Bulgaria is mixed - in cities like Sofia and Plovdiv, card is often fine, but in Bansko, Burgas, or rural areas, hostels expect leva at check-in. Some...

Botswana is a mixed bag - in Gaborone some hostels swipe cards, but in safari towns like Maun or Kasane, it’s cash only. I learned the hard way when t...

Resorts in Bora Bora love cards - they’ll happily accept Visa, Mastercard, Amex. But for the handful of budget pensions, cash is what they prefer. I s...

In Thimphu, I saw a hostel with a card terminal, but it wouldn’t read my international card. Everywhere else - Paro, Haa Valley - was strictly cash. B...

I didn’t have major issues in Bermuda - hostels around Hamilton and Warwick Parish happily took my Mastercard. I actually think it’s more common to pa...

I’ve backpacked across Belarus and honestly, cash was king. In Vitebsk, Mogilev, and smaller towns, every hostel I checked into wanted rubles only. Mi...

Slovenia was one of the easiest European countries for card use. I paid with card everywhere, including hostels in Ljubljana and Lake Bled. Only tiny ...

Portugal is probably one of the easiest places in Europe when it comes to card acceptance. I stayed in multiple hostels across Lisbon, Porto, and Faro...

Oman overall is good with cards, but budget hostels don’t always have reliable machines. In Salalah, the hostel owner flat-out told me “cash only.” In...