The best banks and cards for European travellers

Account	Network	Type	Foreign ATM fees outside SEPA	International ATM surcharge fee rebates	Foreign currency transaction fees	annual/ monthly fees	Eligible countries	notes
N26 You	Mastercard	Debit	0	-	0	9,90€ monthly	Most EEA countries	German bank
Monese Classic	Mastercard	Prepaid	900€ per month free, then 2%	-	0	5,95€ monthly	All EEA countries	Belgian E-money
Wirex Standard	Mastercard	Prepaid	400€ per month free, then 2%	-	0	0	All EEA countries	Lithuanian e-money. own exchange rates for at least some currencies, card terms are unclear which rates will be used.
Aion Bank Light Membership	Mastercard or Maestro	Debit	300€ per month free, then 2%	-	0	3,90€ monthly	Many EEA countries	Belgian bank, use own exchange rates
Paysend Global Account	Mastercard	Prepaid	200€ per month free, then 2%	-	0	0	All EEA countries	Spain based. own exchange rates. top-up by card only.
Conotoxia	Visa	Prepaid	200€ per month free, then 2%	-	0	0	All EEA countries	Polish account. Own exchange rate for 20 currencies, Visa rates for the rest.
My Travel Union	Mastercard	Prepaid	2x and max 200€ per month free	-	0	0	all EEA countries	Lithuanian E-Money
Zen Gold	Mastercard	Prepaid	200€ per month free, then 1,5%	-	0	0,90€ monthly	All EEA countries, see card terms	Lithuanian e-money
Crypto.com Midnight Blue	Visa	Prepaid	200€ per month free, then 2%		2000€ per month free, then 0,5%	0	All EEA countries	Lithuanian e-money. own exchange rates. inactivity fee of 5€ after 12 months. card cancellation costs 50€, see terms.
Revolut	Mastercard or Visa	Debit	200€ per month free, then 2%	-	0-3% depending on weekday etc.	0	All EEA countries	Lithuanian bank. Exchange rate top-up for certain currencies and on weekends between 0,5 and 2%, see disclosure. Account can also be in other European currencies.
Curve Blue	Mastercard	Debit	200€ per month free, then 2% min. 2€	-	0-3,5% depending on weekday etc.	0	all EEA countries	Lithuania based. have to already have a Mastercard or Visa to use service.
Vivid Money Standard	Visa	Debit	200€ per month free, then 3%	-	0,5-1% depending on weekday etc.	0	Germany, Italy, Spain	German bank, inactivity fee after 4 months
Bunq easyMoney	Mastercard or Maestro	Debit	4 per month free, then 0,99€	-	0,5%	8,99€ monthly	Most EEA countries	Dutch bank
Wise Multi-Currency Account	Mastercard	Debit	2x and 200€ max. per 30 days free, then 0,50€ + 1,75%	-	0.35%-2.85%, depending on currency	0	All EEA countries	Belgian E-Money. You can add money directly to your account in 18 currencies including: BGN, CHF, CZK, DKK, EUR, GBP, HRK, HUF, NOK, PLN, RON, SEK. Own exchange rates for 50+ currencies, Mastercard for the rest.
N26 Bank Account	Mastercard	Debit	1,7%	-	0	0	Most EU & EFTA countries	German bank.
Moneybase	Mastercard	Prepaid	1% min. 0,95€	-	0	0	All Eurozone countries	Malta based, own exchange rates
DiPocket	Mastercard	Prepaid	1€	-	1%	0	All EEA countries	lithuanian e-money, accounts based in Poland. no load fee Cards available in: GBP,EUR,PLN, USD. Acccounts available in EUR, GBP, PLN, USD and CHF
Nickel Chrome	Mastercard	Debit	1€	-	0	50€ annually	Belgium, France, Portugal, Spain	France based
Openbank R42	Mastercard	Debit	0	5 per month	0	7,99€ monthly	Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain	Spanish bank
Tomorrow Change	Visa + Vpay	Debit	5 per month free, then 2€	-	0	7€ monthly	Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain	German Bank
Sweep Bank	Mastercard	Debit	4 per month free, then 2% + 1€	-	0	depends on issuing country	Finland, Germany, Latvia	Maltese bank
DKB	Visa	Debit	0	-	0	0	Austria, Germany, Switzerland	German bank. 700€ monthly deposit required after 6 months to still enjoy 0% currency conversion.
Lunar Way	Visa	Debit	depends on issuing country	-	0	0-69DKK monthly	Denmark, Norway, Sweden	based in Denmark
Unicredit Start	Mastercard	Debit	free for withdrawals of 80€ or more	-	0	0	Slovakia, Czech Republic	Czech bank
Advanzia Bank	Mastercard	Credit	1,49-2% interest per month, depending on issuing country	-	0	0	Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain	Luxembourgish Bank. German customers would be wise to pick this cobranded card, because it offers autopay by SEPA direct debit.
BNP Paribas Personal Finance	Mastercard	Credit	depends on issuing country	-	0	depends on issuing country	Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovakia
Societe Generale Consumer Finance	Mastercard or Visa	Credit	depends on issuing country	-	0	depends on issuing country	Czechia, Germany, Italy, Romania
Santander Consumer Finance	Mastercard, Maestro or Visa	Credit	depends on issuing country	-	0 - 0,59%, depending on issuing country	depends on issuing country	Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain (Eroski Co-brand card), Sweden
Cofidis	Mastercard or Visa	Credit	depends on issuing country	-	0-1%, depending on issuing country	0	Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Spain
Bank Norwegian	Visa	Credit	0	-	0 - 1,75%, depending on issuing country	0	Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Spain, Sweden	Norwegian bank
TF Bank	Mastercard	Credit	depends on issuing country	-	0	0	Austria, Germany, Norway	Swedish Bank
Klarna	Visa	Credit	not possible	-	0	0	Sweden, Germany	Swedish bank
Diners Club Pure	Diners Club International/ Discover	Credit	2€ + 2,5%	-	0	0	Slovakia, Czech Republic

Rules for inclusion:

I’ve focused on pan-european and multi-country offers (list is growing every year) with zero or very low conversion and/or withdrawal fees. There is a decent option for every EEA resident available here.

Credit cards are still mostly local only. They should at least offer 0 or very low conversion fees.

Eligibility usually concerns residence, not citizenship.

Recommendations:

Unless you see an offer on the list above that fits your needs even better, get Zen or My Travel Union. Both use card company rates and have low or no monthly fees.

If you travel only occasionally Monese is also a good option, the Classic tier can be up- and downgraded on a monthly basis. The basic tier is free.

If the included travel insurance justifies the price for you N26 You is great as well.

Credit cards: If there isn’t one listed for your country or you don’t qualify for one, don’t worry, you only truly need to use a credit card when renting a car or similar (depending on country), for most other purposes a debit or prepaid card is just fine.

Watch out: There are some banks that hide their currency conversion fee behind the fact that they use their own exchange rates instead of those from Visa or Mastercard. This way they can claim there are “zero” conversion fees, but then use exchange rates that are worse than the card companies’ and pocket the difference. The fine print should reveal this, but it’s a pain.

For some European countries not using the Euro there’s an additional wrinkle: There can be double conversions. You spend in say Indian Rupees, Mastercard converts to Euro and your bank then converts from € to your local currency with their own exchange rate. That’s how they can still have their cut. Seems to happen more with Mastercard than Visa. Here’s a good explainer how it works with Polish banks. Again, the fine print should reveal this.

Now, Revolut, Curve and Wise for example do not use Visa or Mastercard rates either, but at least they are transparent in that they use the mid-market rate. But still, with Revolut and Curve you’re up to 2% worse off on weekends, and with Wise in any case. 99% of the time you’re better off sticking to the card companies’ rates and you won’t have to compare rates and what not.

Inside the EEA the European Central Bank rates are the best, but few banks use them for card transactions.