Vancouver Travel Answers

I see you are from the US I would look into using atm's and noy travelers cheques. With travellers cheques, you have to provide ID to cash them, and if not at the issuers branch there would be a fee involved as well. Bank of america customers can use their ATM cards free of charge (apart from the conversion rate) at Scotia Bank atms due to the alliance of the banks. Check with your ban weather you can use this type of system

Do not bring traveller's checks, they are mostly useless and you may be charged a fee for exchanging them especially in a bank. I have been using the following company located in Vancouver to exchange my money when I travel and so have most of my friends. They will beat any bank rate. Bring US Dollars if you can or you can use your credit card to buy with. The company is located in downtown Vancouver at 800 W Pender St they are called Vancouver Bullion and Coin Exchange. They also deal in precious metals. You absolutely will not go wrong there. They do have a website VCBE you can check them out and their rates. As for using a car to get around with, you won't need it. If you have free parking at your hotel, leave it there. You can buy an all day pass for the transit system that will allow you to travel anywhere. You can buy the pass at any Skytrain/Canada Line station or at 7/11 stores, I think London Drugs might also sell them, being retired from the transit system, I have a pass so not sure how many other places sell the all day pass. You are much better off buying the all day pass the cost of a single ride is at least2.25 or2.50 again can't remember and then you go up from there paying for zones so it can get as high as5.00, you do get a transfer which can be used in any direction as many times as you want but they are only valid for 90 minutes. By the way, the Canadian dollar is in the tank again, so do not exchange your money in stores etc, they will not give you a good exchange rate, Vancouver businesses are fairly greedy when it comes to giving good value for the American dollar.

When I visit Vancouver I always park at my hotel and use a transit day pass to get around. Bring a debit card and withdraw cash from any ATM.

I visited Victoria twice in recent days, and the only time I needed cash was to pay the transit fare. Everything else could be done with debit or credit cards, and the financial institution I have has a reasonably good rate with the transactions and exchange rates. When I needed cash for the transit fare, I was able to get that from the hotel desk, at a fairly nice rate. Larger sums they can't exchange, but small sums, such as what I needed, they were able to do. Your experience in Vancouver will likely be similar, depending on what type of exchange rate you get with your credit / debit card.

The transit day pass costs9- CAN. We were in Vancouver recently and found the pass great. It can be used for the buses, Skytrain and Seabus - easily got our moneys worth. Good luck.

I was there a few weeks ago with a rental car. I parked it the whole time (researched and found some free parking) except for when we did day trips to the suburbs. Definitely would not recommend driving around the city regularly to sight-see. There is parking, but it's expensive, and finding a spot can be a problem. Garages charge "event rates" that can sometimes be double the normal rate, and it seems like there's always an event going on in Downtown Vancouver. You can get by pretty well with credit cards alone. Realize that you'll be charged a "foreign transaction fee" each time, which amounts to about 1-2% of the charge, but that all depends on the card. You'll also be charged a foreign transaction fee and an ATM fee for withdrawing cash. The exception is if you have a very large bank that has a Canadian partner. Bank of America partners with ScotiaBank, for instance, and you pay nothing at their ATMs. It's best to carry some cash and you will get the best exchange rate at the ATM. Some places do accept US currency, but you can't rely on it, and they'll always give you change in Canadian. Make sure you get rid of your coins before you leave (Canadians have a1 and2 coin), as you can't exchange them. Places just across the border on the US side sometimes accept Canadian coins though (I blew mine at a Burger King in Bellingham once).