Danish_Norwegian-Icelandic Currency

johns624 · Sun Feb 08, 2015 12:40 am

First, let me state that I know that they all have their separate notes, all known as the krone. I know that they don't have equal value, but are any accepted in other countries? Do any accept the Euro? I'm asking because we're going on a cruise and deciding what currency and how much we need. I know that here in Michigan and across the river in Canada, some businesses accept either currency. I've also been to some businesses in St Petersburg, Russia, that took Euros.

prebennorholm · Sun Feb 08, 2015 2:57 am

You have a credit card. All tourist related businesses - practically all businesses - accept your credit card. Currency doesn't matter. You will be billed in $$$.

Euro cash is widely acceped in Denmark, I guess in Norway and Iceland as well. I never tried, I use my credit card.

Here in Denmark, espcially close to the German border, restaurant and hotel prices are often indicated i both DKK and EUR.

But you should not expect Norwegian, Icelandic and Danish krone to be mutually accepted even if they share the name. Just like Singapore dollars are not easily accepted in your local shops in Michigan.

Should you need a little local cash, then Norway, Iceland and Denmark are all filled with ATMs.

Here in Denmark practically all banks are now moneyless. That's our way to fight bank robbers. I don't know the situation in Norway and Iceland, but it is likely much the same. Therefore your only practical way to get cash is to visit an ATM.

I think that I can still buy foreign cash by odering it on my internet bank site to be picked up at a certain branch on a specific day next week or so. But I am not sure, haven't done so for years.

And don't be afraid of talking to a foreign ATM. Just press the UK flag, and it will talk Queen's own English to you.

Enjoy your cruise!!!

[Edited 2015-02-07 19:34:32]

Airstud · Sun Feb 08, 2015 3:01 am

Sigh... I disbanded the euro zone quite a few years ago, and abolished the common currency*, in order that the Continent could go back to having color & variety. A world without punts, lira, Austrian schillings, francs... all replaced with one uniform thing - is a BAD thing. Colorless and sans variety.

*I am still encountering some compliance issues.

HELyes · Sun Feb 08, 2015 4:12 am

You don't need much cash in the Nordic countries, cards are accepted practically everywhere. Euros are often accepted in the tourist areas but thats not quaranteed, anyway the rate is bad. You don't need to tip, that's not expected.

AirPacific747 · Sun Feb 08, 2015 8:22 am

Quoting prebennorholm (Reply 1):

In my experience, Euros are not widely accepted in the Copenhagen area which is probably where most of the cruise tourists stop to visit. I've tried using Euros in supermarkets and the cashier only hesitantly accepted after asking her supervisor and with help to figure out how to do it.

In the airport, they accept Euros as well and maybe in tourist areas but in other shops, I wouldn't count on it.

tommy1808 · Sun Feb 08, 2015 8:36 am

Quoting Airstud (Reply 2):
A world without punts, lira, Austrian schillings, francs... all replaced with one uniform thing - is a BAD thing. Colorless and sans variety.

yeah.. I really miss those days where you had to stop at a gas station on the way to the Netherlands to exchange money (they accepted Gulden and the exchange for DM rate was better than banks).....
The EURO is the next best thing right after giving up those border checkpoints. ..

Best regards
Thomas

Doona · Sun Feb 08, 2015 8:50 am

Quoting prebennorholm (Reply 1):

Do foreign cards actually work in Denmark these days? It's been a few years since my last attempt, but I still had perhaps 10 years of trying to use my VISA card in Denmark to no avail, they told me I needed to use a Dankort instead.

Cheers
Mats

N1120A · Sun Feb 08, 2015 9:15 am

Quoting tommy1808 (Reply 5):
yeah.. I really miss those days where you had to stop at a gas station on the way to the Netherlands to exchange money (they accepted Gulden and the exchange for DM rate was better than banks).....

Gas stations absolutely had the best rates in the old days. It was kind of funny, really.

Quoting Doona (Reply 6):
Do foreign cards actually work in Denmark these days?

Are you being funny? My foreign cards worked in Denmark 14 years ago, so I'd imagine they work now.

Kiwirob · Sun Feb 08, 2015 10:14 am

Quoting prebennorholm (Reply 1):
I guess in Norway and Iceland as well.

I've never seen anywhere which accepts the EUR in Norway except taxfree shops at Gardermoen, even the tourist traps around where I live don't accept the euro.

Quoting Doona (Reply 6):

Do foreign cards actually work in Denmark these days?

I've never had a problem using Visa, Amex or Mastercard in Denmark.

Quoting prebennorholm (Reply 1):
I don't know the situation in Norway and Iceland, but it is likely much the same.

My local DNB has undercounter cash dispensers, which is pretty much an ATM for the teller, they are loaded by the security companies who load the ATM's.

Quoting johns624 (Thread starter):
I've also been to some businesses in St Petersburg, Russia, that took Euros.

I've never noticed this in St Petersburg, anyway they would have been laughing all the way to the bank.

larshjort · Sun Feb 08, 2015 10:50 am

Quoting Doona (Reply 6):
Do foreign cards actually work in Denmark these days? It's been a few years since my last attempt, but I still had perhaps 10 years of trying to use my VISA card in Denmark to no avail, they told me I needed to use a Dankort instead.

If it was a VISA Electron that might have been an issue, It didn't really become widespread until 8-10 years ago.
Also Bilka had a period where they only would accept Dankort, but there was then an ATM in the shop where you could get Cash.

/Lars

CPH-R · Sun Feb 08, 2015 11:18 am

Quoting Larshjort (Reply 9):
If it was a VISA Electron that might have been an issue, It didn't really become widespread until 8-10 years ago.

Or a Mastercard Debit, which my bank decided to start issuing instead of VISA Electron a handful of years ago. Much hilarity was had in trying to figure out which of my local shops (for perfectly valid reasons) would or wouldn't accept it. Needless to say, I had to carry a lot of spare cash for a good while, entirely defeating the point of having a card in the first place...

There was also a brief period after they added chips to our credit cards, where there was a fair bit of confusion over whether or not to use the magnetic stripe or the chip.

johns624 · Sun Feb 08, 2015 1:14 pm

What about taxis? Do they take credit cards?

B777LRF · Sun Feb 08, 2015 1:41 pm

Guys, we're talking about some of most highly developed countries in the world. Of course your plastic will work almost everywhere, taxis included. A Norwegian shop is not anymore likely to accept Iceland or Danish, than a Minnesota shop is to accept Mexican pesos. The exception being major tourist areas, or border regions e.g in Schleswig-Holstein and Southern Jutland most shops will accept both EUR and DKK; the capitol region of Denmark and the Scania part of Sweden will accept DKK and SEK etc. Since Iceland doesn't have a border with anything, well, make your own assumptions.

There are ATMs everywhere, and everybody speaks English. No, there are no Polar bears wandering the streets of either Oslo, Stockholm or Sweden. Yes, it's very expensive. Yes, the food in Denmark is fantastic. Yes, the nature of Sweden and Norway is spectacular. No, you don't have worry about walking the streets at night.

prebennorholm · Sun Feb 08, 2015 2:05 pm

Quoting johns624 (Reply 11):
What about taxis? Do they take credit cards?

Yes they do. In some towns they ONLY take credit card (or national debit card). That reduces the risk of crimes.

Some contributors on this thread are confusing things by talking about various national debit cards - VISA Electron, Dankort or whatever. They are of course irrelevant for this discussion.

All internatinal credit cards are widely accepted in Norway, Iceland and Denmark, and have been so ever since they were invented. But you can still find minor shops which don't accept credit card.

At least in Denmark there may also be large discount super markets which only accept local debit cards with the much lower fees. Other shops add a minor fee when using credit card. The entrance door shows what cards are accepted.

gabrielchew · Sun Feb 08, 2015 2:37 pm

Quoting Airstud (Reply 2):
Colorless and sans variety.

Hmm, the least colourful and most boring currency I can think of is the USD! They're all the same!

At least the Eurp has colour and different sizes.

FlyingSicilian · Sun Feb 08, 2015 8:22 pm

Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 14):
Hmm, the least colourful and most boring currency I can think of is the USD! They're all the same! At least the Eurp has colour and different sizes.

Out side of the US 1 and 2 dollar bills the 5 through 100 all have different colours and have for years and instead of boring fake "landmarks" that are had onteh Euro at least the dollars have different real designs on the back.

Granted as a numismatist for many years I will say both the Euro and Dollar pale compared to many developing country's pretty designs.

Kiwirob · Sun Feb 08, 2015 8:36 pm

Quoting prebennorholm (Reply 13):
But you can still find minor shops which don't accept credit card.

In Norway some shops might not accept a credit card but I've yet to see one which won't accept a debit card.

Quoting johns624 (Reply 11):
What about taxis? Do they take credit cards?

All Norwegian taxis take debit and credit cards, most will also take AMEX and Diners as well. Unlike Germany and France where they still mostly take cash only.

N1120A · Sun Feb 08, 2015 10:41 pm

Quoting B777LRF (Reply 12):
than a Minnesota shop is to accept Mexican pesos.

In Northern Minnesota, its reasonably common for shops to accept CAD

. Though, who knows now at 1.27 (yay me, boo for my girlfriend).

Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 14):
Hmm, the least colourful and most boring currency I can think of is the USD! They're all the same!

Hey, the new ones are pretty cool.

rwsea · Sun Feb 08, 2015 11:02 pm

Quoting N1120A (Reply 7):

Are you being funny? My foreign cards worked in Denmark 14 years ago, so I'd imagine they work now.

Quoting B777LRF (Reply 12):

Guys, we're talking about some of most highly developed countries in the world. Of course your plastic will work almost everywhere, taxis included.

Quoting prebennorholm (Reply 13):

Yes they do. In some towns they ONLY take credit card (or national debit card). That reduces the risk of crimes.

Some contributors on this thread are confusing things by talking about various national debit cards - VISA Electron, Dankort or whatever. They are of course irrelevant for this discussion.

All internatinal credit cards are widely accepted in Norway, Iceland and Denmark, and have been so ever since they were invented. But you can still find minor shops which don't accept credit card.

Credit cards are accepted almost everywhere in the Nordic countries, but US-based cards will often run into problems. Europe has switched to the "chip and PIN" system while the US is still using the older, magnetic swipe technology. At many places in Europe you need to enter a PIN number to use a credit card, and most US cards don't have the functionality to do this. As the OP is American, this is something that needs to be taken into account.

In practice, US-based cards can usually be used at places like hotels, nicer restaurants, and larger department stores where it is still possible to swipe the card and manually sign (you may be asked for your passport as ID). For any sort of automated payment system, such as public transit tickets, gas stations, etc. you will likely run into trouble when trying to use a US-card. As an example, there is one fueling station near the Reykjavik airport and it is not attended. Only electronic payment is accepted, but it is impossible to use US-based cards as a PIN is required.

Some American banks are now offering cards with the chip and PIN technology, but without that, cash will still be necessary in this part of the world for an American tourist.

rwsea · Sun Feb 08, 2015 11:05 pm

Quoting Kiwirob (Reply 16):

In Norway some shops might not accept a credit card but I've yet to see one which won't accept a debit card.

US debit cards won't work in Norway.

For further info on using US-based cards in Europe, see the following:

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/money/chip-pin-cards

LFutia · Mon Feb 09, 2015 3:55 am

Quoting rwsea (Reply 18):
Credit cards are accepted almost everywhere in the Nordic countries, but US-based cards will often run into problems. Europe has switched to the "chip and PIN" system while the US is still using the older, magnetic swipe technology. At many places in Europe you need to enter a PIN number to use a credit card, and most US cards don't have the functionality to do this. As the OP is American, this is something that needs to be taken into account.

We're switching over to Chip & Pin or Chip & Signature. Effective October 2015.

Source: http://money.usnews.com/money/person...-more-chip-and-pin-cards-in-the-us

Leo/ORD

Kiwirob · Mon Feb 09, 2015 7:44 am

Quoting rwsea (Reply 19):
For further info on using US-based cards in Europe, see the following:

I have an older swipe card from my NZ bank which I occasionally use, the terminals in use in Norway are dual use chip and swipe, if it doesn't have a chip swipping will also work, I can't see it being any different for US cards.

Doona · Mon Feb 09, 2015 8:31 am

Quoting CPH-R (Reply 10):
Or a Mastercard Debit

There's the culprit. Thanks for clearing that up for me!

Cheers
Mats

KaiGywer · Fri Feb 13, 2015 5:23 am

Quoting rwsea (Reply 18):
nicer restaurants

I used my US issued Visa card in Norway last summer with no problems, even buying a kebab.

Up until a few years ago, this was often the case, but these days you'll just get a receipt to sign (which sometimes confuses the cashier as they are not used to it)

Quoting rwsea (Reply 18):
For any sort of automated payment system, such as public transit tickets, gas stations, etc. you will likely run into trouble when trying to use a US-card.

Used my card here also.

Quoting rwsea (Reply 19):
US debit cards won't work in Norway.

As long as they're VISA or Mastercard branded, they will work off the credit function instead of the debit function.

N1120A · Fri Feb 20, 2015 8:00 am

Quoting rwsea (Reply 18):
Credit cards are accepted almost everywhere in the Nordic countries, but US-based cards will often run into problems. Europe has switched to the "chip and PIN" system while the US is still using the older, magnetic swipe technology. At many places in Europe you need to enter a PIN number to use a credit card, and most US cards don't have the functionality to do this. As the OP is American, this is something that needs to be taken into account.

Actually, this really isn't an issue, unless the merchant is a moron and/or doesn't understand how liability shift works. I've never, ever seen a credit card machine in Europe that doesn't have a swipe function. This is both so that US credit cards are able to be used, as well as to back up on EU cards in the case there is a problem with the chip or the chip reader. At one time, when EMV became wide spread in Europe, some merchants feared what would happen if they accepted a fake swipe card, and would (in violation of their merchant agreements) refuse to take US and Canadian (Canada didn't adopt EMV until about 5 years ago) cards. Credit card companies, through education and threats, fixed that quickly.

More often than not, issues with swipe acceptance these days are due to a lot of merchants not really knowing how to use swipe cards. They don't realize that they simply have to hit the enter button again after it asks for a PIN.

Quoting rwsea (Reply 19):
US debit cards won't work in Norway.

All, or nearly all, US debit cards are also VISA or MasterCards, and have been since the turn of the millennium. So yes, they will work in any place that takes credit cards in Norway.

frostyj · Fri Feb 20, 2015 10:02 am

Quoting rwsea (Reply 18):

Here with have chip and pin, signature and tap cards.

TheSonntag · Sat Feb 21, 2015 9:06 am

Quoting N1120A (Reply 24):

While this is true, in Denmark everyone uses the PIN, so it might be an issue. I have a german mastercard and in germany, I have NEVER been asked for the PIN. In Denmark, I needed it.

Fortunately nowadays you can even pay with Maestro in Denmark. The DanKort only days are over. But the DanKort love of the Danes has a positive side, in Denmark you can buy everything with DanKort. Try to buy an ice in Germany with a credit card - forget it, Germans want cash. In Denmark, its usually no problem.

Regarding calculation: 500 DKK are roughly 70 EUR, 1.000 DKK are 130-140 EUR.

Mortyman · Sat Feb 21, 2015 9:49 am

In Norway, everyone insist that you use card with chip and pin, as that is far safer than the old fashioned ones With only magnetic strip. However if for some reason, the machine won't Accept the chip ( could be that you just have to wipe some dust off the card ), you will be asked by the machines to use the magnetic strip. However I think that this is rather a standard response from the machines and shops etc still will make sure you try again With the chip and pin code before accepting using the magnetic strip. Card With magnetic strips are considered outdated with poor safety by Norwegian banks. The only reason why such Cards are still issued in Norway is because there are countries around the world who still use the magnetic strip.

N1120A · Mon Feb 23, 2015 7:40 am

Quoting TheSonntag (Reply 26):
While this is true, in Denmark everyone uses the PIN, so it might be an issue. I have a german mastercard and in germany, I have NEVER been asked for the PIN. In Denmark, I needed it.

If you don't have a chip on the card, they really can't do anything.

Quoting Mortyman (Reply 27):
The only reason why such Cards are still issued in Norway is because there are countries around the world who still use the magnetic strip.

Well, I don't think the magnetic strip will ever go away completely. It helps to have a backup.

Quoting Mortyman (Reply 27):

In Norway, everyone insist that you use card with chip and pin, as that is far safer than the old fashioned ones With only magnetic strip. However if for some reason, the machine won't Accept the chip ( could be that you just have to wipe some dust off the card ), you will be asked by the machines to use the magnetic strip.

Well, if you have one. In the US, most people don't have chip cards.

Quoting TheSonntag (Reply 26):
Try to buy an ice in Germany with a credit card - forget it, Germans want cash. In Denmark, its usually no problem.

That's because Dankort is so cheap to accept, its actually cheaper for the to take it than deposit cash.

bjorn14 · Mon Feb 23, 2015 11:41 am

Quoting johns624 (Reply 11):
What about taxis? Do they take credit cards?

Yes but not all have the swipe function at least here in Norway.

Quoting B777LRF (Reply 12):
No, you don't have worry about walking the streets at night.

Except in the Grønland 'hood in Oslo at night.

Quoting KaiGywer (Reply 23):
even buying a kebab.

...and you lived to tell about it

Kiwirob · Mon Feb 23, 2015 2:23 pm

Quoting Mortyman (Reply 27):
In Norway, everyone insist that you use card with chip and pin, as that is far safer than the old fashioned ones With only magnetic strip.

My Norwegian issued AMEX card doesn't have a chip, it's still swipe.

Quoting bjorn14 (Reply 29):
Yes but not all have the swipe function at least here in Norway.

I've never come across a taxi in Norway which doesn't have the swipe system, it's an excellent system IMO, it's just the taxi fares which are outreagous.

TheSonntag · Mon Feb 23, 2015 2:49 pm

Quoting N1120A (Reply 28):

If you don't have a chip on the card, they really can't do anything.

True. My problem was that my card had a chip, but you only get issued the PIN by your german bank if you asked them. So the system in Denmark wanted a PIN which I didn't know.

Of course, I fixed that. Now since I live in Germany, however, I never used the PIN, so I forgot it. Thats life, I guess.

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