Any known caveats or fees associated with using Monzo in Portugal?
Itās probably very similar to using it in mainland Spain. Thereās no fees from monzo so just find an atm that doesnāt charge, any of the Portuguese banks
We were in Porto in June and used it in several restaurants, a local small hotel , booked flights with Ryan air, used it in Grahams vineyard - which was well worth a visit just to sit in the sun overlooking the river. All with no problem.
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Have been using our cards here in Porto and Lisbon for the past week. Mostly no problem, as mentioned taking money out at the big banks has no fees. Watch out for the standard āpay in your home currencyā question (donāt, pay in Euros). A couple shops and restaurants have had terminals that didnāt work, but mostly working great!
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Just returned from a trip to Madeira. Used Monzo card for most expenses including hire car, hotel bill and general expenses such as petrol etc. Faultless and readily accepted by all. Also recharged the card through my bank account whilst abroad with no problems. Really like the ability to attach a photo of invoices to transactions making it very easy to keep tabs on spending.
Hi Folks, just back from a trip to Lisbon 
(No Portugal flag) 
.
Worked like a charm!
Withdrew cash at a number of ATMās usually āMultibancoā which seems to be like 'Link ATMās in the UK, as well as one at a large bank.
Paid on card in a number of Restaurants & Paterlerias, and also at a number of tourist attractions such as BelƩm Tower, or any of the Castles / Palaces in Sintra.
Didnāt see Contactless payments anywhere, worth always having a little cash on you anyway, especially if you visit the Old Town / Alfama area where most shops donāt / donāt like taking card payments.
Oh, and also Used card successfully on the Lisboa Metro network, no problems! 
(Which I incidentally still got instant notifications on because 3G throughout their Metro network, plus free WiFi! 
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Just back from a trip in Porto ā¦ No problems att all ā¦ even contact less ā¦ 
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Hi, were the cash withdrawals at multibanco atmās free? Iām going to Portugal in May and intend to get most of my cash there as I need it, and use my monzo card Thanks
Hi @anon4468526 yes, I didnāt pay a fee on any Multibanco ATMās whilst there.
Ash
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Thatās great, thanks. Iāll hunt those ATMās out when Iām there!
When I was in Lisbon back in November, I had no issues with most places. Anywhere catering to tourists will almost certainly take card, but have some spare cash with you just in case - I found a couple of places that had card machines that only work with ālocal cardsā.
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Like many countries small businesses sometimes have card machines which are āout of orderā. This is not always true - they just want to run a cash business which is easier to hide from the tax man. Portuguese people need honest tax paying businesses - ask first, if the shop, restaurant or whatever wonāt take your card, walk out. You might find their machine starts working again.
Interesting fact:
Portugal has the highest proportion of cash machines in Western Europe with 1,516 machines per one million residents.
Dec 2016
Just got back from 2 weeks in Lisbon. Used Monzo almost everywhere with no problem, just a few things to note
- lots of bars are cash only
- a few places claim to be ālocal cards onlyā
- entrance fee to Sintraās Pena Palace wouldnāt accept MasterCard (other cards were fine), so Iād recommend taking a back up card incase
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Hi, Iām due to get my card on Saturday and I got it initially as a recommendation from Martin Lewis for preloading euros. How do I do this. What is the best and cheapest way to use the card abroad (in Portugal)?
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You just load it with Ā£Ā£Ā£. Once in Portugal you can use it in ATMs to withdraw ā¬ā¬ā¬ out use it as a standard payment method for ā¬ā¬ā¬ purchases.
There are no fees from Monzo and you get the MasterCard exchange rate which is pretty good. You just have to make sure you pay for everything in Euros (not the shots own conversion to GBP) and avoid ATMs that charge a fee themselves.
you need to make sure you are a verified user to use the card in foreign ATMs.
The card, although a prepaid card is just the same to use as a normal debit card - i.e. can use for contactless payments or insert into POS machine with your PIN number. - always chose pay in local currency for POS terminals and ATMs - some parts of Portugal donāt seem to want to use POS terminals and prefer cash for some reason 
The card can be ātopped upā instantaneously using the app with WIFI connection from your registered debit card that you used for your initial top up - so donāt ācarryā too much balance on your card at any one time just in case you lose it
Always useful to carry some cash with you - which can be withdrawn from ATMs once in Portugal if youāre brave enough to trust the card and carry no cash when you leave for Portugal - I usually carry about ā¬100 on me when I go on holiday from previous hols - you will get a better rate in Portugal rather than exchanging in UK post office travel agents etc as its commission free and gets the mastercard rate of the day when you withdraw from a local ATM
Always carry another bank card with you just in case
you can find further information about Portugal by searching āPortugalā using the frying pan top right of screen
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Off to Madeira on Thursday. Only just got my Monzo card. Was it easy enough to find an ATM that doesnāt charge ? We are staying at a hotel by the coast near Funchal.
You may find this post useful
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Used my Monzo card during my recent stay in Lisbon. Had no problems with it at various restaurants and shops. Didnāt try using an ATM. No issues to report, no fees and exchange rate was favourable.
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