I have a dutch accountā¦
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Pretty sure I used my N26 mastercard in Portugal ?!?!
Iām talking specifically about tolls! You need a Multibanco card or Via Verde, which requires a Portuguese bank account. Outside tolls there are some merchants who will also only accept Multibanco, but something like 95% of them will accept all cards
Yeah highway tolls. 90% sure I used my euro n26 MasterCard
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Just checked and itās true, since early 2018 you can use any card, no longer restricted to Multibanco. As I said most people donāt pay attention to that as they use Via Verde 
I spent the day in Eindhoven on Saturday, and I for some reason decided to play the really fun game of forgetting my wallet in my car in the Stansted car park and having to hope everywhere accepted Android Pay.
No issues anywhere, everywhere accepted contactless except for Albert Heijn who didnāt take Visa or MasterCard so the lack of card made no difference.
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Spent the weekend in Rotterdam/Den Haag last week - Albert Heijn interestingly were fine with Apple Pay and Monzo card contactless at the āto-goā or smaller shops (both self-service and the manned till we tried both in 3 different locations)ā¦ but when we tried to use a self checkout with the same model of card terminal at one of their larger stores - it was having none of it!
Everywhere else was fine aside from the ticket machine for the trains, where I had to tell it Monzo was a credit card, but it worked then.
I wish I brought a better camera but the canals are so pretty
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By the Rijks museum. My Monzo card was pleased
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Iām going to Amsterdam in a few months - it seems from what Iāve read that contactless terminals are pretty common? Does anyone whoās been there feel it is as common as in the UK?
Iāll be hoping to use Apple Pay as much as possible. Iāve noticed some comments about contactless transactions over a certain value requiring your PIN - does anyone know what happens if you try a higher value transaction over Apple Pay?
I know Apple Pay hasnāt officially launched in the Netherlands yet.
Used my card a number of times with no problem, actually mostly used Apple Pay. Most places will accept card and you will find plenty of cash machines too.
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I was there in mid March
Almost everywhere had contactless terminals
Generally vertical on the left hand side of the terminal
They worked as I would expect in the UK, not like some of my unusual contactless experiences in Madrid recently
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I used a cash machine from well known ING inside well known Albert Heijn supermarket chain. No charges, clear DCC selection and appropriate orange colour for machine
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Contactless is almost everywhere (a few places are cash only, but far more places are card only!) - but Mastercard acceptance is very low. About 25% in my experience.
Albert Heijn is an interesting one - in the city centre Leidesestraat branch, they accepted Monzo, but a more residential branch in Westerstraat (still in central Amsterdam) only accepted V Pay and Maestro.
It seems that most stores (especially small, independent stores) donāt want to pay the interchange fees on credit cards. But they canāt refuse Mastercard credit and accept Mastercard debit. So they decide to only accept MC/Visaās debit brands.
Itās annoying, but blame MC/Visa for their acceptance rules and weird V Pay and Maestro brands that no longer exist in the UK.
Carry cash!
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I have recently come back from a visit to Amsterdam and read this thread with interest before going. Donāt use Monzoās services but I thought Iād share my experiences, as they might be of interest. The card I used was a Mastercard debit on a current account with Metrobank. We mainly were in the city centre, but did venture to other parts of the Netherlands like Rotterdam and some places further out.
Amsterdam Centraal station - MC accepted at both the ticket machines and counters with no problem. Ticket machines for the trams (GVB) and on-board tram at the info desk, no issues with MC, you still need to buy a paper ticket/pass to ride but contactless is accepted where under ā¬25.
Conexxion buses also accept MC, although it is slightly strange seeing a pinpad on the bus as we seem to be all contactless here in the UK where accepted with no pin.
Toilets in station - used MC fine on the turnstiles with no issue, but the contactless function was broken on some of them. Always good to have some shrapnel in euros for this purpose as they do not give you change but you get a 50 cent voucher to use in the station.
Most places seemed to be fine with MC debit and happily accepted. However certainly for the smaller independent/niche shops as said above they are Maestro debit or cash and no MC.
Interestingly, there was one place where you could pay contactless over the limit but just had to type in your pin.
We also got some snacks and food from various Albert Heijns - the smaller āto goā ones found in the central areas and at stations, all accepted MC at the counter and on the self service checkout. The bigger Albert Heijn near Centraal station has no issues with MC acceptance on self service. All appears to be card only and cash not accepted at the self service.
Restaurants tend to be hit and miss, some loathe splitting the bill and insist on one payment method (either card or cash) for the entire bill. Whereas others are happy to accept part payment via a mix of card and cash. Do have some cash to hand for this very reason if you are eating together.
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I go to the Netherlands multiple times every month and I always have problems with Monzo due to their maestro infrastructure - really annoying
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Hello all. Had a 5 days trip in Amsterdam and Monzo worked fine at almost all restaurants, shops or cash machines. The only one that didnāt accept Monzo was Albert Heijn. Lloyds VISA and MasterCard didnāt worked either. And thatās because AH accepts only Maestro cards or cash. Good thing they have cash machines in all AHs.
Just got back from a trip to Europe, had absolutely no trouble using my Monzo card in Belgium or Franceā¦ but oh dearā¦ I wish I had read this thread before visiting the Netherlands! Can only confirm everything said so far. Firstly I needed to pay for parking but the machine didnāt accept MasterCard,
I only had enough change for an hours parking, ended up walking around the town (Valkenburg) for almost the whole of that hour and had to ask 3 different people where the nearest cash machine was.
The issue seems to be that there are very few ATMs because it looks like a fairly cashless country - everyone I saw paying at tills used card for everything - but they all use maestro and nothing else. And indeed, much to my bemusement, after finally finding a cash machine and withdrawing some cash, I then visited a supermarket to split it down to coins so I could pay for more parking, and it turned out that most of the the tills in the supermarket didnāt accept cash! They are essentially Maestro only tills:
And there were signs on almost every shop and place I visited saying āno visa, no MasterCardā.
I had slightly less trouble in Eindhoven, did have it a couple of times where someone would say āsorry we donāt acceā¦ā just as I held my phone to the readerā¦ and the transaction went through fine. Itās all very odd. Itās a great shame but sadly if you want to guarantee no hassle, seeing as MC acceptance is low, and ATMs are as rare as hens teeth, the only option is to order currency before visiting. And thatās a sad thing to have to do for a modern and advanced European country in 2019!
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Utter nonsense. Mastercard was accepted at AH as recently as September at regular and pinkassa checkouts.
@anon28680395 This is probably only in bigger cities and AH to Go.
Iām from the Netherlands and currently living in the UK for couple of years. I was so happy I could finally use Apple Pay here in the UK 
. And yes itās impossible for me to go back without having my Dutch Maestro card from ING with me.
Another thing, almost all terminals accept contactless payments but because of our Maestro cards and not having card numbers we didnāt have Apple Pay until June this year 
.
The other way around Maestro Apple Pay is online almost never accepted outside the Netherlands . Like I canāt pay for my Trainline ticket with ING Maestro Apple Pay.
@benjaminleo I get you completely. Itās stupid and the only reason I can come up with is money, they donāt want to pay for the higher transaction fee. Maestro in other words PIN payments are close to free for the retailers, where MasterCard and Visa is seen mostly as Credit Card. Because those cards in the Netherlands are never Debit Cards, what is even more expensive for the retailers.
I hope that this is going to change but it will take a whileā¦
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