Do you need local currency for Iceland and Norway?

[ToddWelch]

Hi there....we are going on a 2 week cruise from South Hampton.  We are from Canada and just wondered about the need to bring local currency for Iceland and Norway?  Can you get by with credit card for most things?  Just tried to avoid bringing GBP for England/Scotland and then the others as well.

 

Thoughts?

 

Thanks

Todd

 

[CruiserBruce]

Credit card for anything...

[hallasm]

No cash, but a credit card with chip and PIN is highly recommended.

Chip and PIN is the standard payment method in Norway and Iceland, and many small businesses as well as automated machines and self-service terminals, may not accept magnetic stripe cards or signature-based transactions.

[Nitemare]

Other than the local bus in Reykjavik and maybe a pay toilet or two, you'll never need cash in Iceland

[WeeDram]

@hallasm, is a chip and pin debit card (Visa in our case) as accepted as a credit card?

 

By the way, thank you for your informative posts.

[hallasm]

4 hours ago, WeeDram said:

a chip and pin debit card (Visa in our case) as accepted as a credit card?

I suppose it will work. My Visa debit card works.

[lissie]

On 5/26/2023 at 2:39 PM, WeeDram said:

@hallasm, is a chip and pin debit card (Visa in our case) as accepted as a credit card?

 

By the way, thank you for your informative posts.

Yes it will be taken anywhere the Visa sign is -  it doesn't actually matter if its credit/debit its more about whether its Amex/Visa/Mastercard 

[kaisatsu]

On 5/26/2023 at 4:39 AM, WeeDram said:

 is a chip and pin debit card (Visa in our case) as accepted as a credit card?

Sometimes more so. I've encountered some places that only take debit and not credit.

[ljandgb]

Just got back from a week in Iceland.  We needed ISK exactly once, for an honor box toilet fee (100ISK/person.)  Everything else, including a few toilets at information centers, was payable by credit card.  All the CC transactions were by tap and pay, with the exception of one brand of gas pumps, which weirdly needed me to tap and THEN insert the card.  There were no instructions on this, I just kind of figured it out when it kept declining my card.