Cash or card?

[Valinsky]

Hi my unknown friends,

just a little more than one month to go before my first step and several questions are running around in my head. One of them is the money related question in the headline.

I understand that albergues in general only accept cash, but what about the private albergues/hostels/B&Bs? I can imagine they also prefer cash or am I wrong?

Thanx in advance

// J

 

[Tia Valeria]

Most places prefer cash and many do not accept cards. We carry some cash, pre-loaded cash euro cards and a credit card. If accomodation will take the credit card it helps conserve the cash. We always make sure we have enough cash for about 3 days, so as not to run short if there isn't an ATM when we need it.
Because of withdrawal charges we take the maximum daily permitted amount at each ATM visit. This needs checking with your card supplier as it does vary.

 

[Anniesantiago]

It just depends. Proper hotels and hostels often take Visa. Most places I found do NOT take MasterCard. Pensiones and private albergues almost always want cash. Cash will be your friend and ATM machines are not scarce.

 

[NoQ]

. Pensioners ... almost always want cash.

Aye, but don't we all.

Another question related to this topic. In Hong Kong, we don't have visa debit cards, just visa credit cards, which are obviously ridiculously expensive to withdraw cash on. We have debit cards with the Union Pay logo. Does anyone know if the at machines have this facility?

 

[Anniesantiago]

Oops.
Wishful thinking. Lol.

 

[annakappa]

Be sure you have enough cash with you for at least 3, better 4 days. If you are buying in a supermarket, then take advantage of your card, as Tia Valeria said.
Be sure that your credit card has not expired!!! This happened to us last year - my retired financial director husband didn't check the card before leaving and it had already expired in February - and this was mid September! Yikes!!! Anne

 

[Anniesantiago]

And be sure to notify your bank you are going on holiday in Spain!
If you don't, they might freeze your account!

 

[methodist.pilgrim.98]

This happened to us last year - my retired financial director husband didn't check the card before leaving and it had already expired in February - and this was mid September! Yikes!!! Anne

Anna you cannot know how much this cheered me up. :lol:

 

[mralisn]

I would like to add to pay attention to public holidays and weekends when you use the ATMs. If you find you are "low" on cash Friday morning, use the machine then for cash rather than wait for the weekend. There have been plenty of times I've met people who have had their card "captured" by the machine for one reason or another and then had to wait until Monday or the next working day for the bank to open in order to retrieve their card. No fun.

One embarrassing encounter I had is when I couldn't get money out for several days. I was fortunate to have a wonderful Camino Family by then who helped me until I could go into the bank to find out what was wrong with my card/account. I tried one more time before taking on the bank. Duh. I found the keypads in this area of this bank was "upside down". I was dumbly punching the numbers in their position out of habit without noticing the rows had been switched.

Idiot me.

 

[whariwharangi]

Another question related to this topic. In Hong Kong, we don't have visa debit cards, just visa credit cards, which are obviously ridiculously expensive to withdraw cash on. We have debit cards with the Union Pay logo. Does anyone know if the at machines have this facility?

ATMs work with most bank cards. Your card should have one or more labels such as Cirrus, Interac, Maestro etc. Check with your bank.

Bring a card from two different banks in case you lose one or if one doesn't work for whatever reason.

My Canadian cards worked at ATMS with no problems. I have not ever tried to make a debit card purchase at a store in a foreign land.

 

[whariwharangi]

Hi my unknown friends,

just a little more than one month to go before my first step and several questions are running around in my head. One of them is the money related question in the headline.

I understand that albergues in general only accept cash, but what about the private albergues/hostels/B&Bs? I can imagine they also prefer cash or am I wrong?

Thanx in advance

// J

I paid everything cash.

Your typical daily purchases will include lodgings 5-15 euro, Menu Peregrino supper ~10 euro, Lunch ~5 euro. Do you usually use your debit card for such small amounts?

I drew the max from the ATM and usually had enough for a week to 10 days.

There were lots of ATMs along the route so no problem obtaining sufficient cash. There were lots of rural Albergues that were located nowhere near an ATM so carrying sufficent cash for several days was a necessity.