Best+Recommended Method/Currency for Payments in CABARETE

Personally, I would pay my suite and rental car with a credit card for added security and protection of the transaction.  Most cards offer extra insurance on vehicle rentals.  I would not pay for restaurants with a card, if I could avoid it, as there is an increased risk of cloning or fraud.  Groceries at Janets, Playero or Super Pola, no problem with the card.  Everything else, withdraw pesos from an ATM at the bank, not one at a grocery store.  And select pesos on the card machine if paying with a card.  Your bank will give you a better exchange rate from pesos to CAD than the merchant can offer.

Don't bother exchanging CAD to USD to DOP here.  Bring a bit of USD, or get some pesos in Canada before leaving so you have a bit of local currency.

@delmerbmartin

very good question, I can only give my personal perspective for me. I would put everything on a credit card I possibly could as I pay them off every month, and would accumulate the points in addition to that the conversion rate is typically better than something I could buy on the street so pay for it pesos and let your card do the work provided you have a card that doesn’t charge a fee but again that’s the kind of thing you need to figure out what works best for you, establishments that do not take credit cards again I would pay in pesos to save them from having to do a conversion  so I’ve answered what and I hope it helps. Have a great stay !

Bobby GBY

ah yes"JANETS" is great! their bread is awesome

Thank You Uncle Buck and Bobby!

I will see if my Canadian Bank can get me some DR Pesos for restaurants and groceries and rides etc (not having the restaurants or locals needing to do the exchange even from US$ makes sense for both parties

I am also from Canada and have spent the last 7 winters here. I use my credit card for all purchases and get an honest international exchange rate. I opened a Scotiabank acct. in Canada to take advantage of free cash machine transactions down here in the D.R. I pull 10,000 pesos every few weeks for random purposes.

When using your credit card, you will be prompted to pay in either Dominican funds or Canadian funds. Choose the Dominican funds button and receive the international exchange rate. Choose the Canadian funds and the store / company will ding you for extra dollars on the exchange rate.

@delmerbmartin - I would be very surprised if your bank did have access to Dominican Pesos. Your bank whether with Scotiabank or not can be used at the Scotiabank in Cabarete which centrally located & not far from the grocery store....Uncle Bucks advice good!!!

Most banks in north America have access to Dominican pesos. You request a few days in advance normally and they get them in.

If using bank cards be aware of all fees on both ends of the transaction.

Occasionally you will find restaurants that only take cash and will not charge tax or the 10% gratuity fee. In these cases, I have pesos available thru the Scotiabank cash machine. My first winter down here I had my Bank of Montreal gather 9,000.00 dollars in pesos up in Canada and I packed them down here. Won't do that again.....  : )

Thank You @planner you were so correct!  my Canadian Banks and Trust Co and Credit Union can "order in" the DR Peso's but it will take "from 2 days to 2 weeks'  to have it in stock  to  be picked up. 

Thank You @planner for the other piece of advice as well, Bank Debit cards  will have fees at both ends.

Thank You @Steverino7777, Great detailed advice, makes sense, i will try and incorporate all the details in the future from both your messages.

@Steverino7777: have you ever compared who gives you best Canadian to DR Pesos exchange rates on larger purchases : your Bank Card compared with Credit Card

There is something REALSPECIAL about so many EXPATS, THANK YOU !!! they remember their good and bad experiences from wherever we came from and deliberately make their NEW homes/neighborhoods and communities BETTER by sharing good advice and sticking together as  we all learn best practices together. Assimilation as it should be! and such a positive wellbeing experience that benefits everyone.