What credit cards are most commonly used?
Visa and Mastercard are widely accepted in Budapest. Diners Club is now associated with MasterCard, so it is accepted anywhere that takes MasterCard. American Express is still not accepted widely. On that note, American Express has closed their office here and subcontracts with Western Union. Smaller stores, restaurants, or tourist venues will usually not accept any cards at all. Outside of Budapest, you will have less opportunities to use credit cards. Always have some cash on you. To save yourself some embarrassment, call your credit card companies and let them know you will be traveling and to which countries. They may block your purchase otherwise, thinking your card may have been stolen. We have had the experience more than once of verifying that a restaurant takes credit cards as we walked in the door, only to be told that their machine is not working when it comes time to pay. There are two reasons for this. 1. The bank lines are unstable connecting to the credit card server. 2.
