How much cash to take on all inclusive trip?

kinger8938 · 20 Jul 2025 at 12:01

I know there are too many factors to consider really but we are a family of 4, going on our first all inclusive in a few weeks to turkey.

We are used to taking cash with us on holiday so not really sure how much to take this time round being all inclusive etc.

Id like to think we will do some day trips/meals out off the resort if it feels a bit samey all week.

Is it best practice to take a few hundred in cash and then keep a credit card on hand incase we need it?

Not that well travelled so any advice appreciated

p1RATE · 20 Jul 2025 at 12:08

I tend to keep a couple hundred on me just for security with taxis and tips etc. But everywhere has gone so cashless these days the majority goes on my credit card, which I get a better rate on anyway.

SonicSW20 · 20 Jul 2025 at 12:09

I never take cash, there's simply no need with the various cards / accounts like Revolut where you can just withdraw cash easily when needed.

kristmace · 21 Jul 2025 at 00:04

I took zero cash on our last 2 all inclusive holidays. The very few times I needed to pay for anything, I just used a fee free card.

aaronyuri · 21 Jul 2025 at 01:43

Carrying around cash on an all inclusive holiday...? God no.

If you desperately need cash: find a cash machine and use a fee free, low/zero FX card to withdraw it. Curve, Revolut, Monzo, Chase, even Virgin nowadays. There are plenty of options out there that top paying over the odds for foreign cash in the UK.

kinger8938 · 21 Jul 2025 at 10:22

aaronyuri said:
Carrying around cash on an all inclusive holiday...? God no.

If you desperately need cash: find a cash machine and use a fee free, low/zero FX card to withdraw it. Curve, Revolut, Monzo, Chase, even Virgin nowadays. There are plenty of options out there that top paying over the odds for foreign cash in the UK.

I thought a little bit for taxis etc would make sense but I see your point.

Not sure if my current card offers any fee free option but will take a look

aaronyuri · 21 Jul 2025 at 12:15

kinger8938 said:
I thought a little bit for taxis etc would make sense but I see your point.

Not sure if my current card offers any fee free option but will take a look

What taxi trips are you anticipating? It's much cheaper to pre-book your taxi to/from the airport than hire one at the taxi rank.

If you're taking taxis from the hotel/resort to other places, book a taxi through the hotel reception and confirm they take card for payment.

The biggest drawback with foreign cash is that, once it's out of the machine, it's hard to get that back into your bank account. You will always end up coming back with some dead change that is only good for the next holiday.

SonicSW20 · 21 Jul 2025 at 12:23

kinger8938 said:
I thought a little bit for taxis etc would make sense but I see your point.

Not sure if my current card offers any fee free option but will take a look

Many places are the same as here - there are apps (FREENOW in several European countries for example), facilities to take contactless payments are common. Depends on where you're going of course so you'll need to research it.

Still, I'd not take cash with me, I'd use Revolut or similar as a top up card for the trip for card payment and cash withdrawal as it gives a degree of separation between my "real" accounts in case of fraud, lost or stolen cards etc. I also find it easier to keep a budget as I can see all the transactions in what I paid in GBP instead of the local currency.

Semple · 21 Jul 2025 at 12:59

aaronyuri said:
What taxi trips are you anticipating? It's much cheaper to pre-book your taxi to/from the airport than hire one at the taxi rank.

If you're taking taxis from the hotel/resort to other places, book a taxi through the hotel reception and confirm they take card for payment.

The biggest drawback with foreign cash is that, once it's out of the machine, it's hard to get that back into your bank account. You will always end up coming back with some dead change that is only good for the next holiday.

Not only that but the rebuy rates are normally poor so you also lose again converting back to £. It's not too much of an issue with € as it's highly likely you'll use them again. But for closed currency countries...

It's also a lot safer as a tourist not to be carrying wads of cash. I made this realisation about 12-14 years ago when we took a trip to NYC right at the time of the black Friday sales. I think we had to pay for the hotel in cash and walking down to the subway with something like $3000-4000 in cash in my pocket, it dawned on me that if I got mugged it would absolutely ruin the holiday.

tres · 21 Jul 2025 at 16:55

I think the last 4 trips we've done have been all inclusive, just for the relaxation factor. We still have the majority of the €250 we got out for the first trip.

kinger8938 · 21 Jul 2025 at 17:44

tres said:
I think the last 4 trips we've done have been all inclusive, just for the relaxation factor. We still have the majority of the €250 we got out for the first trip.

Definitely point taken.

I've gone ahead and order one of these Revolut cards.

I assume I just put X amount on there and then if I don't use it all, I can have it back out?

Jim99 · 21 Jul 2025 at 17:53

kinger8938 said:
Definitely point taken.

I've gone ahead and order one of these Revolut cards.

I assume I just put X amount on there and then if I don't use it all, I can have it back out?

Basically yeah, it's just a bank account (although if you dig into the regulatory technicals they might still be an e-money, but that's not really a relevant issue for a few hundred quid)

SonicSW20 · 21 Jul 2025 at 18:15

Jim99 said:
Basically yeah, it's just a bank account (although if you dig into the regulatory technicals they might still be an e-money, but that's not really a relevant issue for a few hundred quid)

Correct, its not a bank in the traditional legal sense as yet - https://help.revolut.com/help/more/legal-topics/is-revolut-a-bank/

They are similar to what Monzo was several years ago.

For the purposes of a card to use abroad treat it a bit like a prepaid credit card and top it up periodically as you require. Anything left after the trip you can transfer back, or just spend.

Sin_Chase · 21 Jul 2025 at 18:34

0 cash.

I use Revolut and create new virtual cards to pay for certain things (like taxis) and then burn them after the holiday.

kinger8938 · 21 Jul 2025 at 19:20

SonicSW20 said:
Correct, its not a bank in the traditional legal sense as yet - https://help.revolut.com/help/more/legal-topics/is-revolut-a-bank/

They are similar to what Monzo was several years ago.

For the purposes of a card to use abroad treat it a bit like a prepaid credit card and top it up periodically as you require. Anything left after the trip you can transfer back, or just spend.

Thanks!

So do I need to convert it to Lira first? Or just leave it as GBP and it does it automatically at the point of transaction?

SonicSW20 · 21 Jul 2025 at 19:27

kinger8938 said:
Thanks!

So do I need to convert it to Lira first? Or just leave it as GBP and it does it automatically at the point of transaction?

With Revolut specifically you first transfer GBP to the account, and then within the app you can convert to other currencies, or let it do the conversion at the point of transaction. You can have balances in multiple currencies, and it'll use the "native" currency first if available.

b0rn2sk8 · 21 Jul 2025 at 19:29

Where are you staying? Most tourist resorts places in Turkey take Euro’s, well they’ll take anything but the shops are usually priced in euros.

Cards are becoming more prevalent but cash is very much still king in places like Turkey. You will need cash, particularly if you are after some ‘fine designer goods’.

That said if you are all inclusive and therefore are not buying food and drink so it just depends how on how much of the local produce you want to bring home.

I wouldn’t be relying on cards if you actually want to buy anything. They’ll also usually pass on any card fees directly to you.

tom_e · 21 Jul 2025 at 19:29

kinger8938 said:
Thanks!

So do I need to convert it to Lira first? Or just leave it as GBP and it does it automatically at the point of transaction?

Just a tip almost everywhere prefers euros and will generally give you the price in euro unless you specifically ask for lira.

We went back in April and spent the grand total of £20 I think and that was just on some little trinkets for friends kids.

We just pulled lira out of the local no fee ATM.

aaronyuri · 21 Jul 2025 at 19:43

The Lira is in the toilet at the moment. I would pay in Lira if you can as you'll get much more bang for your GBP. The issue is whether the local economy is compensating for how in the ******* the Lira is.

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior · 21 Jul 2025 at 20:46

We go all inclusive a lot and we always take some cash, just around £200 worth of USD or Euro. (both being very well accepted in most places now)

Last holiday we used cash for a couple of tips*, to buy some stuff from a beach vendor and for a couple of coffees at the airport on the way home.

* Whilst our taxis are included generally in our to and from airport trips its nice to tip the person driving you a couple of beers, especially if they give you tips etc when your driving.