Cancun, Mexico - Pesos vs dollars?

rjhilton56

Hello all,

At the end of the month I'm visiting Cancun Mexico. Ive never been to this part of the world so i have done some research on the currency and getting a lot of conflicting information on the recommended currency some places are saying to take US dollars as this way you get more for your money? Whereas other places are suggesting to take Mexican Pesos due to it being their currency.

Could someone please give me advice and what you would recommend I take?

Thanks in advance!

callum9999

rjhilton56 wrote: »

Hello all,

At the end of the month I'm visiting Cancun Mexico. Ive never been to this part of the world so i have done some research on the currency and getting a lot of conflicting information on the recommended currency some places are saying to take US dollars as this way you get more for your money? Whereas other places are suggesting to take Mexican Pesto due to it being their currency.

Could someone please give me advice and what you would recommend I take?

Thanks in advance!

While dollars are widely accepted, I see no logical reason for using them. You'd effectively be changing your money twice, therefore paying the exchange fee twice. It's certainly not the norm to get better prices in dollars than pesos (not pestos!) like in some other Latin American countries with unstable currencies.

I would recommend you take a handful of pesos (so you can still get to your hotel if none of the ATMs at the airport work for some reason) and then withdraw the rest when you get there. Ideally with a good travel card, like the Halifax Clarity credit card or N&P debit card. If you insist on wanting to take cash then I don't know if you'll get a better rate over there by taking Sterling with you - hopefully someone else can answer that.

rjhilton56

Thanks for the correct regarding "pestos" & "pesos" haha.

And thanks for the advice, yes i though that it would have got confusing when using two different currency as when I've looked into it it says if you pay with dollars your change will be pesos. Only problem is i think the dollar is stronger over there therefore you get more for your money?

Found this on something called "CancunCare"

Thanks

callum9999

rjhilton56 wrote: »

Thanks for the correct regarding "pestos" & "pesos" haha.

And thanks for the advice, yes i though that it would have got confusing when using two different currency as when I've looked into it it says if you pay with dollars your change will be pesos. Only problem is i think the dollar is stronger over there therefore you get more for your money?

Found this on something called "CancunCare"

Thanks

What exactly do you mean by "the dollar is stronger over there"? If you mean you'll get more for your money by paying in dollars instead of pesos, you won't in the vast majority of places.

I quickly skim-read that site and it says you should use pesos if your home currency isn't already USD. It also recommends you get your pesos by using your bank card in ATMs.

benjus

AFAIK Mexico has no restrictions on its citizens converting currency between Pesos and USD, so there should be no advantage in using USD.

In contrast, somewhere like Argentina, where citizens are only allowed to buy limited quantities of USD and only in certain circumstances, everyone is looking for a way to get hold of USD so it's heavily in demand and you can get better prices (or you can convert to local currency at a better rate than the official one).

rjhilton56

Thanks for the info!


Callum9999: In reponse to what i ment by the "dollar is stronger" is this... its what i found off that website.

You buy 5 beers in a bar advertised at 40 pesos each. This bar offers an exchange rate of 10 pesos to the dollar. So, you could either pay 200 Pesos or $20.00 USD, fair enough you may think. However, the true bank rate of exchange is 12 pesos to the dollar so your $20 USD is actually worth 240 pesos.
If you'd used a reputable exchange place and converted your $20 USD to Pesos and then used those Pesos to pay your bill, you'd actually still have 40 Pesos left and could stay for an extra beer!

Thanks "benjus" for the info thats handy to know, think i'll probs just take pesos then. Seems to be the most logical answer.

benjus

rjhilton56 wrote: »

Thanks for the info!


Callum9999: In reponse to what i ment by the "dollar is stronger" is this... its what i found off that website.



Thanks "benjus" for the info thats handy to know, think i'll probs just take pesos then. Seems to be the most logical answer.

Well, there's another complicating factor if you're planning to change money before you go.

While you can get good deals on exchanging major currencies like US dollars and Euros (if you can use the best-buy exchange houses in London, that is - not at the Post Office), minor currencies like Mexican Pesos are not so cheap to buy here. It might actually work out cheaper to change Pounds to Dollars here, then change the Dollars to Pesos. It all depends on what kinds of exchange rates you can get.

The usual recommendation is to get a fee-free card like Halifax Clarity and withdraw your cash at ATMs when you arrive.

Voyager2002

benjus wrote: »

Well, there's another complicating factor if you're planning to change money before you go.

While you can get good deals on exchanging major currencies like US dollars and Euros (if you can use the best-buy exchange houses in London, that is - not at the Post Office), minor currencies like Mexican Pesos are not so cheap to buy here. It might actually work out cheaper to change Pounds to Dollars here, then change the Dollars to Pesos. It all depends on what kinds of exchange rates you can get.

The usual recommendation is to get a fee-free card like Halifax Clarity and withdraw your cash at ATMs when you arrive.

I agree with your conclusion... However the option of simply taking pounds as cash and exchanging them directly to pesos once there is also worth considering.

Do you, or anyone reading, know whether the reputable money changers in Cancun offer significantly better rates (that, work on lower margins) for dollars than for sterling? Personally I doubt whether there is much difference.

My only relevant experience: once, when going to Turkey, I changed my pounds to Euro and found that the rates for buying lira for sterling were just as good as for Euro, so the cost of changing sterling to Euro was a complete waste.

benjus

Voyager2002 wrote: »

I agree with your conclusion... However the option of simply taking pounds as cash and exchanging them directly to pesos once there is also worth considering.

Do you, or anyone reading, know whether the reputable money changers in Cancun offer significantly better rates (that, work on lower margins) for dollars than for sterling? Personally I doubt whether there is much difference.

My only relevant experience: once, when going to Turkey, I changed my pounds to Euro and found that the rates for buying lira for sterling were just as good as for Euro, so the cost of changing sterling to Euro was a complete waste.

Hadn't thought of that - I generally regard Pounds Sterling as being of little use in the Americas. In South America you won't generally get a good rate for them, but I haven't been to Mexico.

callum9999

rjhilton56 wrote: »

Thanks for the info!


Callum9999: In reponse to what i ment by the "dollar is stronger" is this... its what i found off that website.



Thanks "benjus" for the info thats handy to know, think i'll probs just take pesos then. Seems to be the most logical answer.

I think you've completely misunderstood that! In that scenario, you are using $20 to get 200 pesos worth of goods in the bar, if you converted the dollars yourself you'd receive 240 pesos. It's therefore much better to convert your dollars to pesos before entering the bar.

I don't really see why you're doing this research at all if you're going to just exchange in the UK with large mark ups though! Looking on travelmoneymax, the best price has a mark up of around 4-6% (6% on smaller amounts, 4% on £800 worth). Even if you didn't want to open a new debit/credit card or get a travel card, your bog standard debit card would quite likely give you a better rate than that in a Mexican ATM.

Pincher

Cancun is like an American colony. Americans just whip out their wallet and spends US dollars. Obviously sterling and EUROs are accepted less.


The dollar is appreciating, so I would get some dollar cash, which you can always use on future travels, unlike pesos.


Travellers cheques are less popular these days, but the insurance is useful if they are stolen. I have always wondered what the Travel Insurance would say if I try to claim "I lost US$1,000 cash in Las Vegas.".