dollars for dominican republic who has the best deal??

BNU_2

I don't think you can actually buy Dom Rep Pesos from here, when we went they advised getting US Dollars Travellers Cheques and changing them 'Strictly Through A Bank/Bureau De Change or your Hotel' once you were there.

At the time, and perhaps still now, the locals were desparate to get hold of Dollars and would offer a much better exchange rate 'on the black market' - presumably so that they could escape to the US with them.

Jazzieboy

Hi,
We took dollars cash. Everywhere took them very willingly. The hotel bar had a strange system of writing a bill, with lots of taxes ?, in peso's then converting to dollars. Bizarrely they never seemed to give you change !. We got wise and kept a "tab" for the whole evening.

kparka

Jazzieboy wrote:

Hi,
We took dollars cash. Everywhere took them very willingly. The hotel bar had a strange system of writing a bill, with lots of taxes ?, in peso's then converting to dollars. Bizarrely they never seemed to give you change !. We got wise and kept a "tab" for the whole evening.

Did your "tab" & the bills add up or were they different to each other?

Jazzieboy

Hi, the bills and the tab all added up, but for some reason they dont like to give out change. We wandered about a bit outside the hotel and when we tried to pay the bar bills with our "change" we had accumulated and not dollars, they had a fit. A bit of a fiddle I think.

BNU_2

Jazzieboy wrote:

Hi, the bills and the tab all added up, but for some reason they dont like to give out change. We wandered about a bit outside the hotel and when we tried to pay the bar bills with our "change" we had accumulated and not dollars, they had a fit. A bit of a fiddle I think.

Or perhaps like here you can only change up notes at the Bureau de Change/Bank?

gazroe

dont forget you will need some us dollars to pay the "departure" tax
that can only paid in dollars

gc

Hi all,

Were off on the 28th from manchester. US dollars only are recommended, loads of info on this site.
All the best
gc

http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=3

LittleMissBargain

i have just come back from working in the Dom Rep but was also on holiday there in 2003 so have seen both sides ! I think it is pretty safe to go out and about not on an organised trip as long as you are sensible and do not wear loads of flashy jewellery and start waving wads of cash around... We got the local bus from Puerto Plata down to the capital Santo Domingo and had no problems at all.

If you use pesos you will get a better rate and it is easy to get them out from a cash machine (using Nationwide account card as recommended by Martin of course). Dollars are accepted everywhere as locals are desperate for the hard currency, the peso has devalued a lot in the last 2 years. But as I say, the rate will be worse and you will also end up having changed pounds into dollars and then the Dominicans changing dollars into pesos so you lose out twice.

Let me know if you eant any more info about Dom Rep and have a great time ! It is a beautiful country, especially if you can get away from the all inclusive resorts at least for a bit.

angeleyes

thanks guys I was gonna go with us dollars but confused by the last post so still not sure might take a mixture of both and bring back the one that works out worst

pattycake

Jazzieboy wrote:

hi,
quick question, has Dom Rep changed an awful lot then .... ? I went for my honeymoon 1991 and it was the worst 3 weeks of my life. We all were ill, not just food poisoning but as a result of being there. Always hope mine was a one off but I hear so many horror stories of the place.

The hotels are now mostly of a very high standard, usually Spanish owned. We always stay at either a 4 star or 5 star resort and have had no problems with illness of any sort.

I think there have been problems in the past but they are very careful with hygiene matters now as tourism is extremely important to the economy. The Dominican Republic is very popular with Canadian tourists as well as Americans and they will not accept shoddy accommodation.

My advice would be to do your research, pay as much as you can afford and make sure you have all the necessary jabs.