"I am planning on bringing 3500 Euros as cash, and get the 500 Euros later either by ATM or pay by credit card."

Sorry but that is a very bad idea. Not only will you have the security/safety issues carrying all that cash, but you will get better exchange rates using ATMs. European ATMs don't assess fees (though your own bank probably will)

You don't need to take ANY € cash w/ you and can rely on ATMs exclusively. But if that makes you nervous, take maybe €100 or €200 maximum w/ you.

If you search on the Europe forum you will see this topic is discussed frequently (several times every week) and the answers are always the same. If you want more info -- you should probably re-post this over on the Europe board.

Hi janisj, I forgot to mention that of that 3 months, I will be based in Nice, France for 12 weeks. And as I'm staying with host family in Nice, it means that I don't need to bring all my money when touring the city. I can leave most of the money at host family house when touring the city.

So, is that safety issue still a concern in my case?

My concern is that my ATM card has 5-PIN, and it can't be changed to 4-PIN. And I'm worried that I can't withdraw money from French and Italian ATM machine (which many people say only accept 4-PIN).

There is no need to change your PIN. Years ago European ATMs did require 4-digit PINs. But that hasn't been the case for ages. Some people do post that PINs must be 4 digits -- but probably just because they heard it once long ago and just assume things don't change. It is old and out-of-date advice.

5 (or even 6) digit PINs have been OK for at least 5 or 6 years.

Go to europe at leat annually from the US

Always get my best values using my ATM Captal One no fees

for best FOREX exchange rate found daily on www.coinmill.com

Always notify my CC company get my 4 digit PIN use only

big bank ATMs... might check with your Bank to do this

and be sure of the network for ATMs you have.

I never travel with large amounts of cash or debit card

too risky for theft and "skimming"

www.insuremytrip.com for this always wise

Also be aware that although you get best exchange
usually with ATMS they are treated as cash withdrawals
and accrue high interest from w/d date so pay off
quickly on line so no nasty surprises with interest rates.

"they are treated as cash withdrawals and accrue high interest from w/d date" - not if you're using a "real" ATM card against your bank account. That info only applies to credit cards - who uses a credit card for a cash advance when they could use their bank account?

Aside from credit cards, I will be bringing 2 ATM cards which I will use for withdrawing money in Europe. One is Visa/PLUS which has 5-digit PIN, and the other is MasterCard/Cirrus which has 6-digit PIN. And it's not possible in Singapore to shorten the PIN to 4-digit.

So I guess my only main concern is using those 5-digit and 6-digit PIN ATM card in the ATM machine, which many people say only accept 4-digit PIN ATM card. According to janisj response above, I'm now hopeful that this "rumor" is not true anymore, so that I can use my ATM cards in Europe.

Otherwise, I will have to bring a lot of cash from Singapore to be safe.

Stewart_life: Many years ago 4 digit PINs were absolutely required. But after a few years, one could use 5 and 6 digit PINS in many ATMs. The PIN would default to either the first 4 or last 4 digits depending on the system. It sometimes took trying the first 4 numbers then the last 4 numbers - but one or the other usually worked.

But that has changed. Many banking institutions have increased the required length of PINs for security reasons. In Italy many banks require 5 digit PINs. You will be fine.

Thanks so much janisj for the updates!

I will bring 1500 Euros as cash (as I already exchanged it 2 weeks ago), and the rest 2000 Euroes will be taken when needed from ATM machine in Europe then.

If you're taking that much cash I hope you're at least wearing a money belt!!!

Yes, I do. Thanks a lot for the advices!