cuba

[sunny jim]

I`m off to Cuba very shortly and a bit confused about money.I know US dollars are useless over there and certain credit cards also,has anyone been recently who can paint a clearer picture and can offer any tipsabout cuca generally .Many thanks

[jno]

you just change your currency into pesos (or convertible pesos) on arrival, as I recall. You can change dollars but the rate is poor; sterling is okay.

[munchie63]

there's 2 different types of peso, the local one,a nd the convertible one used by tourists.
dollars aren't useless, you can still use them for tips, but if you change any up in a bank, there's a 10% exchange fee.
This is becuae the US doesn't trade with Cuba.
You can use credit cards and travellers chqs, but they mustn't be linked to an american bank - so American express TC's for example are useless.
If you take some dollar bills for tips at the airport, then change your sterling up in Cuba you'll be okay.
The post office has a credit card that you can use, which has no overseas commission charges and will prove useful. Nationwide used to do this too, but I think there's changed recenlty.
A tip I was given, which you might consider, was to buy a few cheap t-shirts in Primark to give to the friendly locals - the standard of living is poor, and they'd really appreciate it.

[lardhelmet]

That tip from Munchie is very good about the t-shirts - they love anything from the west (apart from the US obviously) . They were trying to trade home made jewellery for my baseball type sun hat - cos it had sparkly bits on it I think. If you're staying at a hotel, tip the staff well - they will go out of their way to look after you for your whole stay. We found the locals very friendly and very proud of their heritage - you know the Che Guevara, Castro thing?

[dothawkes31]

Yes definately take anything with a sports logoi on it and you can trade with the souvenir sellers, they also will buy any old mobile phone as long as you have a charger and it is unblocked and so pack one of those away incase of emergencies!!!