lightness with great heating performance.

€149,-
In the UK the post office issues a card that you buy with a prepaid amount, like a phone card. I'm thinking of taking a quantity of euros this way. There's no transaction fee at ATMs for using this card and you already know how much you are spending. Haven't got it yet but I'm sure it has a chip and PIN. Perhaps a non-bank, or the post office in the US provides this service? Mary
 
Cards without chips work just fine in ATMs. Make sure you have a four digit PIN. Anything longer and the ATM won't work. Two debit cards and two credit cards will be fine. Should you need cash from a credit card, you will need your PIN. Separate the cards and carry them separately, so that you do not lose everything at once. Keep contact number for the cards separate from the cards.
Keep in mind that many European bank keyboards are not the same as those here in the US. If your PIN has any "letters" in it or is all letters, MAKE SURE you transpose it into ONLY numbers.
 
The first edition came out in 2003 and has become the go-to-guide for many pilgrims over the years. It is shipping with a Pilgrim Passport (Credential) from the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela.
Day 8 here, only problem I had was at the French train station: I couldn't use the machines to pick up my online purchased ticket, and had to go to the counter and talk to an agent.
 
New Original Camino Gear Designed Especially with The Modern Peregrino In Mind!
One more thing before leaving: let your bank know where you will be so that when you use your credit card in France or in Spain they will be fairly certain that it's you. I usually just send and email, telephone or stop by my bank to let my banker know.

In fact, I'm flying to New York tomorrow so I better do that! :)
 
My chip card got blocked because of some hacker, so I had to use the Capital One chipless card for six weeks. Everyone in Europe has learned how to swipe a magnetic strip. No problem anywhere.
 
A few times in France I had to swipe the card myself when the waiter or staffer wasn't quite sure which way to do it or just how quickly to swipe. All done with smiles.

BTW my 6-digit password worked in ATMs in both Spain and France.

Bill
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
A walking buddy had a six-digit PIN. Both Santander and BBVA in Leon told him he could not get funds either at the ATM or at the counter. He could not change the PIN over the internet or by telephone. It had to be mailed to his U.S. address. I floated him loans for two weeks. That was in 2012, so Spain may have upgraded its PIN capability. However, there may be a problem with PIN's other than four-digit PIN's. Pay your money, take your chances!!:)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You will be surprised at how many people do not know how to swipe cards, that technology having passed away in Europe some years ago.
 
Day 8 here, only problem I had was at the French train station: I couldn't use the machines to pick up my online purchased ticket, and had to go to the counter and talk to an agent.

I had the same problem when I was buying my ticket to Bayonne. The machines didn't take my card, and it didn't work at the counter either. I had to pay cash. When I bought my cellphone in Pamplona it worked fine.

I only had a problem with one ATM. The rest worked fine.
 
Join our full-service guided tour and let us convert you into a Pampered Pilgrim!
No chip required, but the number of places that will accept a credit card is not large. It usually is restricted to large businesses in larger cities. No one accepts American Express cards!
Not completely accurate. I've been to Spain many times with only an AMX card. But I do keep a few days worth of cash, and now I have a Visa card.
My AMX, and now my VISA, have no foreign transaction fees. Check with your card issuer to see about transaction fees. Paying with cash is better than paying a fee, IMO.

Also, my AMX allows me to withdrawal from my checking account at ATMs. Again, no fee and no Cash Advance transaction.

But, I agree, no chip required.
 
You will be surprised at how many people do not know how to swipe cards, that technology having passed away in Europe some years ago.

You are correct. Having lived in France for 15 years I've never once had to swipe my (French) VISA card here, or anywhere else in Europe that I can remember.
 
You will be surprised at how many people do not know how to swipe cards, that technology having passed away in Europe some years ago.

I've been spending time in the same town in France for nine years now, and have found the opposite. I used to have to explain how to swipe a card, now everyone knows. The little portable devices have better swiping and receipt generating capability than they used too.

I think many places went straight from the ancient carbon paper-raised number method to the chip and never used the magnetic strip at all.

The chip cards in we get in the US still require a signature, so even with those I have to explain that we need to wait for the receipt to come out, rather than entering a PIN.
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
I'll add another dimension! Most of the time I used my AMEX card in Spain during my Camino, I had to show my passport! This past spring in France (non-Camino related) a Hertz rental location actually rejected it. One of my clients had the same thing happen with her VISA (non-chip) in a remote are of SW France.
 
I have had small restaurants claim they can't swipe a card, because they want tax free cash.

Toll booths are just plain weird. Some will take a chipless card. In some, the only chipless card which works is Am Ex. One French booth ate my new Bank of Am card with the chip. (Honk all you want, this car doesn't move until I get my card back!)

I will say I spent all of April and May in France without one issue anywhere with any magnetic stripe card. I spent the whole trip in tiny towns. I paid cash at the tolls.
 
Very light, comfortable and compressible poncho. Specially designed for protection against water for any activity.

Our Atmospheric H30 poncho offers lightness and waterproofness. Easily compressible and made with our Waterproof fabric, its heat-sealed interior seams guarantee its waterproofness. Includes carrying bag.

€60,-
The only times I haven't been able to use my magnetic strip credit cards in anyplace in Europe that accepts cards are unmanned kiosks, such as automatic ticket machines. Otherwise, it is fine. Of course you do sometimes need to tell the person processing the transaction how to swipe the card, but that's no big deal.
 
Heads up though... that if you do have a card with a chip and a PIN, make sure your PIN# is only 4 digits max. My bank advises that the PIN won't be recognized in Europe if it's more than 4 digits.
 
Heads up though... that if you do have a card with a chip and a PIN, make sure your PIN# is only 4 digits max. My bank advises that the PIN won't be recognized in Europe if it's more than 4 digits.

And yet two of my European cards use six digits.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Maybe it's applicable only with certain banks; I don't know, just going on what I was told by RBC.
 

Most read last week in this forum

When I hiked the Frances Route this happened. I was hiking in the afternoon just east of Arzua. I was reserved a bed at an albergue in Arzua, so I had already hiked all the way from San Xulien...
I am finalizing my packing list for Frances, and do not want to over pack. (I am 71) I will be starting at SJPdP on April 25th to Roncesvalles and forward. I was hoping on some advise as to...
First marker starting from Albergue Monasterio de la Magdalena in Sarria (113.460 km) Start: 2023.9.29 07:22 Arrival: 2023.9.30 13:18 walking time : 26 hours 47 minutes rest time : 3 hours 8...
A local Navarra website has posted a set of photos showing today's snowfall in the area around Roncesvalles. About 15cm of snow fell this morning surprising pilgrims on the way...
Hi! I’m a first time pilgrim. Is it possible to take a taxi from Astorga to Foncebadon? Thanks, Felicia
I have been planning to return and rejoin the path from Leon next week. ( Main route) I am wondering whether it might be better to wait until later in April to rejoin the path, my hope is to...

❓How to ask a question

How to post a new question on the Camino Forum.

Forum Rules

Forum Rules

Camino Updates on YouTube

Camino Conversations

Most downloaded Resources

This site is run by Ivar at

in Santiago de Compostela.
This site participates in the Amazon Affiliate program, designed to provide a means for Ivar to earn fees by linking to Amazon
Official Camino Passport (Credential) | 2024 Camino Guides
Back
Top