Money abroad is mostly a solved problem, and the parts that are not solved are predictable. Cards work in most places and not everywhere. ATMs are the cheapest way to get local currency and are not always available. Fees are small individually and add up. What varies most between destinations is how much of the economy runs on cash, and that is worth finding out before you land rather than after.
The short version
- Carry a card and some cash, and expect to use both.
- An ATM in the destination usually beats an exchange counter at home or at the airport.
- Cash still matters more than travelers expect. 26 of the 211 destinations the U.S. State Department covers are described as running largely on cash or not widely accepting cards.
- ATM availability is uneven, and 57 destinations discuss it specifically in their local laws and circumstances.
- Tell your bank you are traveling, and carry a second card kept somewhere else.
What This Section Covers
These ten guides cover how to get money, how to spend it, what it costs you to do either, and how not to lose it. They are written for U.S. travelers going abroad and for the group leaders who end up holding a shared budget.
What this section does not do is quote an exchange rate or a fee. Rates move daily and fees are set by your own bank and card issuer, so the useful thing is to know which questions to ask and where the live answer is published.
The Decisions You Need to Make
How much cash do I need on arrival?
Enough for a taxi, a meal and a tip, and more where the destination runs on cash or the airport ATM is unreliable. It is a smaller number than most people carry and larger than nothing.
Which card am I actually going to use?
The one without a foreign transaction fee, if you have one, and a second card from a different network kept somewhere else. A card that is declined at eight in the evening is why the second one exists.
Where am I getting local currency?
Almost always a bank ATM at the destination. Exchange counters at airports and hotels are convenient and expensive, and buying currency before you leave is usually the worst rate of the three.
What is this costing me?
A foreign transaction fee from your issuer, an ATM fee from the machine, a fee from your own bank, and the spread built into the rate. Each is small. Together, across a trip, they are not.
Travel requirements, health guidance and safety conditions can change. Always confirm current requirements with the appropriate government or official authority before departure.
Start Here
- Handling Money Internationally. The whole picture in one page.
- Cash vs. Credit Cards Abroad. What to use where, and why it varies.
- Foreign Transaction Fees. The four separate charges and how to avoid most of them.
Guides in This Section
Getting and spending money
- Handling Money Internationally. Cards, cash, banks and what to arrange before departure.
- Cash vs. Credit Cards Abroad. Where each one works.
- Using ATMs Abroad. The cheapest route to local currency, and its failure modes.
- Exchanging Currency. When you actually need a counter, and how not to be caught by one.
- How Much Cash Should You Carry? A working answer rather than a number.
What it costs, and keeping it safe
- Understanding Foreign Exchange Rates. Why the rate you get is never the rate you read.
- Foreign Transaction Fees. Four charges, three of them avoidable.
- Credit Card Security Abroad. Skimming, declines and what to do when a card is compromised.
- International Tipping. Why there is no universal answer and how to find the local one.
- Managing Shared Group Expenses. The part that ruins friendships if it is not agreed early.
Holding a budget for a group? Shared money is the part of group travel that generates the most friction and the least planning, and it is far easier to agree the rules before departure than to reconstruct them from receipts afterwards.
Explore group travel planningRelated Travel Tips
- Customs and Immigration Basics, for currency declaration thresholds at a border.
- What to Pack in a Carry-On, where cards and cash belong.
- International Travel Planning Checklist, where the bank call sits in the sequence.
- The full Travel Tips library, for the other sections as they are published.
Plan Your Trip With LABUSA Travel
How much a destination runs on cash, whether the ATMs at the airport work, and what a day actually costs are questions with local answers rather than general ones. LABUSA Travel briefs travelers on the money picture for the country they are going to.
Talk with a LABUSA Travel advisor about a trip you are considering, or read about our group travel service if you are managing a shared budget.