ATM or Changing dollars in the black market?

ATM rate is I believe 2.5 Bolivar's per dollar, black market is at least 7BsF's to one dollar. So if you can get USD for even 1.5x the price of what they should be worth it is worth doing that. ATM's in Venezuela = last resort.

or take colombian pesos (as you won't have any issue using the atm in colombia) into venezuela and exchange for bolivars

It is easy to exchange dollars on the black market. Any hotel employee, taxi driver or tour operator will do it for you or put you in contact with someone who will. I did not have enough cash so I had to use an ATM. Most of them did not work with an American ATM card. Finally I found Citibank ATM in a nice area near Embassy Suites that worked. Even the ATM inside that hotel did not work. Bring the cash. If you are afraid to carry a lot of cash, the government will rip you off at the ATM.

the 2.5 per dollar it`s the old official rate ... now the new official rate are 4.30

change securely with the hotel owners or taxi drivers ...

travel safe ..

leoleolimon, have you had this new rate of 4.3 at the ATM or is this from checking the current official rate?

The official rate is fixed at 4.3 BsF per USD. It used to be 2.15 but changed on January 2010.
The parallel rate fluctuates around 8-9 BsF per USD.
Using your cards or an ATM is completely insane, the best bet is to bring dollars.
Cheers

If one doesn't want to carry around US$ in South America before entering Venezuela, and gets Colombian pesos in Colombia at an ATM before entering Venezuela, does COP exchange well for BsF? Thanks.

Changing COP to BsF is OK near the Colombian border but not once you get away from the border area. It's also possible to change R$ in the area around Santa Elena.

Ok, so this explains everything .

Back in 2009 i was getting ripped off getting 3.5 - 4 BS to £1 by using ATM and going into bank . Whereas on the border it was much more when changing my pesos from Colombia.

Ill make sure i get loads of green backs before i go here from the UK so if im right in 2011 then

£1 = 13 bolivars unofficially cos $1 = 8 bolvars

but obvioulsly they will run a mile when seeing money with the queens head so i just take 500 bucks and change it through cab driver, etc for 8 per 1 dollar, that makes paying 150-200 bolivars a night for a room easier to take.