Cash, Travelers Checks or CC....

My wife and I are trying to gauge how much cash to bring vs. Travelers Checks and CC.

I know we'll need cash for tips, but we can't really come up with a figure. Any hints? Thanks ya'll. (I'm from the south) LOL.

 

Though we are Cowboy fans :wink: , I'll tell ya what we do. We never bring travelers checks to Cancun. We usually just bring about $50 or a little more in 1 dollar bills to tip with, and then $300 or so cash. Now we stay at an AI, so we don't eat out much at all. We go to a couple night clubs each trip, over half the cash goes there.

We then bring a couple credit cards for the rest of our spending which isn't much. Shopping, massage, etc...... We usually go for 6 days or so.

I'm sure others do it completely different.

Have a great time!

 

Glad you got my user name. I won't hold that against you being an OSU fan. Good to see you're from Oklahoma though. Thanks for the advice. We were thinking along those same lines, $50-$60 in $1's and about 300-400 in cash. Then the rest in CC's.

 

Please remember that all US CC are charged a fee for use in Mexico. I prefer cash even if you are staying in an AI.

 

Please remember you are charged fees to exchange US$ to Mex Peso, these fees are about the same fees credit card companies charge. Bring some cash anduse mostly credit crds. you will not pay any more for credit card then cash considering exchange rate fee charged

 

Except for things like bus fare and such you never have to convert as US$ is accepted as easliy as Pesos. So don't worry about the conversion fees.

That's assuming you're staying mostly within the tourist zones of course.

Jamie

 

We have always used the ATM's with no problems

 

Jamie

buses will take us$ as well and they still have an exchange fee as no place gives you a favaorable exchange rate when using us$, use credit cards for best deal on exchange rate whenever possible, even after credit card fee associated with exchange it is still the best rate you will get. Amex gives the best exchange rates

 

Thanks everybody for the great advice! They are appreciated !!!

 

I know buses will take USD but I'm not ready to pay a dollar for a 65 cent fare. Not sure I want to use my CC everywhere and pay 3% higher prices automatically and spread the number all over the place. And it's kind of hard to hand a CC to the entertainment staff when they are selling arm bands in the lobby. So that's why I take cash. To each his own.

Jamie