Travel in Germany

As others have said, probably an issue with the embedded chip vs. the magnetic stripe. Fortunately Asia seems to be a late adopter with that. Ask at your bank and see if they can get you a card with the chip. I've generally found that Citibank Visa is really good as far as working in lots of countries; you can also find human-staffed service offices in most major cities around the world if something goes wrong or you need to get cash in person at the bank. Also, as others have said, check the network logos on the back of your card and at the ATM--at least one of them should match up. Even then, expect to be hit with major fees--usually a non-network ATM fee plus a foreign transaction fee. You might want to check that with your bank too, so you can be strategic about using the card to pay directly vs. making cash withdrawals in local currency. I've seen fees as high as $18 on one withdrawal (with my card, it seems to be a set fee rather than %) so it pays to plan your withdrawals in larger chunks if that's the case! I don't recall Germany having ridiculous fees but haven't been there for a few years; highest fees were in eastern Europe (esp.Hungary) and Thailand.

How long ago were you there?  I traveled in Germany/Switzerland in 2011 and in Italy/Croatia in 2013 and both trip was able to walk up to any machine and get cash without trouble.   I agree that it was harder in the past, but I've been doing this on all travels lately (including Asia) and not had issues.

Edited by BikerGrrrl 2015-02-26 11:55 AM