US$ & pesos

what you need

Talk to your bank before you leave wherever you are. I ahve a US b ank account that I use my atm card. US dollars are deposited in my account, and I take out pesos here. No problema!

JRR

There are exchange houses (cambios) in all towns. Very easy to change dollars to pesos every day or two as you need it. Most small stores, busses, etc won't have change for dollars and will take advantage of you in giving you pesos at a poor rate.

You can easily change US$ for pesos in smaller places like Las Galeras. All of even the very small towns have a casa de cambio to change currency.

In several trips to DR, I've yet to find someone that will not take US dollars. The only questions that comes up is the exchance rate (which has never been drastic).

I've also found that the dollar was a stronger bargining tool. For example, if the exchange is 33 to 1 at the time and the price of an item is priced at 800 pesos, I've gotten away with 20US as a counter when the same counter of 660 peso didn't fly.