Do I Need Cash Overseas? Cash vs Card in 16 Destinations

Yes, you need some cash — and less than your parents think, more than the travel blogs think. The honest answer varies enormously by country: NZ$50 will see you through ten days in Sydney, while ten days in Rarotonga can genuinely need NZ$500 in your hand. This page gives a cash-dependence rating and a specific 10-day cash amount for 16 destinations New Zealanders actually go to, plus what cards get accepted and what the ATMs are like. Take the cash for taxis, tips and the shop that still refuses cards. Put the other 90% on a card at the real rate.

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The summary table

Cash amounts are per person for a 10-day trip and assume you're using a card for accommodation, restaurants, tours and shopping. Ratings: High = you'll be stuck without cash daily. Medium = cash needed several times a week. Low = cash is a backup you may not spend.

Destination	Currency	Cash dependence	Cash for 10 days	Card acceptance	ATM notes
Australia	AUD	Low	NZ$50–100	Near-universal. Contactless and phone payments everywhere including buses, markets and small cafés. Card surcharges of 1–2% are common and legal.	Big-four bank ATMs (CBA, Westpac, NAB, ANZ) don't charge their own fee. Avoid Cashcard/Next Payments machines in pubs.
Bali / Indonesia	IDR	High	NZ$300–450	Fine in resorts, hotels, larger restaurants and malls in Seminyak, Canggu and Ubud. Cash-only for warungs, scooter hire, drivers, temple entry, markets and massages. Card surcharges of 3% are widespread.	Withdrawal caps are low (often IDR 1.5–3 million) with a per-withdrawal fee, so take the maximum each time. Use ATMs inside bank branches or malls — skip freestanding machines on tourist strips.
Japan	JPY	Medium–High	NZ$250–400	Cashless payments reached 58.0% of consumer spending in 2025 (METI), so about 42% is still cash. Convenience stores, chains, department stores and most city restaurants take cards. Small izakaya, older ramen shops, shrines, coin lockers, some ryokan and rural buses do not.	7-Eleven and Japan Post ATMs reliably accept foreign cards; many bank ATMs don't. Get an IC card (Suica/Pasmo/ICOCA) for transit and convenience stores.
Thailand	THB	Medium	NZ$250–350	Good in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and resort areas for hotels, malls and mid-range restaurants. Street food, markets, songthaews, tuk-tuks and islands are cash. QR payment is huge locally but mostly needs a Thai bank account.	Thai ATMs charge a fixed foreign-card fee per withdrawal (historically around THB 220), on top of your card's fee. Withdraw large amounts infrequently. Decline the on-screen conversion offer.
Vietnam	VND	High	NZ$300–450	Hotels, larger restaurants and city malls take cards, often with a 2–3% surcharge. Street food, markets, motorbike taxis, local buses, most Hoi An and Sapa vendors are cash.	Local bank ATMs charge less than foreign-branded ones. Withdrawal caps are low. Notes come in large denominations — check the zeros carefully.
Fiji	FJD	Medium–High	NZ$250–400	Resorts, hotels and larger restaurants in Nadi, Denarau and Suva are fine. Markets, taxis, village visits, island transfers, buses and roadside stalls are cash. Surcharges are common.	ATMs in Nadi, Suva and Denarau work; outer islands and Yasawa/Mamanuca resorts often have none. Withdraw on the mainland before island-hopping. Wise does support transfers to Fiji.
Rarotonga / Cook Islands	NZD (plus local coins)	High	NZ$400–600	Resorts and larger restaurants accept cards, frequently with a 2–4% surcharge. Punanga Nui market, scooter hire, buses, roadside stalls and Aitutaki operators are cash. NZD is the currency, so no conversion needed.	Very limited ATMs — a handful in Avarua and around Rarotonga, almost none on Aitutaki. Take NZD cash from home. Wise cannot send money to the Cook Islands, so treat this as a cash-and-card destination only.
Samoa	WST	High	NZ$400–600	Apia hotels and larger restaurants take cards, often with a surcharge. Beach fales, markets, buses, taxis and most of Savai'i are cash only.	ATMs concentrated in Apia and at the airport. Savai'i coverage is thin. Wise cannot send money to Samoa — plan cash and card, not transfers.
USA	USD	Low–Medium	NZ$150–250	Excellent almost everywhere, including transit and small vendors. But tipping runs on small notes — US$1 and US$5 for housekeeping, valets, bar staff and shuttle drivers. Some small businesses have card minimums.	Non-bank ATMs commonly charge US$3–5 plus your card's fee. Use in-branch bank ATMs. DCC offers are common at restaurant terminals.
UK	GBP	Low	NZ$80–150	Close to cashless. London buses and Tube accept contactless only — no cash on buses at all. Cards work for almost everything including market stalls. Some pubs and rural cafés still prefer cash for small amounts.	Bank ATMs (LINK network) are usually free to use; standalone machines in corner shops may charge. Always decline the conversion offer.
Europe (Schengen)	EUR	Medium	NZ$200–350	Not uniform. Germany and Austria remain notably cash-preferring — bakeries, small restaurants, market stalls and some clinics refuse cards. Sweden and Norway are near-cashless and some venues refuse cash. Netherlands often needs Maestro/V-Pay rather than credit. France, Spain and Italy are card-friendly in cities, cash in villages.	Bank ATMs are fine; Euronet-branded machines in tourist areas charge high fees and push DCC hard. Public toilets and luggage lockers need coins.
India	INR	Medium	NZ$150–250	Hotels, malls, chains and app-based taxis take cards. Domestic payment runs on UPI, which visitors can now access in limited ways but not easily. Autorickshaws, small shops, temples and markets are cash.	Bank ATMs are widespread with low per-withdrawal caps and their own fees. Carry small notes — change is a constant issue. Keep cash secure.
Singapore	SGD	Low	NZ$80–150	Excellent. Cards and phones work nearly everywhere. Hawker centres are the exception — many stalls are cash or local QR only, though card acceptance keeps improving.	Bank ATMs (DBS, OCBC, UOB) are everywhere and reliable. Buses and MRT accept contactless bank cards directly.
Philippines	PHP	High	NZ$300–450	Malls, hotels and city restaurants in Manila and Cebu take cards. Island resorts, tricycles, ferries, sari-sari stores, markets and most of Palawan and Siargao are cash. Surcharges are common.	ATMs charge a fixed foreign-card fee (historically around PHP 250) with low caps, making small withdrawals very poor value. Stock up before island trips — outer-island ATMs run empty.
China	CNY	Medium	NZ$200–300	Runs on Alipay and WeChat Pay, not on cards. Foreign Visa and Mastercard acceptance is patchy outside international hotels and airports. Both apps now let visitors link an overseas card, which works well when it works — but set it up and test it before you fly, and expect some merchants and small vendors to fail.	Bank of China and ICBC ATMs generally accept foreign cards. Keep cash as your fallback for the days the app declines — many taxi drivers and small shops have no card terminal at all.
South Korea	KRW	Low–Medium	NZ$100–200	Very card-friendly for a developed Asian market. Some local terminals only accept domestic cards, and traditional markets, small eateries and some temples are cash.	Look for ATMs labelled "Global" or "Foreign Card" — many domestic machines reject foreign cards outright. 7-Eleven and airport machines are reliable. Get a T-money card for transit.

Work out what a specific amount costs you:

How to read that table

Three patterns explain most of it, and none of them is "rich country = cashless".

Cash habits are cultural, not economic. Japan is one of the most technologically advanced economies on earth and roughly 42% of consumer spending is still cash. Germany is Europe's largest economy and its bakeries want coins. Meanwhile Kenya and India built national digital payment systems that leapfrogged cards entirely. Don't extrapolate from GDP.

The gap is between tourist infrastructure and local infrastructure. In Bali, Vietnam and the Philippines, the hotel takes your card and the person who drives you there does not. The more your trip resembles local life — markets, street food, local transport, small islands — the more cash you need. A resort holiday needs less cash than a backpacking trip in the same country.

Domestic digital payments usually exclude you. China's Alipay and WeChat Pay, Thailand's PromptPay QR, India's UPI, Brazil's Pix — these are how locals pay, and visitor access ranges from workable-with-setup to effectively closed. When a country has moved off cards onto a domestic rail you can't easily join, cash goes back up, not down.

Where to get the cash, and where not to

Buy your cash float in New Zealand before you fly. Not because New Zealand bureaux are cheap — they typically cost 3–7% in the rate — but because the alternative is worse. An arrivals-hall ATM commonly stacks an operator surcharge of NZ$5–12, a dynamic currency conversion offer at 4–7%, your own bank's 1.3–2.5%, and a low withdrawal cap that makes you do it twice. That can total around 10% on the cash you're most desperate for.

Compare bureaux before you go using our guides to currency exchange near you and the cheapest way to exchange money in New Zealand in 2026. City bureaux in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch generally beat airport desks — see Auckland Airport currency exchange for what the airport actually charges if you're out of time.

Then, once you're at the destination and want more cash, use an ATM attached to a bank branch, withdraw a large amount rather than several small ones, and decline the conversion offer every single time.

The 90/10 split, concretely

For a NZ$4,000 ten-day trip to Japan:

• NZ$350 in yen, bought in New Zealand before departure, split between your wallet and your bag. This covers airport transport, small restaurants, shrines, coin lockers and the rural bus.
• NZ$3,650 on cards. Accommodation, tours, department stores, chain restaurants, the Shinkansen, IC card top-ups. A card converting at the mid-market rate with a fee from 0.25% costs roughly NZ$9–22 on that. The same spending on a 2.25% bank card with a 2.5% rate margin costs about NZ$173.
• Top up cash from a 7-Eleven ATM if you run low, in one large withdrawal rather than three small ones.

That's the whole strategy. The cash isn't a failure of planning — it's the correct tool for a specific set of transactions. What's wasteful is putting the other 90% through the same expensive channel.

Cash safety, briefly

• Split it. Wallet, day bag, and a stash in your accommodation. Never all in one place.
• Carry a decoy. A cheap wallet with a small amount and an expired card is standard advice in higher-risk cities for good reason.
• Small notes matter more than you think. A US$100 or a fresh IDR 100,000 is useless to a taxi driver with no change, and some vendors treat large notes as a reason to keep the difference.
• Check note condition for exchange. Some countries — Indonesia and parts of Southeast Asia especially — refuse torn, marked or older-series USD notes when exchanging.
• Don't exchange leftover currency at the airport on the way home. The spread is worst there. Hold small residuals for your next trip or spend them on duty free.

Related reading

• Travel money card NZ: every option compared — Wise vs Travelex vs OneSmart vs Cash Passport vs bank cards on real fees.
• Best card to use overseas from NZ — what ANZ, ASB, BNZ, Westpac and Kiwibank actually charge.
• Should I pay in NZD or local currency? — the 3–6% mistake almost everyone makes at the till.
• Sending money to Australia from NZ — if you need funds in an account rather than a pocket.
• Wise review NZ — including the regulatory position, honestly stated.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need cash when travelling overseas from New Zealand?

Yes, some. Plan on NZ$150–300 equivalent for developed destinations like Australia, the UK, the USA, Singapore and Europe, and NZ$300–600 for Bali, Vietnam, the Philippines and the Pacific Islands. Buy it in New Zealand before you fly and put the rest of your budget on a card that converts at the mid-market rate.

Is Japan still a cash country?

Partly. Japan's cashless payment share reached 58.0% of consumer spending in 2025 according to its Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which leaves about 42% in cash. Cities, chains and convenience stores take cards; small restaurants, shrines, coin lockers, some ryokan and rural transport often don't. Carry NZ$250–400 for ten days.

How much cash should I take to Bali?

Around NZ$300–450 equivalent for ten days. Resorts and larger restaurants take cards, usually with a 3% surcharge, but warungs, scooter hire, drivers, temple entry and markets are cash. Indonesian ATMs have low withdrawal caps and a per-withdrawal fee, so make fewer, larger withdrawals from machines inside bank branches.

Can I use my New Zealand card in China?

Sometimes, but don't rely on it. China runs on Alipay and WeChat Pay rather than cards, and foreign Visa and Mastercard acceptance is patchy outside international hotels and airports. Both apps let visitors link an overseas card — set that up and test it before you fly — and carry NZ$200–300 in cash as the fallback.

Which countries are effectively cashless?

Sweden and Norway are the closest, where some venues refuse cash outright. Australia, the UK, Singapore and South Korea are close behind — London buses don't accept cash at all. Even in those countries a small cash float is worth carrying for market stalls, coin-operated lockers and card outages.

Can I send money to Samoa or the Cook Islands with Wise?

No. Wise does not support Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea or the Cook Islands. For those destinations plan on taking cash and using a card locally, and use a bank or a Pacific-focused remittance provider if you need to send funds. Fiji is supported by Wise.

Should I get cash at the airport when I arrive?

Avoid it if you can. An arrivals-hall ATM often stacks an operator surcharge of NZ$5–12, a dynamic currency conversion offer at 4–7%, your own bank's 1.3–2.5% fee, and a low withdrawal cap — around 10% all up. Land with NZ$150–300 bought in New Zealand and use a bank-branch ATM in town for anything more.

Is it safer to carry cash or a card overseas?

A card, for the bulk of your money — lost cash is gone, while a lost card can be frozen in an app and replaced. But cards get blocked, swallowed and declined, so carry two cards on different networks stored separately, plus enough cash to cover a day or two if both fail.