Travel With Culture Trip: Do I Need To Bring Local Currency With Me?

Once upon a time, you’d plan a visit to the Bureau de Change into any pre-holiday preparations. Receiving that envelope stuffed with foreign notes, with their unfamiliar dimensions, colours and inscriptions, was part of the thrill of travelling abroad. Today, however, with cashless – and transaction fee-free – payment methods accepted almost universally, has the time come to retire the trusty holiday money bum bag for good? Or is there still a place for the cold hard stuff? When you travel with TRIPS by Culture Trip, here are a few things you’ll need to consider before deciding.

Where are you going?

First and foremost, let’s talk about the destination you’re travelling to, as the amount of cash you’ll likely need will differ from place to place. Take the United States, for example, where cash is very much still king – almost 30% of all transactions take place this way. Yes, you’ll be able to use credit cards and contactless payment methods almost everywhere, especially in the major cities, but you’ll also want to bring a wad of small bills with you for small purchases and tips.

Cross the border into Canada, however, and things couldn’t be more different. In a 2021 ranking of cashless countries by money.co.uk, Canada came out on top. With contactless payment limits of up to CAD $250 and around 83% of the population owning a credit card, you’ll find your cash is harder to spend. While most of Europe is now cashless, too – with a contactless payment limit set at EUR 50 across the board – there are some surprising destinations that are still more cash-reliant, including Spain, Portugal and, further afield, Japan.

Cafe on the ramparts of the Ponte de Dom Luis in Portugal

As well as the destination, the type of holiday you take – from resort-based to city break or rural escape – will dictate your reliance on foreign currency. Take our own five-day La Vida Local small-group trip to Mexico City, for example. With an emphasis on delving into the Mexican capital’s local side, the itinerary includes picking your way through an authentic street food market – an event you’ll definitely want to keep some pesos handy for. Likewise, our 13-day Arabian Nights trip to Morocco will see you haggling for handcrafted souvenirs in the medinas of Fez and Marrakech – something that can, and should, only be done with cash.

At the other end of the spectrum, there’s our Swim Wild, Sip Cider and Meditate trip to the UK’s Thames Valley – where you’ll be put up in a gorgeous country house hotel for the entirety of your trip. With the UK among Europe’s top five cashless economic infrastructures, you can leave your quid and coppers behind.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that you may also want to tip local guides or servers in restaurants – and if at any point during your trip you want to disappear and do your own thing, you may well need some loose change or bills to get yourself from A to B – whether by bus, train, taxi or tuk-tuk.

Travellers enjoy a boat cruise through Xochimilco

What other payment methods are you using?

Today, there are more ways to pay for a meal out abroad than there are menu items at a Barcelona tapas bar. With cashless – and, indeed, contactless – payment methods becoming ever more widely adopted, the choice is yours. Make use of your domestic debit and credit cards, your go-to e-wallet, or prepaid currency cards – which have the benefit of saving you transaction fees.

Online-only banks, such as Monzo, also boast transaction fee-free payments and ATM withdrawals. However, bringing foreign currency with you in the form of cash has its advantages: you won’t have the anxiety of your bank card being frozen or cancelled for making what your bank might determine to be an “unusual” transaction. It’s not subject to glitches or the battery life of your phone – or watch – as an e-wallet might be. And, perhaps most significantly of all, you’re statistically likely to overspend less when you’re paying in cash than by any other payment method.

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.