Cancun (Dollars or Pesos)

shazkhan111

I am travelling to Cancun and want to know whether it is better and cheaper to take dollars or pesos.

Trying to work out how i can calculate which will be better - but not sure what the sums are without being faced with a scenario.

Thanks

Browntoa

Dollars , the bars and clubs etc prefer them , a few pesos for odds and ends

JezR

Pesos. The taking of dollars in Cancun these days is for the convenience of American tourists who usually end up paying for the privilege.

Take a small amount in cash and use the ATM for the rest. Conserve small denomination notes as much as you can for when you need them.

If you do happen to have some US dollars already then take them if you want to use them up.

eDicky

JezR is right. The Mexican currency is the peso. US dollars are widely accepted, perhaps preferred by some businesses - but that's for their benefit, not yours. Why lose money buying dollars, then lose again using them instead of pesos, when you can buy pesos directly with your pounds or withdraw them directly using a suitable card?

benjus

Didn't spend much time in Cancun, but in the beach area of Tulum dollars were accepted pretty much everywhere - some places even put their prices in dollars. I guess they need to accommodate all the Americans that can't be bothered to change currency.

However, we exclusively used Pesos. One place in Tulum even said:

Mexican pesos and/or US Dollars are accepted.

Please note, the preferred currency is the peso by our fishermen, farmers and community. We appreciate your consideration.

Personally I think it's a little sad that they don't feel that they can get away with "we only accept Pesos".

pompeyrich

JezR wrote: »

Pesos. The taking of dollars in Cancun these days is for the convenience of American tourists who usually end up paying for the privilege.

Take a small amount in cash and use the ATM for the rest. Conserve small denomination notes as much as you can for when you need them.

If you do happen to have some US dollars already then take them if you want to use them up.

I found small denomination notes very hard to come by in Mexico, Whenever I tried to break down a larger note, the hotel never had anything less than 100 Peso notes, maybe they hoped it would encourage larger tips!

I took a lot of $1 bills and found them much more flexible for tipping at the hotel.

PompeyPete

From Trip Advisor's FAQs...

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g150768-s601/Mexico:Banks.And.Money.html

JezR

Petrol stations and chain shops (eg OXXO) are the easiest places for getting small change.

The more family type of business are reluctant to give out any kind of change early in the day, and late on you will probably get a bucketful of $2 and $1 coins they want to get rid of.

Never expect to get change from a taxi.

You can get $MN 50 notes quite easily in this country and it might be best to get all your 'starter pack' in these. Mexican ATMs tend to give the maximum size notes they can and $500 notes are not convenient. If you aren't penalised by a fixed fee don't take out much at a time.

The value of the peso in the local Mexican economy is much more than it seems to the tourist.

shazkhan111

What is the appetite to accept debit cards out in Cancun?

brizey47

Be aware of the exchange rate at present around 18/1 (pesos to USD) when I was in a different part of Mexico they were simply moving the decimal point so only getting 10 pesos to the USD

benjus

brizey47 wrote: »

Be aware of the exchange rate at present around 18/1 (pesos to USD) when I was in a different part of Mexico they were simply moving the decimal point so only getting 10 pesos to the USD

Don't quite follow how moving the decimal point can change from 18 to 10.

Anyway, if you use a fee-free card to withdraw cash from ATMs you avoid:

• Changing money into USD then into MXN (and paying for each conversion)
• Any issues with shortchanging or false exchange rates