Port Antonio /cash/visa etc.
 

Hi Jamaica experts , I had a question concerning money exchange. I know it is suggested to change into Jamaican dollars to use for local tours , taxis , snacks etc. Do the local groceries take visa , or is it best to take american travellers checques and change it bit by bit ... smiles Faith .

I can't imagine using a visa at the HiLo--everything there is priced in Jamaican dollars. We cashed travellers checks or used bank machines most of the time. The only time we used our visa was to pay for the hotels. It's also great to have for certain restaurants.

Have a grea trip!

Pack a moneybelt with a goodly supply of US$1s and US$5s which you'll find handy--nothing larger than a US$20.
It's hard to find change for JA$1,000
bills on island (about US$17) so these will come in handy. Split your money between cash and traveller's cheques, which are best changed at a bank or cambio; shops and sellers will rarely accept them since they get docked a changing fee and also take longer to cash.

Thanx Holly and T.H., We will take travellers checques , and change as we need to , great for the bank machines , it saves some hassles a bit . use the visa when we can ! super guys , Faith .

HiLo in Negril does take credit cards....I really don't know about Porty supermarkets though, we didn't shop there.

We never had trouble changing trav checks at cambios, which are all over the place. In Porty I think we used a cambio that was in a fairly large department/drug store, kind of a Jamaican style Walgreen's....

If you have AAA you can get trav checks free. Worth the membership fee right there, actually, as my bank wants something like $15 per $1000 in checks.

Thanx Liza !