Will soon be travelling to Cancun and need to learn which currency to take- Dollars or Pesos? What is your view on the best to take from the UK? Thanks
It is becoming more difficult to exchange dollars at a reasonable rate in Cancun. The Casa's de Cambio will exchange, however they are exchanging at a fairly low rate. I would suggest if possible to exchange to pesos if you can get a favorable rate. Another option is to use the ATM's which fairly approximate the going international exchange rates, however there are fees associated that vary by bank. I've found the fees to be somewhere near 2.5 to 3 %.
that's great thanks. i've been reading conflicting things but on the general people are saying pesos too.
ATM's here are now charging anywhere from 22 pesos to 45 pesos per withdraw if you are not a customer.
I am also heading down to Cancun next month, I think I will try to just exchange dollars for pesos here in the states. Does it make sense to have some dollars on hand, or to exchange the majority for pesos?
Currency exchange is a business: everybody who does it, whether in Mexico or elsewhere, charges for the service. Few countries will allow you to freely spend USD for goods and services in their country: typically, they have their own currency, just like Mexico does, and most transactions will be in their currency, not ours. The hotel zone, and Cancun are an exception, where you can pay for many things with dollars- but not everything. (I once saw a group of Americans trying to pay a bus fare in U.S. currency and coins: they then became indignant and loud when the bus driver politely refused their offer....)
I don't know, I could be wrong about this, but whenever we travel outside the US, we use our credit cards to purchase things as much as possible. The credit card company (or bank) will do the converting automatically. I believe our bank only charged a 1% "international" fee to do this. I think our American Express card charges 0% for international purchases. You just need to check with your individual credit card companies or banks. Fees vary by banks, but we also have a credit union account, which typically have lower rates for everything. So we just pulled out a minimum amount of pesos at the ATM for bus fares, etc etc. Last year, I think we only took out $2000 pesos as our spending cash and took whatever was left over back home as souvenirs. Anyone else know anything about this (using your credit card for purchases instead of exchanging alot of cash)?
Here is my input..... Like V states, almost all places in the Hotel Zone take USD, including the buses, but they only accept $1 bills and NO COINS!!!! You may or may not get pesos back in change, but MOST drivers, if you give $1 Per Person, charge you that as the fare. So it's best to have 7.5 pesos per person, per bus trip, so you don't get ripped off. As for tipping....Now that Mexico has posed a law or rule about not accepting USD at Banks, the workers at the Hotels, Nightclubs, Restaurants, Tours etc, can NO LONGER deposit this money into their accounts, so tipping in USD, which used to benefit the workers, no longer plays in their favor. So now it is best to tip in Pesos, BUT PLEASE make sure you are keeping in mind the exchange rate. Tips are usually the majority of their salary, so don't short change them!!!
