Paying in Cancun

[joegrang]

Hello,

Going to Cancun next week. How much money of what money should I bring? I've heard USD and Mexican Pesos. I don't plan on leaving the resort so most of my purchases will be on resort. Do they take credit card? Should I just bring a no FX charge credit card and a couple bucks in USD?

Thanks in advance

Joe

[rx7boi]

Whenever I go to a Mexico all-inclusive, I bring around $600-700 USD per person. I tip here and there and the staff remember me in the morning buffets, etc. The rest I keep if i want to go on excursions but you can pay for those by credit card as well.

Most of them prefer USD but have some pesos on hand just in case. Really depends on how much you plan to spend and what you're going to be doing but you could do the whole thing by cash no problem.

[ExtraSlow]

I mostly just use my credit cards. You can use them for nearly everything, including restaurants outside of the hotel. A small amount of cash is handy for tipping and local taxis or convenience stores.

[HiTempguy1]

If you are paying cash, I've found you get screwed paying in USD.

Always pesos so no shenanigans with exchange rates and whatnot.

Its actually much more difficult for wait staff to deal with usd (they have to get it converted). Pesos, they can instantly use.

[ExtraSlow]

Yeah, converting CAD to USD costs you money and then getting prices converted from Pesos to USD costs you even more. If you are buying anything worth more than about $20, just use credit card. If they offer to charge your card in USD, always refuse and get charged in pesos on your card.

It's easy to get pesos in Calgary too, so grab a mittfull here in Calgary before you go down, use those for tipping and buy everything on credit card. Don't overthink it. You'll waste way more money buying things you don't need than you will on currency conversions.

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

Hello,

Going to Cancun next week. How much money of what money should I bring? I've heard USD and Mexican Pesos. I don't plan on leaving the resort so most of my purchases will be on resort. Do they take credit card? Should I just bring a no FX charge credit card and a couple bucks in USD?

Thanks in advance

Joe

If you're not planning on leaving the resort, just bring USD to tip the staff. If you're doing excursions or anything, you can use your credit card. Ideally if you're doing an all inclusive, transportation between the airport and the resort is all pre-arranged as well.

[Masked Bandit]

Bigger purchases like excursions we just put on the card. This time we took USD for tipping but looking back I think we're going to go back to pesos next time.

[Mitsu3000gt]

You only need cash for tipping, credit card is readily available everywhere. I usually bring $200 or so cash for a 7-day/6-night trip. $10 USD a day or so (Each) for maids, bar staff, restaurant servers, etc. keeps everyone happy at a very reasonable price.

[ExtraSlow]

If you like to drink, decide which bar you are going to be near most of the time, and chat up the bartenders there on your first day while tipping them. Ask their names (even if you don't care) tell them yours, ask about thier beer or liquor selection. Spend ten minutes, and that pays off. Besides, I like to call bartenders by their names.

[Mitsu3000gt]

The other thing I've done in the past with good success is if you can find out if a particular bartender will always be at a particular pool you want to go to every day, give them a $50 or something on the first day and then you're good for the rest of the trip. They will remember you for sure. Just verify they will actually be there on subsequent days haha.

[sabad66]

We brought USD which worked pretty good. You'll get change in pesos, and usually the hotels will exchange USD for pesos (which we did on an as-needed basis). I liked USD better becuase if you have leftover they are easier to keep vs pesos where you might be stuck with them.

Of course any time i had the chance, i paid with my CC.

[spike98]

We didn't leave the resort and brought $1000 cad in peso's. I came home with about $300 cad in pesos after tipping well and paying for some small souvenirs.

If you are leaving the resort, expect to spend about $50 cad PP for every off resort meal and money for transportation/excursions.

[nickyh]

i would take a mix.

I took $200 CAD converted to peso for tipping. Whatever i bought i paid for with USD (excursions / shopping / tequila). Where we stayed they had environmental fees for tours, all priced in USD - cash only.

[Misterman]

Hello,

Going to Cancun next week. How much money of what money should I bring? I've heard USD and Mexican Pesos. I don't plan on leaving the resort so most of my purchases will be on resort. Do they take credit card? Should I just bring a no FX charge credit card and a couple bucks in USD?

Thanks in advance

Joe


How many people going? For the wife and I, 300$USD of tipping money is perfect. And I tip really good. I could definitely scale it down to 200$ and still not look like a cheapskate.

For any random purchases on resort like sunscreen, sunglasses, trinkets, etc. I just room charge it and it all clears up on my credit card at checkout.

[joegrang]

Thanks this is really helpful..