Changing Money

Withdraw money from an ATM with your debit card especially if your bank does not charge fees. Use your credit card whenever possible (also if they don't charge fees). If your bank(s) do charge fees it may be more economical to get a card that doesn't and use it for your trip.

There is no best place really. Some use their Visa cards because they get points for using it, and that can take a bit of a bite out of the charge to exchange it. Most banks near the border will trade cash for you. We find it's best to have both available, but now we have US accounts so use them exclusively. Our US credit cards get used there and paid with US funds from US investments.

I always just use an ATM. I get enough cash to last a week or so at a time, then pay for everything in cash. That way I miminimize the fees and increase the convenience as I can get more cash wherever I'm at.

You may check with your bank and see if they have a "sister bank" in Canada. Some do and will waive certain fees if you use that bank's ATMs.

Check with your home bank to find out what additional charges/fees are added to using your debit and credit cards for purchases in foreign currency like C$, and if there are per transaction fees, as well.
There aren't a lot of places in Canada that don't take one or the other of these payment methods, so you can probably reduce the amount of cash you bring, and just bring plastic. You'll get whatever the VISA/Mastercard/ATM/Debit card foreign currency exchange rate in effect on the date/time the transaction is posted to your account.
We use 2 no fee Canadian based credit cards that also have a 0% foreign currency exchange rate (most Canadian credit cards charge 2.5% of the purchase value to do the forex conversion), and so buy pretty much everything using them when we travel in the US. We get whatever the VISA/MC exchange rate of the day happens to be at time of purchase.
We might have some cash if we're camping in places that use iron rangers. If we need more cash, we bite the bullet and go to a local ATM and pay the fee.

Do you really need cash? I would try to go through on just VISA/MC/AMEX.
We did fine for 4 days last Summer visiting every eatery, fuel station and tourist trap we could find. No cash.

If you stay at many of the provincial parks or similar small campgrounds (especially in the less populated provinces/regions), cash is very, very useful for the iron rangers.

Another vote for ATMs. It makes a lot of sense to do a few larger withdrawals than many small ones as often the fees are per transaction rather than per dollar.

ANY CANADIAN CASINO

And if you get short, go to a WalMart (or any place that offers cash back), buy what you need and get "cash back", just the one transaction fee. On our CAD credit cards in the US we get charged %2.5 on top of the exchange rate!

We do this in the US all the time but have just gotten a US credit card and bank account to save the %2.5. Also the bank told us that if we use our US credit card in Canada they will add the %2.5 as well.

Best advice is talk to your bank (if they still have people somewhere) for advice.

Chris

As soon as we made the Sumas, WA crossing we spent the first night in HOPE BC. We went to the bank and got some cash for the best rate. No added charges. We did use provincial parks as we traveled north so you need some cash for the iron rangers. We also encountered some laundries that would only accept Canadian. The same for a few small fuel stations and small cafes we encountered. Many don't take credit cards. There aren't WalMarts on the roads north except in big cities.

3 months later crossing near Glacier Nat'l Park US, no one (banks included) would accept our leftover small amount of cash. We donated it at Glacier NP as they have an 'in' with the banks for converting Canadian. :) We tried to use up our leftover but fell a few coins short. So plan accordingly when re-entering the U.S.

Otherwise, we easily used our Visa credit card which had no foreign exchange cost attached.

Crowe wrote:
Withdraw money from an ATM with your debit card especially if your bank does not charge fees. Use your credit card whenever possible (also if they don't charge fees). If your bank(s) do charge fees it may be more economical to get a card that doesn't and use it for your trip.

This used to work 20+ years ago.

Get an extra card a couple of months in advance of your trip, preferably one that is ell accepted at your destination country. Use it a few times for small purchases BEFORE your trip. OVER PAY the monthly bill by the amount that you think you are going to need in cash in that country.

Once you are in the country, withdraw cash at an ATM. Because you have a negative balance (they owe you money) there is usually no charge and the withdrawal gets that days rate !!