First trip to Cancun looking to see what the best option is for money??? Thanks for the help in advance!!!
Everyone says you get the best rate using your card at the atms down there.... but my credit union had madddd fees for international use. Also... i usually find the closest american express travel center..... and get like 500 usd worth in pesos. they have a pretty decent exchange rate usually. if you do the exchange places down there... they will exchange your money... but the rate usually sucks!!! Best of luck and have a very safe, exciting trip! <3
Actually, the money exchange places have a pretty decent rate. It's the hotels that give you a bad rate. Or if you purchase something in USD, 99% of the places will give pesos back as change, at a REALLY bad rate. Being out the last few days with my Dad, were were looking around at rates at the exchanges, and we saw anywhere from 12.4 to 12.65. Rates can and will vary day to day. I live here, and I use my US Bank all the time. They don't charge me anything extra to withdraw from the ATM's here. Call your bank and see what they say. I would hate to travel with all the money on me at one time. And to convert back to USD, the rate is not good at all.
So paying for things in USD is a bad idea? Should I convert to pesos and pay and tip in pesos? Take it as using the debit card should only be for atm withdraw as I do not have a credit union..
It depends. Paying for things in USD is not necessarily a bad idea. Sometimes things (eg. covers) get rounded up to prettier numbers (eg. multiple of $5 or $10) and after the rounding, that post rounding exchange rate is sometimes higher and sometimes is lower than the exchange rate you used to get your peso. So sometimes it's better to use USD and sometimes it's better to use peso. But unless you really understand how exchange rate works and can do math fairly quickly in your head, you probably won't be able to take advantage of those arbitrage opportunities. And if there is no rounding, 90% of the time, the rate is not as good as you'd get from the ATM so you are probably better off paying in peso. Credit union is just a small bank.
The math was much easier in the past when it was closer to 10 MXP to 1 USD. Of course, the devaluation now makes certain things (which haven't been dollar adjusted) much better prices recently at around ~13/14 MXP to 1 USD...
