Hi;

Canada is a very safe country, but I wouldn't travel around with large amounts of cash. If you do purchase traveler’s cheques, get them in Canadian dollars.

I would suggest reading the traveler article “Canada – Banks and Money” here on TA for more information, and some useful tips.

tripadvisor.com/Travel-g153339-s601/Canada:B…

Best Regards

travelers checks have become more of a hassle then they are worth. You will almost always pay a fee every time you wish to cash one. Before your trip go to oanda.com and print the travelers cheat sheet. That will tell you what the bank exchange rate is close to the time of travel. Also call your bank and find out how much the fee is for ATM withdrawls are in Canada. Also find out what conversion fees they may charge to use your Credit card in Canada. ATM's are really the easiest now when you travel as they give

the best exchange

HI Many thanks to Rescue Team and davidqmq. I am a silver surfer and am enjoying getting the tips this way. I am really excited to be visiting BC in October and seeing some of the places I have dreamed of. I have Lake Louise as my wallpaper!

Thanks a lot from wet windy England.

C

Definately use an ATM to get cash. You pretty much always get the best rate, depending on what your bank charges. There are also several currency stores in the vancouver area if you want to buy some while you are here. But definately and ATM should give you the best rate

A bit of cash along with your credit card/bank card will be better than travellers cheques. If you do bring traveller's cheques, cashing them at the bank will be the easiest. And not to nit pick, but Lake Louise is in Alberta, not BC!

We just returned from BC last night (travelling BC by rental car from Vancouver, into Alberta and then back to Vancouver - approx. 2000 kms) and I would not recommend travellers cheques...most places that we tried to use them didn't know what they were, and flat out refused to consider accepting them. We ended up finding a bank and turning them all into cash. Canadian currency is recommended - a credit card would be easier then ATM as many places didn't seem to have debit when traveling off the main tourist routes. Good luck and have fun...it's a beautiful place and a "must see" destination in Canada.

Are you serious? The places you went would not accept travellers cheques? Crazy. I know when I went to the US once we had some travellers cheques left over from a previous trip and used one at a store and they didn't know how to enter it into thier system. I (being in retail for 15 years) had to tell the manager how to use them. I think more people in the customer service industry need to be updated on all types of payment methods. I would definatly use a credit card or cash. Do not have lots of cash on your person, you never know. Good luck and have fun on your trip.

I'll agree that travelling with your ATM card or credit card is much easier than dealing with traveller's cheques. My husband is from the UK and when he first came over to BC, he had Visa traveller's cheques. We found that most shops would accept them at face value (without additional fees), however the banks were the biggest stumbling block. In order to cash the cheques at the banks we approached, they all asked for his passport as proof of identity. Not very safe, nor convenient, to be carrying your passport around with you at all times!!

Another tip.... when I was in the UK, I had to remember to compare exchange rates at each bank as they could vary widely. Here in Canada, the Bank of Canada sets the rate each day & no matter what bank you go to, the exchange rate will be the same.

Have a wonderful trip!! :)

I'm a tour guide and my company pays me expense $$ in travelers checks. My experience is that most places will take them but charge you a transaction fee and the conversion won't be as good. I have a hard time depositing them in my US acct. They must call and verify each one as there is some many counterfiet checks floating around. The atm advice is based on going to a machine and taking out some cash, not paying by debit.

The Bank of Canada doesn't set the exchange rate. The exchange rate is set by international money markets. Our currency like most in the world is free-floating. Most banks will have similar rates but they will not all be the same.