You Don't Need Cash in Scandinavia

You probably do not need to bring cash to Scandinavia, including Sweden, Denmark, or Norway. I thought this might be the case, but when I travel, I bring enough cash to pay for one hotel night, a meal, and a tank of gas (about US $200-300 for my group of 3). I also prefer to use credit cards for everything.

Our trip to Scandinavia covered Denmark, Sweden, and Norway and each use their own currency. Denmark and Sweden are part of the European Union and Norway is not, but none of them use Euros. I would need three currencies for this trip.

I used my local bank to exchange the equivalant of US $200-300 in each currency: Danish Krone, Swedish Krona, and Norweigian Krone. I kept each currency in separate envelopes to stay organized (and also split up the cash across people and bags — our cash is never all in one place when we travel). We try to not use the cash until the last day we are in a country in case we need it for an emergency.

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Are Sweden, Denmark, and Norway Cashless?

A customer hands a credit card to a merchant

I had read that Sweden was moving toward being a cashless society and anticipated that we might not even be able to use the Swedish Krona we brought with us. However, that was not the case. We were able to easily spend our cash in Sweden. We could also spend cash easily in Denmark. Norway was trickier.

We only stopped in Oslo, so it may be easier to use cash outside of a major city. In Norway, we encountered business that would only take a card. However, make sure that you let the merchant know that your card is an international card. We ran into problems in Norway because they ran our card locally and it would not go through. In one case, we had to go to a different food vender altogether because the error locked up their credit card machine and they would not take cash.

How Much Cash Do You Need for Scandinavia?

Honestly, I probably would not bring any cash if I were only visiting major cities in Scandinavia. Finding an ATM on the off-chance you need cash should be easy in places like Copenhagen and Oslo.

For a roadtrip, like we took, I would still bring some cash. I would probably only bring US $100 in each currency. This amount does not follow my rule for covering a meal, a tank of gas, and a hotel night, but it also doesn’t leave you trying to spend down a larger amount of cash as your trip nears the end.

We have an upcoming trip to Iceland, where I am bringing no cash. We are only going to be in Reykjavík for two nights and will be taking tours. If we need cash, we will use an ATM.