Chip and PIN in Europe

I was in Switzerland end of April/May. I didn’t get any cash and used Apple Pay everywhere. I don’t remember using any pay toilets in Switzerland, so I can’t help you there. If you withdraw cash, I’d recommend a small amount, around 20 CHF, so it’s easy to spend. I never hit any spending limits with Apple Pay, but all our spending was modest (except for the prices!).

I recommend installing the SBB Mobile app for public transport. We used this a lot and it was very helpful for booking last minute tickets. I even bought tickets when I was already on the train once. You should be able to load your Zurich pass into the app and you can have multiple users/passes in the app for traveling companions.

Other than here, I have not read the First Tech is doing away with chip-n-pin cards.

Chuckanut said:

Other than here, I have not read the First Tech is doing away with chip-n-pin cards.

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They aren't. But they will no longer be PIN priority.

GalaxyBoy said:

Still, how much cash to withdraw from an ATM once I get there? . . . My plan is to withdraw about a hundred francs at the airport and get small change by purchasing something small with cash, like a coffee. OTOH, I don't want too many CHF francs to take home as a souvenir.

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If your transportation into Zurich is paid for - check with the first hotel for distance to the nearest ATM/cash point. You won't need any cash until you check in and start exploring. It may be that you can take as little as 50 Swiss francs, and if withdrawing from a bank machine step into the bank and ask them to provide local change for things like the toilets, etc. ATMs are everywhere in Switzerland - even in small towns.

GalaxyBoy said:

We leave for Switzerland shortly.......

Still, how much cash to withdraw from an ATM once I get there? It's a ten-day trip for two with transportation and hotels pre-paid as part of the tour. I think I won't need much hard cash, but what about pay toilets? My plan is to withdraw about a hundred francs at the airport and get small change by purchasing something small with cash, like a coffee. OTOH, I don't want too many CHF francs to take home as a souvenir.

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Or just ask for change of a few bills, I'm sure they are used to it due to everyone needing it.

tulak said:

Was it an older machine?

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Who knows. It at first appeared to be tap and pay including Apple Pay, but the tap symbol had an e embedded in it so it must have been some special version, not the standard. This was the 4th MVV (Munich trans) machine I used and the first that didn’t use ApplePay.

braumeister said:

They aren't. But they will no longer be PIN priority.

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If they are implemented like the BofA Travel Rewards Visa you probably won’t notice because in attended situations you’ll very likely be using ApplePay or Tap-to-Pay anyway.

And it will be interesting to see on this trip how many situations I even have to use a PIN. One (unattended) so far.

We have set our BofA card as our ApplePay express transportation card although we haven’t been in a situation where that feature would automatically be selected. Netherlands is the only country where I expect to use that feature on this trip. Anyway I’ve been using that card for all public transportation and glad it’s handling the PIN case as well.

so to summarize, except for some unattended kiosks, mostly at automated gas stations, chip & PIN is no longer required in Europe for those of us using regular USA chipped credit cards?

We just returned from France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria and started with $200 euro (Fidelity debit) and it took us 2 weeks to spend it as 99% was standard chip transactions. We spent most of the cash on walking tours & food truck type spots.

Bathroom were half euro mostly, so get some coinage...

ncbill said:

so to summarize, except for some unattended kiosks, mostly at automated gas stations, chip & PIN is no longer required in Europe for those of us using regular USA chipped credit cards?

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You just never know when you are going to run into the situation. Buying public transportation tickets is a biggie. I expect gas stations and car parking lots are other potential gotchas.

You can (and probably should ) call your credit card company and ask them to send you a PIN. I've done that for a couple of my cards so that I can use them at unattended gas stations / ticket machines if they don't have tap to pay.

So far my Apple Watch has worked for every single transaction in Switzerland, even a pay toilet in the Luzerne train station. I’ll need to spend that 100CHF bill I got from the ATM somehow before I leave.

GalaxyBoy said:

So far my Apple Watch has worked for every single transaction in Switzerland, even a pay toilet in the Luzerne train station. I’ll need to spend that 100CHF bill I got from the ATM somehow before I leave.

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Ha! In September, I ended up buying close to 50CHF worth of overpriced candy and chocolate at the Zurich Airport to get rid of the single 50CHF that I got from an ATM on arrival. No need for cash. I used my iPhone ApplePay instead of my watch, however.

On my recent trip to the UK, the only time we were unable to pay with a card was in an unattended parking lot so we had to find an ATM to get some cash. I used my Fidelity CMA debit card for the whole trip and I honestly don't even remember having to enter my pin or sign anything for any of my purchases. It was tap to pay all the time and while it was very convenient, it didn't seem that secure to me. I didn't make any large purchases so maybe that's why I wasn't asked for a pin.
On a side note, I did catch Covid for the first time when I was there and I still feel awful, I can honestly say I've never been this sick. Got back June 4th and after realizing I had lost my sense of taste tested positive a few days later. I thought I had a negative test 3 days ago but my daughter says there was still a faint line so I'll probably test again later today. I'm the only one that's tested positive but we all got hit with a 24 hour bug the first week. Some of us including me and some UK based family members had violent diarrhea and others were throwing up. It was so bad that my daughter ended up going to the hospital emergency room and not sure what they gave her but she felt better almost right away. Interestingly she told them she was a visitor from the US and tried to pay for her care and they said it was all no charge.

GalaxyBoy said:

So far my Apple Watch has worked for every single transaction in Switzerland, even a pay toilet in the Luzerne train station. I’ll need to spend that 100CHF bill I got from the ATM somehow before I leave.

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Had fun today trying to pay with my Apple Watch in the tram. The ticket machine was located on the part between the cars that turns so I’m trying to hang on and swaying this way and that and at the same time using the touch screen and trying to double click my AppleWatch, select the card and hold it against the tap reader. It took three tries. Crazy!

Tomorrow I’ll use my card to tap to pay. Still crazy but a wee bit easier and only requires one hand.

Can you use your phone instead of your watch? That’s what I do in a pinch.

And with the prices in Switzerland, spending 100 CHF should be easy!

A number of years ago we hit an unattended gas station in Italy (they were quite common) that did not take credit cards. Only cash.

My issue was sure I slide in a note or two but what about change? I enlisted the help of some other customers. Young guys who were only too willing to help out a foreign oldster couple like us. Italy is such a wonderful country to wonder about in!

We took some euros to Morocco last month because we were advised that this is the most acceptable currency in place of Dirhams. We returned home with those euros. And we had to get rid of Dirhams at the airport because we used credit cards far, far more often that we were advised. And sometimes in the most unusual places. So much so that we started using dirhams for tips and credit cards for meals.

Just returned from a river cruise in Provence. Virtually all towns were cashless transactions (tap) with some requiring a signature and the only time I had to use my PIN was at the ATM at the airport and on the Paris metro where we spent a few days at the end of the trip. Bascially spent my euros at the duty free shop before coming home.

timbervest said:

...Bascially spent my euros at the duty free shop before coming home.

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I just bring the Euros (and Canadian dollars) home nowadays. I know we'll go back in the future and can use them then, so I keep a little pile of each in a drawer.

We did spend the last of our Czech Koruna in the duty free when we came home from Prague a couple of weeks ago though. A few places there couldn't take cards, and while they were happy to take Euros as payment, they would give change in Koruna. As much as I enjoyed the visit, I don't think we'll get back there any time soon.

It has been years since either of us had to actually sign a credit card slip. So long ago that neither of us can remember. We do not even bother signing the back of our cards any more. It has been omewhat pointless for years.

During a recent 2 week trip to Krakow, I made two cash withdrawals from non-Euronet ATMs. I used the cash primarily to buy things from the farmer's market, but there were two restaurants where we ate dinner, that did not allow customers to add a tip to the bill when paying by credit card. One of the meals was a fine dining experience that included excellent service so I had to get some change for a large bank note in order to leave a 10% tip. In the other case, I gave the server all of the small coins that I had left (it was the last day of our trip). The only other time we really needed cash (coins) was the previously mentioned pay toilets. The public transportation ticket machines in Krakow have tap to pay. I am on the hunt for a travel Visa card to replace one of my Mastercards and I am not going to worry about trying to find a Visa that has pin priority.