Vacation without cash? In many metropolitan areas today, the card is enough. The "Cashless Travel Index" shows where travelers can easily pay digitally - and where bills and coins still belong.
No withdrawing money from ATMs, no currency exchange; for many travelers, cashless payments have become as much a part of their vacation as the smartphone in their pocket. But how easy is cashless travel around the world really? The latest "Cashless Travel Index" from the travel portal Urlaubstracker shows where holidaymakers can easily make cashless payments - and where their wallets should still be full.
If you are traveling in large cities, you can often leave your wallet at home. Asian cities such as Seoul, Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai are particularly map-friendly. But cashless payments have also long been part of everyday life in modern cities such as New York City, London and Dubai.
Paying by card is similarly uncomplicated in Scandinavia - for example in Oslo, Stockholm or Copenhagen. Even small cafés, kiosks and public transport usually accept contactless payments.
The figures also show how firmly anchored the digital payment culture is: In South Korea, people pay by card around 811 times a year on average - more than twice as often as in Germany. Norway is a pioneer in Europe: people here use their cards or smartphones an average of 721 times a year.
For travelers, this means that a smartphone or credit card is often sufficient in these cities - cash is at most a small safety reserve.
The situation is very different in many traditional vacation destinations. In countries such as Egypt or Morocco and in parts of South East Asia, for example in Thailand or Bali, cash remains indispensable in many places.
While larger hotels or international restaurants accept credit cards, cab rides, market visits or smaller purchases are often paid for exclusively in cash. If you are traveling here, you should have enough cash with you - preferably in smaller bills. Change is not a matter of course everywhere, and suitable amounts make everyday life much easier.
Between high-tech metropolitan areas and cash destinations, there are numerous travel destinations where a mix of card and cash makes the most sense. These include cities such as Istanbul, Tokyo, Athens, Prague and Rome.
Even in many parts of Germany and Austria, you can get far with a card, but cash is often still helpful for tipping or local transportation. In euro countries such as Italy or Greece, this is uncomplicated - after all, the currency remains familiar. In countries with foreign currencies, on the other hand, it pays to be prepared, for example when changing or withdrawing money locally.
The trend towards cashless travel is clear - but the pace of development varies around the world. While some cities are already paying almost entirely digitally, cash remains part of everyday life in many vacation destinations.
If you inform yourself about local customs before your trip and plan a combination of card, smartphone and some cash, you will usually end up traveling more relaxed - regardless of whether your next trip takes you to Seoul, Rome or Bali.
