Currency Exchange at GDL or cambio in Chapala

Both Terminal One and Terminal Two in Mexico City have good cambios - what about GDL? Where is the best currency exchange in the area for those coming to Chapala and Ajijic - aside from using an ATM

InterCam in Ajijic has the best exchange rate.

The last time (August, 2011) I checked the cambios at the airport in Guadalajara, they had horrible rates! We didn't even bother checking two weeks ago when we flew in.

2 days ago... the joint on the carretera @ colon gave us 13 : 1 US
same day scotia @ Mega in Guad was less about 12.85 : 1

There's a Cambio at Carr/Colon?

David wrote:There's a Cambio at Carr/Colon?

everything central is caretera & colon to me!! Just east next to Oxxo

That's InterCam, the one I mentioned above.

David wrote:InterCam in Ajijic has the best exchange rate.

I am a customer of Intercam and have been since they opened a few years ago. I used to cash checks on my U.S. brokerage house there for major deposits in my Mexican bank accounts before the government imposed a $15,000 Peso a month non-taxable cash deposit limit per bank account. I discovered over time, that of my three options; (1) exchanging at Intercam or another exchange house, (2) exchanging from dollars to pesos at my U.S. brokerage house who would piggy-back my currency exchanges on their own huge daily exchanges. and then wiring peso denominated funds to my accounts in Mexico and (3) using ATMs; ATM exchanges from my U.S. brokerage checking account via debit card were consistently the best I could achieve. Consequently, as I tired of walking about Ajijic and Chapala with those bundles of currency, I became accustomed to using ATMs for my normal montlhy transfers of funds to Mexico. For larger transfers, say, for instance to buy a car or real estate, something I loathe to do and haven´t done except when necessary over my years in residency here, I have found my U.S. brokerage account and its U.S. national bank affiliate are the best medium of exchange. During the course of cashing a number of personal checks at Intercam over a few years, it became apparent to me that local bank ATMs generally provided a superior rate of exchange between U.S. Dollars and Mexican Pesos than oher Mexican exchange media. Dawg does not nitpick this process for centavos as life is too short for that exercise.

Now, dollars to euros is another matter. French ATMs give Dawg a good exchange rate compared to other media which are not easily available anyway when one is traveling. Also, and this is a significant advantage of French ATMs over Mexican ATMs; the French ATMs will not give you your cash until you have removed your receipt and debit cars so you can´t leave the debit card in the machine and receive the cash you have requested.

To those of you not suffering from ADD, I hope this was at least marginally helpful. However, Dawg hears loud snoring coming from the vicinity of Tizapán so it appears Lehrer is enjoying his late afternoon siesta after having tried without success to comprehend the complicated concepts discussed here. It´s tough for West Texans to stay awake because, considering where they are from, there is no real reason for them to bestir themselves, especially if they have already enjoyed the early bird dinner at Dairy Queen.

The airport has horrible exchange rates. When I got here, they gave me about 9:1 then I came into Chapala and got 12:1...was a little ticked off. They vary and I get better here because I know where to go, but I get okay in Guadalajara just stopping anywhere. It isn't that big of a deal if you are only get a couple hundred dollars or so for the day.

I never exchange money I just collect it till someone needs it and than
exchange it at market rate. Why let the middle man steal your money?

Anybody need any Belize Dollars?? I have a few.

Z

You are wealth of information, David - and I appreciate it - haven't been in Ajijic for a number of years - so we will try to find it

Speaking of cambios, in our wanderings around centro Guadalajara, we stumbled on a short cross street that had nothing on it other than cambios - probably 25 to 30 of them all in one block. From the signs we looked at, they were all pretty much giving the same rate. It was beyond our comprehension just why they were all located right next to each other and just how they could all make money?