Mexico - Paying for trips etc - best methods

Legacy_user

We've made sure we have $120 for the exit tax, and also got $1 bills for tips (as travel agent we visited only do 100 pesos as the smallest note and this is worth approx £5-6)

I did get some pesos for when we're out and about. My question was with regards to paying for any trips etc.. Is it ok to pay with Post Office card and would the exchange rate be fairly similar? The Travel Agent was saying it's best to take plenty of pesos from the UK as it might work out better.

Also, if there is no chip and pin available are people generally happy with the carbon copy type of slips used for payments instead? This happened to my friends so they wouldn't pay by card and went to get cash from a cash machine and got charged anyway...

dzug1

The travel agent was trying to sell you pesos - the rate with the Post Office card will be the best there is unless a merchant/change office is happy to make an exchange rate loss just to get your business.

System

Thanks dzug1. The travel agent was implying that if I paid by Post Office Credit Card that I would end up paying more as "they can charge whatever rate they like".

I did get some pesos just for spending when out and about however for trips I'm unsure what we'll do yet and also don't want to carry too much cash if not really necessary.

Thanks again

Bananabelly

What's the $120 for? I flew out of Mexico City in July and didn't have to pay any exit fee??? I would imagine it's included in the price of the ticket.

I didn't see chip and pin anywhere in Mexico - well maybe one or two places but it didn't work on overseas cards anyway. You can swipe cards instead, though not debit cards. Depends where you're going a bit but there are ATMs everywhere (I went to Playa Del Carmen, Merida, Oaxaca, San Cristobal de Los Casas, Mexico City, etc, never a problem).

TBH I have to disagree with dzug1 - credit card companies do tend to give you pretty crappy exchange rates (maybe the Post Office card is better than most though?) but it would be convenient for the trips and probably worth it than taking loads of pesos/US dollars in case anything happens - cash is too easy to lose.

dzug1

Bananabelly wrote: »

What's the $120 for? I flew out of Mexico City in July and didn't have to pay any exit fee??? I would imagine it's included in the price of the ticket.

I didn't see chip and pin anywhere in Mexico - well maybe one or two places but it didn't work on overseas cards anyway. You can swipe cards instead, though not debit cards. Depends where you're going a bit but there are ATMs everywhere (I went to Playa Del Carmen, Merida, Oaxaca, San Cristobal de Los Casas, Mexico City, etc, never a problem).

TBH I have to disagree with dzug1 - credit card companies do tend to give you pretty crappy exchange rates (maybe the Post Office card is better than most though?) but it would be convenient for the trips and probably worth it than taking loads of pesos/US dollars in case anything happens - cash is too easy to lose.

Credit cards ALWAYS give you a good exchange rate. It's the extra charges that make the difference

The Post Office card IS better than most. It charges zilch.

Most cards charge 2.75%. That's actually quite good. You CAN get cash for that sort of figure here - but not on the High Street.

Some charge a fee as well. That's not so good.

The travel agent would have charged you nothing overtly, but used an exchange rate loaded by 5 or 6%, possibly more.

What you would be charged in Mexico to change ££ I don't know - but it won't be zilch

System

Bananabelly wrote: »

What's the $120 for? I flew out of Mexico City in July and didn't have to pay any exit fee??? I would imagine it's included in the price of the ticket.

The $120 is for exit tax we've been told we'll need to pay - it works out $55-60 per person. I was told at time of booking about this too...

I am tempted to pay with Post Office Card for trips etc as won't need to carry so much cash this way...

Drea2904

You can pay with card with trips booked with rep although these are dearer. I only took dollars and then there was plenty of ATM's. Exit tax was not as dear as that, I paid $20.

System

Does exit tax vary then? My friends paid £55 the other week for two of them (£ not $)

Bananabelly

The exit tax got me intrigued so I googled it....
The general consensus (trip advisor, etc) is it is usually included in the ticket price, however it wasn't for a whole lot of First Choice customers earlier this year. People say varying prices from $13 to $55. It seems to vary depending on the airport you fly from too, so maybe it is more a 'tourist tax' as it seems worst from Cancun. A lot of people said you can pay in pounds, so that could be the best bet, then no worries about exchanging money if it is already in your ticket.

The Post Office card does sound like the best bet for trips.

System

If I had realised I would have paid in £, but I've already changed up money to $ now...

System

Also to add this was from a First Choice holiday so explains what you mention in post #9