I personally would not bother with travellers cheques for Cuba, would take cash as the commission rates for travellers cheques is quite high. Most hotels have in room safe.

going to playacar in just over a week's time,allthough a/inc, for spending money normally i use my nationwide debit card and draw money as and when i need it.
can i do that here or should i take peso's or dollars. by the way is it 50 dollars each to exit. thank you.

Hi Johnny

You'll find departure tax info HERE.

Pippy

Just to update you all on the TC issue, I bought travellers cheques from the Travelex exchange at Gatwick who issued me guess what? Mastercard/Thomas Cook cheques identical to the left over Thomas Cook ones! So even though Thomas Cook TA shops no longer deal in Thomas Cook travellers cheques, Travelux do!

The banks and cadecas in Santiago were gving exactly the same of exchange for both sterling cash and TCs and I had no problems changing either. However, I did have a problem changing a small denomination cheque at the cadeca desk in the departure lounge at Havana (so I could buy yet more CDs!) where the clerk refused to cash one because he said the signatures wheren't similar enough. I pointed out to him that this had more to do with his crappy pen and the fact that he'd made me sign it on the glass counter top with the cheque skidding all over the place but he wouldn't be moved despite agreeing with me that I was the person photographed in the passport and that the signature on passport was identical to the one on the cheque.

Since getting home I've checked that I'll be able to get it refunded so I'm not that bothered but apparently it happens because the level of fraud is so high in Cuba that the banks and cadecas are worried that the cheques won't be honoured by the issuers if there are even minor differences between signatures.

Cheues probably aren't worth the hassle if you'll be staying in a hotel with a safe deposit facility but as I always stay with families in casa particulares, the added security makes it worthwhile. I trust the families themselves implicitly but Cuban households have people coming and going throughout the day and I don't like to put temptation into people's path.

SM

hi, can anyone please advise if its possible to change english money in bahia principe, riviera maya, mexico.- and where you would change it to dollars etc. would the hotels do it? we are all inclusive and are allready taking a fair amount of pesos and dollars for gifts etc but wouldnt mind taking extra money for emergencies. any ideas please would be welcolm. (dont want to change to dollars unless we have to just in case we dont use them and then we would loose money when we change them back again to uk currency on our return because of the exchange rates

Please can anyone help me... I am desperately trying to find out which if any cards can be used in cuba, I have rang HSBC and Natwest and the travel agents and they cannot help me.

Annette

Hi Annette

You definitely can't use any cards that are affiliated to American Banks. This includes MBNA, Abbey National and American Express. We took Nationwide, Barclay and Lloyds TSB cards and were told by our rep that they would be ok to use. She also said, however, that any card transactions would be subject to a 11% tax and that some shops etc didn't like working out how much extra to charge and so would claim that the card machine was broken. We ended up only using sterling cash to convert into pesos while we were there so didn't use our cards at all.

Hope that helps!

Can anyone advise the best way to take money to Cuba. I understand that they have a closed currency, which explains why I cant get it here.

Some places advise taking Euros. Would I get a good exchange rate over there, and are changing places readilly available.

don't know how true this is but i heard US dollars were accepted widely

Thanks val and rob

I'm sure I read somewhere that said they no longer accept US dollars

You are right - don't take dollars. You can still change them into convertible peso's but there is a heavy surcharge for doing so, so it's not really worth it.

Just take sterling. There is no point buying euros to just exchange them into pesos - the sterling/peso rate is pretty much what the dollar/sterling rate is (around 1.65). You don't get a better rate just by exchanging euro's into peso's.

All tips etc should be given in peso's - no prices are quoted in dollars anymore and the locals will not what to take them because of the heavy surcharge when they change them into peso's.

Also be aware that not all credit cards are acceptable in Cuba. I couldn't use mine as it is a MBNA card which is an American Bank. No cards backed by American banks will be able to be used.

Hi Everyone
Were off to Mexico on 13th July First time there, can't wait! Were staying at the Riu Tequila .My question is Is it best to take US Dollars as I notice its quite a good exchange rate at the moment 1.75 to the pound or should I take Pescos. Were all inclusive but we will do a bit of spending plus we will need 48 dollars each for exit tax. So do they accept dollars in the restaurants shops and bars in Playacar.

Paul and Anne

dollars will be fine don`t think you can get pesos here anyway, you can use dollars everywhere on the yucatan.

Hi Ali47 ! Stayed at this hotel last August - you'll have an absolutely fantastic time there. The best hotel we've ever stayed in - and we've stayed in a few. We did take some pesos with us but mostly American Dollar travellers cheques. You'll get your change in pesos anyway. If you want to know anything about the hotel or the area let me know and I'll try and help. I'm very envious.

Hi it is paulisreal going not me i was at the yucatan some 6 years ago.

Sorry Ali47 I've spent so much time on this site this morning my peepers are starting to go. I'd better take a break I think.

Hi,

Going to Dominican Republic in June, is it better to take american dollars and some pesos and also where is the best place to get small dollar bills as I want to use these for tipping.

thanks

keanda

Hi

Im off to cuba tomorrow. Please can anyone tell me what the exchange rate is roughly.. So what would 1 peso be ??

Also how much will it cost to depart from the airport ???

Hi Hayz

Have a look at the HT cheat sheet HERE.

Pippy