Should I get Pesos in Cancun? Or wait till Cozumel?

[ibj40]

We were in Puerto Aventuras about a week ago. I exchanged $150 to Pesos at our local Wells Fargo branch, and acquired right at 1500 Pesos. While we were in Mexico, we watched the exchange rate move to 17.65 to 1, and then finally stabilize on the day we left at 17.50.

Independent local businesses were still exchanging at 18.00 to 1 on the morning we left (even on a credit card).

I think we've seen a stabilization between the Dollar and the Peso, at least with respect to any wild (and wide) swings.

If you are concerned about exchange rates when you arrive, I wouldn't do much more than what you absolutely need to get you from Point A to Point B.

We keep about 200 Pesos in hand, as we like to stop at the 7-11 right outside the airport and get a six pack of Montejo for the trip to PA. If your trip is shorter than that (to the PDC ferries), then I would suggest you don't need any Pesos at all.

 

[amoses]

Mexico City.

You almost certainly will arrive in terminal 2, and my directions were for terminal 3. There is an easily accessible ATM in T2 though, that my Canadian acquaintances always use, (Canadian airlines fly into T2). Just ask for the ATM. All of my comments concerning the T3 ATM would apply.

Yes, my ticket details say I will be arriving at terminal 2

 

[ggunn]

I am flying into Cancun in June and doing the bag drag. Should I get pesos out of a Bank ATM at the airport so I can pay for the bus, ferry, etc., with Pesos? or just pay USD for those things and get Pesos when I arrive in Cozumel? Or is there an even better scenario?

I wouldn't worry about it. Yes, things are generally cheaper if you pay in pesos, but the impact on your bottom line if you wait until it's convenient to get them is minuscule. I use US$ until I get to my hotel, and then I cab it to the ATM for my first infusion of MX$.

 

[Lorenzoid]

My thinking, whatever country I'm visiting, is to acquire some local currency at the first opportunity. If I had an hour layover in Mexico City, I might look for an ATM. Paying for everything in one currency is just easier on my head. Even in places like international airports, the ferry terminal or aboard the ferry where asking "how much is that in dollars?" is par for the course, I'd rather just hand them pesos. I'm in their country.

 

[amoses]

My thinking, whatever country I'm visiting, is to acquire some local currency at the first opportunity. If I had an hour layover in Mexico City, I might look for an ATM.

I didn't think about that. That is a good idea. Anyone have any idea about the ATM's in Mexico City Airport? Will they give as good a rate?

 

[DjDiverDan]

I don't think you save very much on the ferry or bus by paying in Pesos. Taxis and food and beverage is where you will save the most.

I can't speak to the bus or ferry, since I always had pesos when I used them, and never paid any attention to the exchange rate. But my experience is that you save by paying for everything in pesos. A few years ago when I flew directly into Cozumel, I still had about $40 worth of pesos from a prior trip, and using pesos saved me about 15% on the ticket for the Airport shuttle to my hotel. I try to use pesos for everything except the dive operator (who prefers, or at least used to prefer, dollars) and the occasional tip.

Since you are in Texas, you MIGHT want to explore other options to get pesos. Are you anywhere near a big Mexican Mercado? I have gone to the big Mercado in Dallas (on southwest corner of Buckner and I-30) and bought pesos directly from some of the vendors who accept pesos from recent immigrants, haggled over the price and got a very good rate. Pizza Patron also accepts pesos in payment - it has a big Mexican clientele - IF there's a Pizza Patron near you, try talking to the manager about buying pesos from them; you can offer them a better deal than the local bank will and still get a great rate. You don't need a lot just to start the trip, $30-$40 worth, but sometimes the non-traditional sources have the best rates.

 

[deepsea21]

Will I get the same rates from airport ATM's as I will an ATM at a bank in Coz?

The exchange rate you get at a Mexican BANK OWNED ATM is actually the exchange rate your U.S. bank is offering its customers/card holders at the time. The Mexican bank only charges and receives a nominal transaction fee for handling the transaction. We use Charles Schwab which seems to be the best for international travel and they reimburse all transaction fees which is great. As everyone has said over and over, whatever you do don't use a private ATM that is not associated with a Mexican Bank such as those Cashola bandit ATM's you see placed everywhere. ATM's inside the entries of the Mexican Banks in town or the Bank-owned ATM's at the Mega are the ones we use.

 

[in too deep]

Not to highjack the thread, re: Canadians and currency, what is the service charge to withdraw from an ATM.
Should I bring pesos or just withdraw as much as I require.

 

[amoses]

Not to highjack the thread, re: Canadians and currency, what is the service charge to withdraw from an ATM.
Should I bring pesos or just withdraw as much as I require.

My bank reimburses all of my ATM fees. you might look for a bank with an account like that.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I didn't think about that. That is a good idea. Anyone have any idea about the ATM's in Mexico City Airport? Will they give as good a rate?

In addition to what deepsea said (I, too, use a Charles Schwab ATM card for foreign travel), remember, you don't need to withdraw all the pesos you will need for your whole trip (unless you want to). As I see it, if I need local currency, when I walk up to an ATM and put my card in and it announces that I will be charged a transaction fee of X, I make a quick decision whether it's worthwhile to me to do it or wait until later. The fee varies from bank to bank, though it's never huge (assuming, as deepsea said, you use an ATM affiliated with a real bank, not one of those generic machines on a street corner or in a convenience store--just like similar generic ATMs in the US, they will charge you handsomely for the convenience). Do I NEED the cash now? How much do I need now? If the fee seems high, and I DO feel I need cash right now, maybe I will actually withdraw more than I might have if the fee were lower, since the fee is the same no matter how much I withdraw. Anyway, the more important point in my mind is that I can always find another ATM later. When I'm in Cozumel for a week, I might withdraw cash a couple of times. No reason I couldn't or wouldn't withdraw it all in one shot from an ATM that charges a reasonable fee. I like the ones inside the Mega supermarket for the second withdrawal of my trip--the first being at the airport--just because that's usually the first place we go after arriving in Coz. It feels good to have a little cash immediately upon arriving, though. Lastly, unless you're a big spender or a really thrifty type of person, compare the amount you might "save" by looking for the "best" way/place to exchange money to the amount you are spending on the trip. A sub-optimal exchange rate on your pocket money probably amounts to a drop in the bucket compared with the total cost of your trip. There's something to be said for convenience.

I recall a trip to Bali, where my wife and I must have walked around for an hour in the blazing sun, sweating buckets, comparing the rates advertised in the windows of five or six different moneychangers. Yay, we scored the equivalent of ten bucks savings on the money we exchanged to pay for a week of diving. In retrospect, it was not worth it. We could have been sipping a cold beer an hour earlier--a beer, by the way, that we probably paid "too much" for because we were so thirsty at that point that we went into the first bar with air conditioning we saw rather than shop around for that beer. Chalk up sub-optimal exchange rates and "gringo" prices to the overhead costs of having an enjoyable, less stressful vacation.