Cash or Credit?

It%26#39;s been about 3 years since I%26#39;ve been in Paris and I have completely forgotten. Can I use my American Express Card at most of the Cafe%26#39;s/restaurants and Museums and other Tourist Attractions or will I need to change my money over and get Euros? If so, will the money exchangers take a credit card and change the money that way?

Thanks!

|||

Do you have anything other than American Express as it%26#39;s not the most popular of cards in France (Europe?) ?

|||

ptegan is correct about the american express

card not being widely taken in Paris.

A visa or mastercard would be the way to

go for a lot of purchases. For everything

else you might use an ATM for euros and

find that your exchange rate is better

than can be obtained from a money exhange.

|||

I can definitely use my Visa. Thanks for the help! Do the Museums take Visa? I%26#39;m pretty sure the Metro%26#39;s still take Visa. I%26#39;m going to save some money and buy a Carte Orange (what I used while I lived there) zones 1-2 for a week which will save a bunch as opposed to the Paris Visite card. I%26#39;m only planning on going to museums in zone 1.

|||

American Express is still not widely accepted except at high end places. Visa and Master Card are easier to use in Paris.

|||

Yes, most museums take Visa.

|||

Much (perhaps even more) like the US, most museums will accept VISA or M/C...and VISA or M/C will be accepted at a great many more locations than AMEX. For your €uro cash requirements, use your ATM card.

|||

If you can use AMEX card, its foreign transaction fee is 2%. Most credit cards are 3% or more. Some credit unions%26#39; credit cards are as low as 1%.

There are AMEX offices in Paris. If you can load up your AMEX account, you can take advantage of this for no-charge ATM withdrawals from the AMEX sites.