Our trip to Canada isn't until July, but planning ahead. My question involves currency exchange (which we won't do until closer to our departure.) We will generally use our no-fee credit card, but want to have some cash and our hotel in Quebec City requires cash, which will be a hefty sum. Our US credit union offers currency exchanges at no cost. It's been a while since we've done this. Are we better off doing that ahead of time or waiting until we're in Canada and using an ATM? It seems logical to do it here and avoid any bank ATM charges, but am I missing something here?

Your hotel in Québec city requires cash? For what?

I guess that it is ATM charges versus carting all that cash around. My opinion, If it is a significant amount that would bother you if it went missing then I would wait til you got to Québec city. How much could an ATM fee be on one withdrawal?

I will second that question.
Requiring cash is bizzare.

your bank may tell you no fee, but wgat exchsnge rate? The rate to buy foreign currency is NOT the same rate you’ll get at an ATM in Canada.

Ask them what the actual exchange rate is, then compare that to what you find an google “100 cad to usd”

the difference between the 2 is what your “no fee” bank is costing you.

To clarify - I misspoke when I used the word “requires.” This is a B&B, which offers a 10% discount for paying with cash. Not a large corporate hotel. As pointed out, we won’t want to carry four nights’ worth of cash, so will just use an ATM when we get there. Thanks.

https://www.bankofcanada.ca/banknote...ghtly%20raised.

You may find that your B&B hosts spend months of the year in the US and are more than happy to take $US.

I have found that small individual proprietor business in Canada (specifically Montreal) will take $ US cash, and can rattle off $ US price quickly - and it's basically the current rate I'd get from an ATM. I've done this in a pinch for small purchases when I didn't have enough CAD on hand, and I didn't really care if the price of the item was a few % different.

A small coffee shop owner I've gotten to know says he travels to the US a lot, and always has a need for for $ US. His philosophy is to make it easy for customers to pay him... Accepting $US, absorbing the cost of credit card fees, etc...

I don't know how much you are aware that many Canadians do not want to travel to the U.S. anymore. You can thank your deranged leader for that.
B&B hosts spend most of their time working at their B&B not travelling.
Businesses that regularly deal with tourists will probably take your greenbacks for a price. Those that do not regularly deal with tourist probably won't.