Prices in Puerto Vallarta

I would like to hear from some regular travelers to PV. Last year the exchange rate was around 15 pesos to the US $$ - fantastic rate. In the past it was more like 11 to 1. Now I see it is around 13 to 1; still not a bad conversion rate but I am curious to know if restaurants and stores have adjusted their prices to reflect last years rate. If so, most things will cost about 10-15% more.

Our son is leaving this Saturday and we are going in January. Have any regulars been recently?

Wow - I can't believe no one has been to PV lately. Or maybe the regulars are still there.

No Significant Price Changes

My wife and I were in PV in early November 2009 on our annual trip. The exchange rate was about 13.3 to 1. I didn't notice any significant change it prices from the year before. However, as I recall, the exchange rate in November 2008 was about the same at around 13 to 1. If you convert to pesos and use a credit card when you can, you get the most for your money.

thomas660 said:

My wife and I were in PV in early November 2009 on our annual trip. The exchange rate was about 13.3 to 1. I didn't notice any significant change it prices from the year before. However, as I recall, the exchange rate in November 2008 was about the same at around 13 to 1. If you convert to pesos and use a credit card when you can, you get the most for your money.

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Only if your credit card company does not charge an exchange fee. We do best with ATM cards at the banks. We generally get enough cash to last several days. We like having pesos instead of USD.

In October in Mazatlan a lot of places were converting $1 - 10 pesos while the bank was converting at $1 to 13 pesos. CDN street rate was even worse in relation to the real exchange rate at the time.

I would not advise using a credit card in Mexico other than at the resort and large businesses like WalMart. Credit card fraud is quite common. Also, as mentioned, most credit cards charge a currency conversion fee.

I have to respond to John. We have been using a credit card for purchases in Mexico for many years and have never had a problem. The only problem I ever had with "attempted" credit card fraud was in the US. I know of no reports of excessive credit card fraud in Mexico. If there are such reports, I would like to know about them. With the loss limits on most cards, it makes a convenient and safe way to make purchases without carrying large amounts of cash.

thomas660 said:

I have to respond to John. We have been using a credit card for purchases in Mexico for many years and have never had a problem. The only problem I ever had with "attempted" credit card fraud was in the US. I know of no reports of excessive credit card fraud in Mexico. If there are such reports, I would like to know about them. With the loss limits on most cards, it makes a convenient and safe way to make purchases without carrying large amounts of cash.

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My wife is Mexican, we lived in Mexico, all her family lives in Mexico and we spend a lot of time there on timeshare trips and family visits. I am fluent in Spanish, have many friends plus relatives in Mexico and I started a business in Mexico of which I am still a partner. Oh yes, our son played baseball in Mexico. Based on my experiemce, I would say I have a lot more experience in Mexico than you do.

Just because you have not had a problem does not mean credit card theft is not a problem in Mexico. The fact is that it is quite common. In fact there have been many posts on TUG from people that have had a problem.

I don't care what you do as that is your problem. I simply offer the warning and if people ignore it or don't agree, so be it. It is no skin off my nose.

I can speak from personal experience; I was a victim of credit card fraud in Mexico. I don't know whether it was in Cabo or PV because we spent a week in each on that vacation and the charges started on the first day of the second week. We now only use our credit cards for car rentals, at the resorts and any trips we book before we leave the US (fishing, scuba diving, etc.). We don't take a lot of cash with us either as we use ATMs for that. I always let my bank and credit card company know when I am going, which car rental company I will be using, the name of the resort, give them my cell phone number, and tell them I will call if I am going to use the card anywhere else. Between the 2 us we can get 6000 pesos per day, if need be, which allows us to get the cash we would need to pay for activities not prebooked. It may be a little overboard but will eliminate the problem.

I agree, plan to use cash. We've been going to PV for 15+ years and never had a problem using a credit card, but always used very sparingly. Last year we used our card twice, once at a hotel and another time at a well-known restaurant. We came back to two charges that were not ours. One, the larger purchase, was through a paypal account (but not my paypal account) for an Iphone using my credit card number. I check my card often and found them immediately. Paypal covered the erroneous charge handled through them (my credit card would have also) and my credit card reversed the other one. The one thing the credit card company and paypal could tell was that they had my actual card with the 3 digits on the back.

wvanly - just curious, is this a card you only used in Mexico or could it have been compromised some other time? I agree - I use my cc very sparingly in Mexico even though I have never had a problem. 90% of the time I use pesos from a bank ATM.