Credit card for Srilanka travel

[chatenrk]

Hi All,

I have an upcoming travel to Srilanka for which I would like to understand what could be the best choice of card to swipe and use. I have a few cards but am more interested in the following cards(reasons mentioned)

1. Axis Atlas(To reach milestones)
2. Amex Platinum Travel(To reach milestones)- Not even sure if this card will be accepted
3. Axis Magnus without Burgundy

Can anyone suggest which among the following might be most beneficial card. Spending might be mostly swiping for F&B, Cab payments etc. Do not foresee booking hotel or airfares as this is a office trip and they might take care of that.

Regards
Chaitanya

 

[sourpai]

If you really have to reach milestones then use Axis Atlas, although forex markup is 4.1% on it and is net negative, but if this card helps you achieve platinum tier then fine. Amex I doubt will get accepted, but you can try your luck. Markup is again 4.1%. Magnus use is debatable unless you are happy transferring points at 5:2 and the spends give you fee waiver

Actually depends on how these spends will help in achieving milestones, how far are you from them and quantum of spends

 

[JimCarrey]

Do keep some dollar bills stashed. USD is easily convertible to their local currency. And keep bills when you convert, helps in rates when you revert to USD while returning (get from same bank counters available at airport or elsewhere).

On my trip I took a preloaded forex card, but honestly most places (except hotels or big establishments) cash was more used. I would prefer some ccs which has either 0 forex or give rewards. Like RBL World Safari/ hdfc infinia etc.. indusind exclusive dc also is a good one which can be used for cash withdrawal without forex fees.

 

[anotheruser]

Yeah,I also had a trip to srilanka 3 months back.
Most of the places they accept cash only.
Also, Even for a tourist place/hotels, even if usd is mentioned, they charge local currency only.
We took some lkr and more usd but eventually had to again convert usd to lkr.
Very few places accepted credit card.

 

[RTR01]

On my visit I used one card. But majorly we took usd and converted there. The google rate was 1 USD to 320 LKR during my trip, we got the same exchange rate in city(colombo). Outside airport we got 1USD to 316.75 LKR. For INR to USD we got for 83.6 rate. Don't go looking for reward points. They accept only visa and mastercard and in some places only visa. Amex never seen once. Cash is best option. For emergency I recommend magnus, if possible get one card.( can use it for grocery offer too).
P.S: visited 1 week back.

 

[coolguy1]

Depending on where you're staying and what you're booking, Amex will come in handy with mostly online bookings and at the fancy hotels/restaurants.

Sri Lanka doesn't have a big Amex presence so the small eateries and the usual go-to places won't accept it.
Axis Atlas can come in handy in such cases and the Magnus card should work too!

But again, some merchants straight up don't accept anything online or cards so always keep some cash when exploring!