[pavegeno]

Been in Germany 18 months. I have chip/pin on all my cards. Have only had to enter a pin once or twice the whole time which I think is weird. Most still get your signature. I use travel cards with no foreign transaction fee. Been to 10 or more European countries and most are the same. I usually go light on ATM withdrawals...enough for a day or two when in other countries. Any non-Euros I have left over I use to pay down the hotel bill so I leave with almost no host nation currency. Strangest thing is that there are several McDonalds on the Autobahn that only take a debit/credit card from a German bank so always have Euros. Many places outside of cities are mostly still Euros only so keep them on you.