We are heading to Placencia at the end of the year from Toronto and I'm curious about money exchange for Canadians. If you have travelled to Belize from Canada, can you please let me know if you exchanged Canadian dollars into Belizean dollars before you left Canada? Or did you exchange into USD and then into Belizean? Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
Karen
khager
1
deanthecat
Just to reinforce the previous reply; your options are:
1. Buy US$$$ in Canada before you leave. Get smaller denominations (like $20) and you can spend the US$ anywhere in Belize. People will give you a fair exchange rate of $2BZE = $1US (which banks will not do). People will usually give BZE$ in change. the US$1 is universally used as a $2BZE, so you will often get those in change. Just remember that a $50US is $100BZE and few places will have change.
2. Use your debit card in ATM's. Belize Bank, First Caribbean (owned by CIBC) and ScotiaBank (owned by . . . .) all have ATM's that dispense Belize cash. You can also make an advance payment on your credit card and then use the credit card inside the bank to obtain Belize cash. This would avoid the high interest rates charged by the credit card company for a cash advance.
Enjoy your visit.
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