Cash or contactless in France?

[gom]

Anyone have recent experience of food shopping in France? Supermarkets, boulangeries, ….
Are they taking cash? Contactless only? Just wondering if it is worth taking lots of Euros for a forthcoming trip to France.
Ta.

 

[lazybloke]

Pre-pandemic, i used a Caxton card in France and other EU countrues. Zero fees on overseas transactions including cash from atms.
It's a prepay card not credit/debit. Exchange rates were always good.
The card is contactless-compatible and there's a handy app for topping it up, checking your PIN etc.

 

[Ridgeway]

Many have automatic cash payment machines and have for years, that is in the boulangeries and smaller super markets. All others you’ll be fine with what ever payment method you use in the UK.

 

[Brandane]

Many have automatic cash payment machines and have for years, that is in the boulangeries and smaller super markets. All others you’ll be fine with what ever payment method you use in the UK.

But if you use your UK contactless switch card in the same way as you do in the UK, do you not incur a charge on every transaction? Not to mention a very poor exchange rate. That would make your croissants and cafe au lait a considerably expensive purchase.

 

[gom]

I have a post office travel money card still loaded with euros from pre Covid, so not worried about going cashless.
What I was wondering is whether places like smaller boulangeries will be asking for contactless only, or maybe they all still want cash for low-value purchases. Here in uk I think I’ve been asked for cash only once in the last two years, but maybe that’s just here.

 

[lazybloke]

Rarely had to pay with cash, in my experience, but it's simple enough to hold a few notes for such emergencies.

Just checked out the caxton exchange rates and was disappointed. Will have to shop around.

 

[Ridgeway]

I have a post office travel money card still loaded with euros from pre Covid, so not worried about going cashless.
What I was wondering is whether places like smaller boulangeries will be asking for contactless only, or maybe they all still want cash for low-value purchases. Here in uk I think I’ve been asked for cash only once in the last two years, but maybe that’s just here.

As said many have automatic cash payment machines, these have increased in the last 2yrs but I haven’t found any that wouldn’t take cash although many that don’t accept cards.

 

[bluenotebob]

What I was wondering is whether places like smaller boulangeries will be asking for contactless only, or maybe they all still want cash for low-value purchases.

I can't speak for the whole of France (obviously) but here in rural Brittany cash is still the normal method of payment for small purchases.

Contactless is still quite rare here - but it became a bit more prevalent during lockdowns (to avoid using the keypad).

Cash works for just about everything - the only exception I can think of is 'out of hours' supermarket petrol pumps where you'll need a card.

 

[gom]

I can't speak for the whole of France (obviously) but here in rural Brittany cash is still the normal method of payment for small purchases.

Contactless is still quite rare here - but it became a bit more prevalent during lockdowns (to avoid using the keypad).

Cash works for just about everything - the only exception I can think of is 'out of hours' supermarket petrol pumps where you'll need a card.

Just what I wanted to know. We'll be cycle-camping in Brittany.
Many thanks.

 

[mistyoptic]

We used a Monzo card all across France with little problem. Good rates, no fees

 

[T4tomo]

But if you use your UK contactless switch card in the same way as you do in the UK, do you not incur a charge on every transaction? Not to mention a very poor exchange rate. That would make your croissants and cafe au lait a considerably expensive purchase.

Yes indeed - A specialist multi currency card is much better.

I have a Revolut one, but plenty out there. It also the contactless card I take cycling etc in UK. It rarely has more than £50 on it, so if i lost it, my bank account cant be emptied like a debit card can, but equally I can top it up using my phone app if needs be.
Gives you decent exch. rates abroad and the ability to draw a limited amount of cash abroad without charge.

 

[Amanda P]

I've been travelling (sadly not by bike) for the last month or so through France, and now into Germany. I've paid cash a couple of times for things in supermarkets (by choice: I wanted change); otherwise, everything's been contactless: fuel, tolls, supermarkets, bakeries, campsites...

I'm travelling in a camper van, and using aires de campingcars, or, as they're known in Germay, wohnmobilestellplatzes. Often they're free, sometimes they cost a couple of Euros. Sometimes it's free to park but you have to pay for water or electrickery, or the use of the dump station (If you need any of those things; usually I don't). Sometimes you have to put a couple of euro coins in a machine, sometimes the machine takes contactless cards. (And sometimes you have to buy a jeton in a local shop, and all the shops are closed for a holiday weekend, but that's another story...)

(Contactless suits me because it always takes me a couple of weeks to get the hang of euro coins, so every time I pay cash, rather than fooling about going through my purse examining each coin carefully to see its value, making me feel a fool and eliciting groans from the till queue, I tend to hand over a note. And then at the end of a few weeks, I've got a bulging purse full of coins I can't change anywhere, and which I always forget to take with me next time I go. And then I can't even get a trolley at a supermarket!)

 

[Sallar55]

A mix of both. As for loose change that's easily dealt with , a café or beer.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Oct 21 we almost exclusively used Revolut card. Cash was kept for tips mainly.