I live in Germany and it is still not uncommon that shops only accept German bank cards. FWIW, they are now called girocard and not EC-cards anymore. I live in Germany and my bank stopped issuing girocards last year. I now only have VISA and Mastercard and there are several shops and restaurants I regularly visit here in Munich, where I have to pay cash, since international cards are not accepted.

Germany got a lot more card friendly during/after Covid. I rarely see anywhere that doesn't accept cards where I am in the rural far north although, like Tor-Einar, I still occasionally come across places which only accept girocard.

@JackAidley I am honestly not sure if there are regional differences within Germany, but here in Munich, although it surely improved during covid, there are still plenty of places not accepting cards at all, or also quite comminly, only for payments above a certain threshold, often 10 or 15€. Cheaper restaurants, fast food joints or kiosks are typical locations where card payments are not possible, Taxis in Munich are only since 2022 required to accept card payments, but the card reader is often 'broken'. My butcher (and also often other traditional shops) is also not accepting cards.

Where Iive, people still call their bank cards "EC-Karte". I think I have never heard or said "girocard".

@guest12356: The only reason I didn't is because Tor-Einar had already pointed out that it has technically changed :)

@guest12356 Of course, but for foreigners it's important to know the official up-to-date name.

In the Netherlands, Albert Hein -- perhaps the largest supermarket chain -- accepts only Maestro cards, or cash. I except for fee reasons?

@guest12356 Merchants accepting girocard will most likely have a girocard logo displayed to show that, so it is quite useful to know what the payment network is actually called. It is almost 20 years ago that the network was rebranded from EC to girocard, so old EC-card acceptance logos are very rare. And although you are right, that Germans still often talk about 'EC-Karten', they often use it as a synonym for any bank card, not just girocards. Debit cards from VISA and Mastercard are also often called EC-Karte, although the payment networks are not in any way related.

I second the concerns regarding Germany. Especially outside the major cities, and still even in them, lack of Visa/Mastercard acceptance is very common.

@Johnnyjanko: FWIW, in my experience (South-Western Germany), the term "Girokarte" is not commonly used. Somewhat old-fashioned people do indeed say "EC-Karte", while anyone else calls it "Bankkarte". If you want to get technical, it is sometimes called "Debitkarte", usually to contrast with "Kreditkarte". And here we come back to card-friendliness, which has indeed increased during Covid, but if I'm not mistaken, mainly toward debit cards, not necessarily toward credit cards.

Wanted to share a tip to get cash with a card in Germany. Apart from going to an ATM it is often much easier and cheaper to just go to a major supermarket, buy some random groceries, pay by card and then ask for cash back. You need a minimum purchase of 5 or 10 Euros of food but then the cash withdrawal is free. Supermarkets tend to be more common than ATMs now as a lot of banks closed and the few remaing ATMs are often independent and charge a flat 5 Euro fee for any withdrawals.

@quarague I know about the "cashback" option, it's theoretically available in several countries, but I've never heard about anyone actually doing it. Therefore a cashier might not know how to process it and the whole conversation could be very difficult if one doesn't speak the local language.

@quarague Cashback is in most German shops only available if you pay with a German bank card (girocard/EC-Karte) and not if you pay with an international debit or credit card from e.g. VISA or Mastercard.

@MatthieuM. That's indeed one of the most annoying exceptions. Note that you can actually pay with a debit Mastercard through Apple Pay at Albert Heijn (Maestro is also a debit card from Mastercard but my card is neither a Dutch card nor Maestro branded).

@JackAidley in Berlin 2 years ago, I still found 50% of the bars and restraunts I visited were cash-only. Although also some street traders etc were card only.

@Johnnyjanko I live in Berlin and it is the only way I ever get cash. It is fairly common to do that in supermarkets around here. Some customers prefer to pay cash and if some other customers carry the cash out again that makes it saver for the supermarket. The supermarkets advertise the feature and a nontrivial proportion of all customers use it on a regular basis.

You confuse Mastercard and Visa DEBIT cards with their CREDIT cards. DEBIT cards are almost universally accepted, CREDIT cards not so much. Try paying with your credit card at Edeka or the local florist, most likely they'll point you to the nearest ATM. And without a PIN your credit card is pretty much useless anyway because nobody still uses the old (fraud sensitive) slips and signatures (not even sure they're still legal to accept in the EU).

I disagree about insufficient support for cards in Poland, despite being a Polish citizen that likes to complain about how behind we're in many areas. As long as you don't use Amex you should be fine - unless you go to the remote villages that to places that only operate without paying taxes. For a few years it's mandatory to electronic payments, so when one does enough business, it just makes no sense not to take cards.

@jewenting - Edeka in Berlin accepts credit cards, including American Express. I was able to make multiple purchases there with Google Pay. They had a big banner at the entrance to the store. I also shopped at Rewe and they took cards too. A few restaurants took MasterCard and not American Express, which is typical of my experiences at home in the UK. I was in Berlin for 10 days and didn't need to use cash once. I also went to Frankfurt (Oder) and Słubice for the day, and was able to use cards in Poland.

@Johnnyjanko I'm Polish and I haven't used cash in years. Everyone will accept Visa and Mastercard except for maybe some tiny village shops (though they are often franchised already any hold the standards). If one thinks going anywhere cashless is a good idea, Poland is a safe bet. Not Germany though, with that I agree.