Travel to Sweden: What is the best way to pay for things?
- By
- Aparna Patel
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- 7 Aug, 2023
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I live outside of Stockholm. I used to pay most things with cash but nowadays I have moved over to card. I would still expect all places to accept cash though. One reason I moved over was the attitude towards large bills. Trying to pay for lunch with a SEK500 bill is often not popular. (Upper end restaurants and hotels I don’t know about – I always pay with card at more expensive places.)
Also a thing to note in this context is that the cards that are generally accepted are VISA and MasterCard. Other cards may work in some places but don’t count on it.
If you want to be able to use a card without paying fees every time, then you may do well to look into a pre-paid travel debit/credit card. These are often a good bet to use when abroad anyway, if you don’t have access to one of the UK cards (certain Halifax and Nationwide products) that are “free” to use abroad.
For UK nationals as I am guessing you are, MoneySavingExpert provides a good rundown.
Card works almost everywhere, exceptions being outdoor markets perhaps. Also some kiosks will not take card if the amount is below 10-50 kr.
One thing to note is that many streetfood trucks and smaller venues (where you might think cash only) might take card only to get rid of handling the cash. They use a mobile solution called iZettle with a card reader connected to a iPhone/iPad.
Also note that most places will use pin, but in some restaurants/bars you will sign the reciept.
But still you come a long way with cash only, and there are plenty of ATMs in the city.
I don’t know exactly what the situation is with businesses in Stockholm, but in Gothenburg (the 2nd largest city), nearly every place will take both card and cash.
Some places, generally high-end restaurants, will only take card as payment, and in festivals, street markets and student pubs it could happen that they only accept cash.
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘