Visa/MC is not so widely accepted in smaller shops/stores. However, if you have a maestro debit card you basically have no need to carry cash. I live in Holland and never carry cash, even when going to food markets or when going out for far cycling trips to village areas. Only reason I carry cash (and I specifically have to go to the ATM for this) is when I go to my barber, of which it is obvious, they only accept cash so they can pay some of their employees under the table (something I don't really care about tbh).

Foreigners in the Netherlands must use cash at Albert Heijn, the major grocery store, as they do not accept credit and essentially only accept Dutch debit cards (ie, Maestro).

Ethnic restaurants in Amsterdam, say around De Pijp, often force payment in cash.

Are you sure you really want to pay for items at a 'coffee shop' in Amsterdam by card?

> Are you sure you really want to pay for items at a 'coffee shop' in Amsterdam by card?

They're legal stores, not some heavily armed pot dealer in an alley. Why not?

Tbh I didn't even think of trying the legal weed when I was in NL.

We dont use cash very often, but we have our own separate payment networks called Maestro and V-Pay. So tourists nearly always have to resort to cash transactions.

> our own separate payment networks called Maestro

You mean Mastercard's brand?

Yes, technically. But you won't be able to use an American Mastercard. Maestro is a debit card, generally it will look like this: https://www.abnamro.com/en/news/pin-needed-less-often-when-m.... I've never seen it in the US.

I haven't seen Maestro-exclusive terminals for 10 years, at least with support of Mastercard, but the survivorship bias is hard because my country was a playground for all new tech of both Visa and MC.

The issue is that Albert Heijn, and many other stores in the Netherlands, will not accept credit cards. And then American-issued debit cards do not seem to work either (eg, Bank of America shows the symbol "Debit Visa"). Perhaps debit cards from say Austria work (they're often on similar networks as the Dutch banks).

Sounds like American debit cards have a different code than elsewhere.

Any Mastercard/Visa, no matter where it's issued :)

In Denmark they usually charge you extra if you use a credit card.

That's against the law:

> Businesses in Denmark and the EU may not charge a fee for your payment with Dankort, Visa/Dankort, Visakort, MasterCard and other ordinary payment cards issued in the EU.

> Company cards are exempt from the ban. Shops may charge a fee if you use a payment card issued to a company or public organisation.

https://taenk.dk/privatoekonomi/gode-raad/gebyrer-paa-betali...

This is not to be celebrated. It's regulatory, capture plain and simple. Cash purchasers are subsidizing those with credit cards (and the pithy rewards they pay).

What are you talking about? Interchange fees are aggressively capped in the EU and credit cards don't give rewards. It's not the USA.