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Byron Mühlberg
Guide
Travelling to Europe is pretty much always an exciting experience, whether you're sipping sangria in sunny Spain or taking in the festive chill of a German Christmas market. Fortunately, paying in Europe is also very easy, with card acceptance nearly universal and a common currency - the euro - being used in most (although not all) European countries. Plus, when paying with the pound sterling, exchange rates to European currencies are typically also not too bad, meaning you can pay with ease and dodge massive margins.
However, despite the ease of payment in Europe, if you're not careful, you can prepare for a few potential headaches still. Your bank-issued credit or debit card, for example, might come with unexpectedly high fees for tapping and withdrawing cash while travelling overseas, and many ATMs might charge exorbitant (but avoidable) cash withdrawal fees. Luckily for you, there are a few options up your sleeve. In this post, we walk you through the fees and exchange rates you'll meet when using your debit card in Europe and offer savvier alternatives to use instead.
So, no matter whether you're planning a weekend getaway to Paris, a business trip to Frankfurt, or a dream vacation to the Cyclades, read on to find the best prepaid travel cards for Europe!
In our opinion, Starling Bank's debit Mastercard is the best prepaid travel card for Europe for UK travellers, charging no currency conversion fees or cashpoint fees whatsoever. In our opinion, it's worth opening a bank account, even if just for travel purposes! On the other hand, if you don't want a new current account altogether and are just looking for a low-cost multi-currency travel debit card, then you can't go wrong with Revolut, which offers one of the best traveller's debit cards on the planet.
Starling Bank is a fully-authorised, FCA-regulated bank in the UK that's well known for its fee-free current account. According to our analysis and experience, Starling's debit Mastercard is the best UK debit card to use abroad because it charges no fees for foreign currency spending. It also provides an excellent current account, ranked as the best online bank in the UK in our rankings.
Revolut's debit card is another useful one to use for travel in Europe because it allows you to pay in all major European currencies (including euros, Danish kroner, Swiss francs, Swedish kronor, Norwegian kroner, Polish zlotys, Hungarian forints, and others) with no hidden fees, real-time exchange rates, and additional features like budgeting tools and, on paid plans, travel insurance. Take a look at our explainer to using Revolut's card abroad to learn more.
Account Name | Fee /Month |
|---|---|
£0.00 | |
£3.99 | |
£7.99 | |
£14.99 | |
£55.00 |
A recent arrival from the USA, Chase is one of the UK’s newest digital challenger banks and comes with a rock-solid reputation and no monthly charges, no currency conversion charges, no withdrawal fees, and no other charges for everyday banking from Chase. It’s a simple, streamlined bank account with an excellent mobile banking app and a great cashback offer. The only reason we don’t yet think it tops Starling Bank is because it doesn’t offer more advanced features like international money transfers, joint accounts, business banking, overdrafts and loans, and teen or child accounts.
Wise's fee-free debit card is an excellent way to spend money in any European currency from the British pound because it allows you to hold and pay in foreign currencies with no hidden fees and offers competitive exchange rates. It's almost always a far better deal than debit cards from high-street banks like Barclays or HSBC for overseas spending, and you can use it next to your primary bank account whenever you leave the UK.
Like Starling and Chase, Monzo is an FCA-regulated UK bank and probably the country's most famous online-only account. An excellent choice as a prepaid travel card if you're looking to escape the high fees of traditional banks while spending in Europe or anywhere else, Monzo charges no fees for day-to-day card use, including on cashpoint withdrawals (with limits) and card payments in the UK and in Europe.
Monese is a mobile-only fintech offering fully-fledged checking accounts to more than two million European and UK customers. Because Monese doesn't require you to prove your residence to meet creditworthiness standards to open an account in the UK, we think Monese's prepaid debit card is especially well-suited for new arrivals to the UK from the European Economic Area (EEA) and offers excellent low-cost card spending options for converting between the British pound and three European currencies: the euro, the Swedish krona, and the Romanian leu.
You’re probably all too familiar with the often outrageous cost of sending money abroad. After facing this frustration themselves back in 2013, co-founders François, Laurent, and Pascal launched a real-time comparison engine to compare the best money transfer services across the globe. Today, Monito’s award-winning comparisons, reviews, and guides are trusted by around 8 million people each year and our recommendations are backed by millions of pricing data points and dozens of expert tests — all allowing you to make the savviest decisions with confidence.
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