Travelling to Europe in May and I'm hoping to use my card whilst I'm overseas. Do you guys recommend revolut or wise to use in Europe? And is the option to use your card readily available? I'm just hoping to mostly use it for food and shopping.
Going Europe (Germany, France and Italy) in May, Is Revolut or Wise Better
LHungryFrog4120 on 23/04/2025 - 17:55
Comments
Why not both? I have both, but so far mostly I use Wise. It's better to have both, just in case 1 is having a problem (network problem, etc.). Previously someone mentioned about Revolut's additional fee on weekend, but I haven't checked it yet. Maybe no.1 use Wise first, then Revolut as a backup 🤷 even small amount of money like €100 or more as a backup in Revolut is better than no backup if there is a network problem etc.
No admin fee, monthly fee for both in my case as I don't want to pay monthly fee to Revolut (choose the free one).
I also bring cash that I put at the back of my phone (inside phone case between phone and the case) as a backup if there's card problem or Visa/MasterCard network problem (it happened in the past). Cash like €100 should be okay. So, at least 2 cards + cash. When there's a global IT shutdown (like CrowdStrike problem previously), you'll feel grateful that you still have cash when you want to pay for shopping or eating outside, etc …
Came here to say just that, well said. I've also been in a pickle overseas twice now when ALL atms / cards weren't working for days (Italy - two separate visits), luckily cash backup on hand, and in one case I had to gamble my last cash note on transport out of italy hoping it would work when I got there or I was stuck and it did.
Not sure why anyone would choose either over a nil fee no FX fee debit card. Sure wise and Revolut work fine but they have limitations (eg $10 for wise card, if you withdraw over $350 in a month you get hit with a 1.75% charge, only 2 free withdrawals a month then you pay a fee).
Compare that to Ubank or mac bank etc debit cards, which are $0 fee, unlimited withdrawals. Admittedly if you are only making card payments (not cash withdrawals) then its much the same but Wise still doesnt offer any benefits over the others.
The main benefit spouted for Wise for holidays is that you can 'lock in' your exchange rate in advance. however, good luck predicting FX rates.
so - either are fine, dont see the benefit over a usual debit card for a holiday card.
Yeah, it gets complex. Often with cards you need to balance higher fixed fees or better exchange rates.
Exactly, often the cards that a zero fees will use Visa exchange rate of the day, which is often much more expensive than a fixed fee and less obvious initially.
I used Revolut in my European holidays, not withdrawal, but easy payments with phone. Exchange rate was damn close to Interbank, and I had accounts in several currencies .. AU banks CC would charge 3% exchange fee and crappy exchange rate.
OP's plan will be mostly use it for food and shopping. I think many people don't think about withdrawing money from ATMs overseas and just use the cards and cash that people bring.
Wise rate is still better than any banks, yes?
https://wise.com/au/mid-market-rateOne great thing about Wise is if for example your friends/family or other people in Europe want to pay us but no cash, they can send money to our Euro "bank account" because we can get "Euro bank account" through Wise. The "Euro bank account" is under our name with "bank address" in Europe.
Wise also has several other "bank account" that we can get under our name. So, Wise is almost like a "global bank", so we don't have to open many bank accounts in many countries because we can just use Wise … People in Singapore want to pay us? We can give them "Singapore bank account" under our name, so they won't pay additional fee and worst bank rate for "overseas money transfer" because they can just pay us in Singapore Dollar into our "Singapore bank account" (our Wise account).
@dtc @RedHab @Stewardo @McMaferMur @6079 Smith
Pretty much all of this. I've predominantly used a no-FX credit card and Macquarie debit for overseas travel.
I've locked in JPY using Wise before - bought some at 108 on its way up to its peak, and also bought some at 100 after its drop.
My gut feel was that the AUD/JPY was at an unsustainable rate (it was - dropped to low 90s when I was in Japan), and wanted to lock in enough JPY to cover my known expenses (hotels, ski pass) which I could've done upfront by booking on Booking.com in AUD or prepurchased my ski pass. For the hotel, it was just cheaper booking it in JPY and locking in the rate and paying for the Wise card, than it was booking in AUD.
At the moment, with the economic uncertainty due to a "beautiful word," I wouldn't be locking in any FX rates.
Why not get both. One for food, one for shopping :-)
It’s always good to have a backup overseas.
Why not Macquarie and ing ? I dont get why people get wise and revolut.
ING have hoops
Revolut has single use CC/debit numbers. Does Macquarie or ING allow that?
ING has it for online payment/shopping. But if it's recurring payments/subscriptions, ING will continue the payments/subscriptions until we cancel the subscription/recurring payments. If I use Wise virtual card, I can delete and/or replace it with new numbers and don't have to worry about subscription/recurring payments.
Basically interbank exchange rate. The 1% is only on weekends. But you can exchange on Friday for a good rate
Suggest having more than 1 in case lose card or some other issues ETC
Up Everyday, Wise and Revolut appear to be the lowest cost options and I can't figure out if one is better than the others.
In my experience, Up ATM withdrawals had exact fx as with purchases but ING had a worse rate.
Neither, go Macquarie
(For the record I have Revolut, Wise and N26 as well)Yep, Macquarie. It’s not even close.
I'm in Europe now. Up has worked perfectly. Can transfer instantly to it with osko. Works on some european websites that don't work with 28degrees or commbank credit card. Commbank Ultimate Awards credit card has been mostly ok. Couple of refusals but can ok in the app and run it again. I think when i was researching that Wise didn't give much in the way of free withdrawals. I barely find a need to use cash though.
I think Up is excellent for travelling as well. Another benefit: when a payment requires confirmation, you can approve it in the Up app on your phone. You don't need an SMS code on your Australian number. Receiving SMS (on time) might be an issue overseas.
I think the cash withdrawal bit is less important these days, I went to Italy for 2 weeks over Xmas last, took e200 with me, started using it just to prevent coming home with it. Yes, would be awkward if the card machines down, that's why I had the cash.
I used ING mostly, some Up and some Revolut depending on the dodginess factor of the vendor.
Best tip to remember when. Paying by card, especially in high tourist venues, to pay in euros not AUD. I didn't go to many tourist trap restaurants, but they do like to default to your home currency.
We did 50 days in Europe last year and didn’t do one cash withdrawal. France, Italy, Germany, Norway, Hungary and Vienna. Mixture of credit and debit cards. We used our UBank debit mostly.
Absolutely agree with the currency exchange. Go with the local currency.
Another post about something that has been answered many times before on many forums. No basic research before posting?
The best climbers know how to fall. Thank you
Do you guys recommend revolut or wise to use in Europe?
No.
And is the option to use your card readily available?
Yes. Europe has electronic payment systems using cards just like Australia and most of the world.
My family members back from Europe last year and they use Revolut never have any problems..
People on here will just recommend the card they have.
Both these cards are good. You just need to do your own homework. Bank fees vary even when drawing out in euros. Sometimes you have be strategic and look for the correct bank ATM. Fees can be €0-7.50 per withdrawal.
https://wise.com/gb/blog/atms-in-germany