Canbird

Enjoy your trip!

Bring some cigars if you must, but why bother bringing your Cohibas and other Cuban cigars when you can enjoy fine Dominican cigars right there? You can find a lot of excellent quality cigars and a lot more variety in the DR...it's part of the adventure! See Cigars - Dominican Republic - Official Site - Cigar Factory Tours, Cigar-Making Tours.

I found that there were a lot of English speakers in Cabarete, but it never hurts to learn a few words in Spanish...

I found no real difference carrying Canadian and US dollars. Both were widely accepted and easy to exchange to pesos. I found it easier overall to negotiate for certain things in pesos and Canadian Dollars because I found that if I could buy something for $10 US I probably could've gotten it for 10 CDN if I had it handy...a minor difference, and not worth going out of my way to buy mass amounts of $US. If you have the $US available, use it, but if you are just going to use it to buy pesos you have to consider the cost of exchanging twice.

I used pesos for mostly everything - transportation, food, drinks, restaurants, excursions, gifts, etc. Bring Canadian but keep some $US handy.

Definitely travel with USD for when you are leaving the airport - they only take $US for the departure tax, which was $20 when I left last February.

I would avoid bringing flashy cell phones and laptops. If you are going to carry those things, keep them concealed. Also watch out for the Sankies/Sankettes. See http://www.dr1.com/forums/sankie-101/

If your hotel has a safe, use it. Don't carry all of your money with you at all times. I avoid wearing flashy jewelry as well. I recommend that you try to blend in as well as you can (for a foreigner!).

Bring some mosquito repellant with DEET too.

Hope this helps!

You will benefit by changing your CDN dlooars into US, before leaving, as you get a proportionately better exchange rate for US in the DR.
If it were to cost you 1% to change, you might benefit from 6% or 7% here.
US currency is in greater demand, therefore the better rate.
If you use an ATM, then you will get a truer rate for your CDN dollars.

Listen to Rocky. The $CDN is undervalued in the cambios and does not fetch it's true international value when converted to $RD pesos. I am Canadian and travel with $US and $RD pesos and pay with whichever gives me the best bang for my buck. My $CDN stays in the safe.

You can get a fair $CDN - $RD Peso exchange by withdrawing $RD Pesos from your CDN bank acct using your debit card but there can be problems with machines not returning cards, potential muggings near ATMs and don't forget the Foreign ABM Charge, which in the case of my bank is $3CDN per transaction, irrespective of the size of the withdrawal. For the above reasons I recommend only using an ATM at a local bank, during regular business hours, when you have a chance of getting back your card and when there is a better likelihood of a guard being present.

Gregg

La Mariposa said:

Why use a debit card?? When in the D.R., every 2 - 3 weeks, I transfer $ from my CDN bank account to a credit card (which is used for that purpose only). I go to the bank, to a teller not an ATM machine, and withdraw pesos from my credit card.
- Good exchange rate
- No Canadian charges neither Dominican.
- No interest on my credit card.
- I hate the ATM machines in the D.R.

Click to expand...

Sounds good, but not necessarily convenient for a tourist on a 1 week vacation.

Just wanted to let you know that I stayed at Villa Taina twice in Nov. of 2005 and May of 2006. Safe Hotel, good security, clean rooms, friendly staff, the owner and family were always around. Almost everyone I met in Cabarete speaks English. Have a wonderful trip.
Lisa