parking, etc. In stores where you give the card to someone to swipe, etc., they all seem to work. If you have time, though, contact your card companies and ask for one that has the chip and pin, just to be safe.
On edit: Just found this by Rick Steves at this link: https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/money/chip-pin-cards
My readers tell me their American-style cards have been rejected by some automated payment machines in Great Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands. This is especially common with machines at train and subway stations, toll roads, parking garages, luggage lockers, bike-rental kiosks, and self-serve gas pumps. For example, after a long flight into Charles de Gaulle Airport, you find you can't use your credit card at the ticket machine for the train into Paris. Or, while driving in rural Switzerland on a Sunday afternoon, you discover that the automated gas station only accepts chip-and-PIN cards.
In most of these situations, a cashier is nearby who can process your magnetic-stripe card manually by swiping it and having you sign the receipt the old-fashioned way. Many payment machines take cash; remember you can always use an ATM to withdraw cash with your magnetic-stripe debit card. Other machines might take your US credit card if you also know the card's PIN — every card has one (request the number from your bank before you leave, and allow time to receive it by mail). In a pinch, you could ask a local if you can pay them cash to run the transaction on their card.
= new reply since forum marked as read
