Your home currency is easily exchanged throughout the Lakeside area. A variety of money exchange options are available such as: banks, ATMs and casas de cambio (money exchange houses).

Your best bet is to use your home bank debit card at an ATM and receive pesos to pay for your shopping, dining out and other purchases, because you will receive the current exchange rate rather than the arbitrary proprietor's rate. All the typical precautions should be taken. Airports and Hotels typically offer the worst exchange rates and should therefore be avoided.

The exchange rates vary hourly as well as daily on the World Exchange. The rates fluctuate constantly, and while this is not normally an issue, it can be quite confusing to some travelers.

There are money exchange houses or booths, called casas de cambio, located throughout the Lakeside area. Just look for the sign, along with the exchange rates posted. Casas de cambio do not charge a fee or commission. They will exchange mostly from U.S. and Canadian Dollars into Pesos, although, some will also exchange Euros. They will also exchange travelers’ checks.

Casas de Cambio (Currency Exchange Houses)

Although some people will accept U.S. dollars at Lakeside, the official currency in Mexico is pesos. (Canadian dollars, and other currencies, are more difficult to exchange, so we recommend you bring U.S. Travelers Checks with you.)

There are several "Casas de Cambio" (money exchange houses) where you can exchange foreign currency. You can find some Casas de Cambio in Ajijic, there are also some in Guadalajara. In the Casa de Cambio you will be able to exchange your American or Canadian Dollars to Mexican Pesos. Quite often the Casas de Cambio will offer a better exchange rate than the banks. Some even offer check cashing facilities but you will need to establish an account and provide references – usually local people with established accounts.

We recommend that you change $50 to $100 dollars to pesos (small denominations as large denominations are difficult for the small shops to change) before you come so you’ll have some peso change to work with.

If you continue to maintain a U.S. or Canadian bank account, you will be able to use your universal bank card at most of the ATMs in Mexico, as well as your major credit cards to take out cash advances.

On our Focus on Mexico Program you will learn the very best way to bring large amounts of cash to Mexico and convert into pesos at the best possible rate, potentially saving you thousands of dollars in exchange. If you are buying a home in Mexico, you may be surprised and pleased to learn that most houses in the Lake Chapala area that are for sale are in U.S. Dollars so it’s not necessary to change to pesos (although you have the right to do so if you wish).

 

 

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The official currency of Mexico is the Mexican Peso.  Each peso, represented by the “$” symbol is worth 100 centavos, with the centavos being represented by the symbol "¢". Mexican peso coins are round and the 1, 2 and 5 coins have a golden/bronze center circle with a picture of the Mexican Coat of Arms (Eagle) in the middle with the outside surrounding being of silver color.  (The larger coins look somewhat like the Canadian loonie).  

For easy calculation to know how much you are spending, just imagine every dollar to be worth $10 pesos (so a $200 peso item will cost you approximately $20 dollars).
 
Universal Currency Converter - http://www.xe.com/.

Mexican coins can be found in denominations of 5, 10, 20, and 50 cent (centavo) pieces.  The larger peso coins are worth 1, 5, 10 and 20 pesos.  The size of the peso coins reflects its hierarchy of value.The Mexican peso bills are printed in denominations of 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 notes.  I will caution you that it may be difficult to change the $500 and $1000 peso notes.  Always carry small bills and change with you.  It is much easier on the small tiendas.  When you give them big bills, it takes all their cash (and maybe some of the next store’s) to give you change.  Try and get your bigger bills cashed at the bigger stores or banks and have small change on hand for the local tiendas, street vendors, buses and taxis.The bills are in different colors and easy to differentiate.In most stores, you will find prices in pesos.  However, be careful if you are in the cities and especially the touristy areas on the coast – occasionally they price in U.S. dollars.