Provincial parks payments

[Blazing_Zippers]

A few years ago, we visited several Provincial Parks in B.C. At the time, we had to pay the park in Canadian dollars for overnight campground fees.
Is this still the norm? If it is, what is the easiest way to change U.S. dollars for Canadian?
Yep. Planning ahead for a possible trip North next year.

[Little_Kopit]

Bravo Orion.

Would that such would go visit Europe, or say the parts of the UK where the exit Brexit croud hangs out.

I hear tell you may not get stopped at country borders in Europe, but you have to have ALL of your papers in order.

Bravo again Orion.

:C

[Orion]

"the money is going to have goofy names and weird people on them."

Do you have any idea how offensive the above, and the rest of your post is?

It's a good job that most Canadian RV parks, and other businesses don't have this kind of attitude towards their foreign visitors.

[atreis]

Blazing Zippers wrote:
A few years ago, we visited several Provincial Parks in B.C. At the time, we had to pay the park in Canadian dollars for overnight campground fees.
Is this still the norm? If it is, what is the easiest way to change U.S. dollars for Canadian?
Yep. Planning ahead for a possible trip North next year.

Use a credit card to pay, or get money from an ATM after crossing the border. Yes, when in another country you should use the currency of that country.

[jnharley]

We stayed at a Yukon government campground on our way back to the lower 48. We did not have enough Canadian dollars so we added 2 US dollars to the envelope and enjoyed our stay. Canadians are much more willing to take US dollars than we are in taking Canadian money for payment.

[GaryKH]

camp-n-family wrote:
Use a credit card. Yup, we have them up here too 😉

Yes we have, but the original question was what to use at Provincial Parks. IDK about Ontario, but in BC, it is strictly cash. They don't even have an old manual credit card copy machine.
Why can't you, prior to coming up, just get a few hundred in Canadian, spend what you will, and then just save any left over for the next time? It will still be good in 10 or 20 years. Or else sell it back to friends at home who may be coming up.

[sue_t]

If travelling through Yukon, it is wise to carry enough Canadian cash to fill your fuel tank or buy some groceries. Reason is the "system" often goes down up here and credit/debit cards won't work; vendors can do only cash transactions until the "system" gets back online. Sometimes it takes a day...

This past summer, the "system" failed numerous times. One of the failures was due to a contractor accidently cutting the single line that runs alongside the Alaska Highway; this cable runs along the ground surface in places so is vulnerable to damage.

[westernrvparkow]

Blazing Zippers wrote:
Thanks all. About getting money at the border, we stopped at a bank to exchange $300.00 and were treated like cheaters. They examined the bills, asked all sort of questions, etc.
I was just wondering about a better way. No problem carrying Canadian money at all. I do understand the bit about being in a foreign country, and using their money.
See you next year up North.

We aren't very far from the Canadian Border and we wouldn't think of taking any Canadian Currency. First, we have no idea what a Canadian 20 looks like. You could bring in Monopoly Money and say it is Canadian and what would we know? We have enough concerns in not accepting counterfeit US currency, wouldn't have a clue about a counterfeit Foreign Bills.
Second, even though you went to a bank, it is obviously not a bank you have an account with since it is in another country. There is no upside in them changing US to Canadian currencies. It doesn't generate much income, takes employee's time and if they get handed a counterfeit US bill, they take the loss. And just like my little ole RV Park, they are much less familiar with Foreign Currency than they are with their own.
Whenever I cross into our northern neighborhood, I just accept the fact that there will be fees attached to using my ATM and my Credit cards and the money is going to have goofy names and weird people on them.

[Little_Kopit]

Excuse me, but on which side of the border did you stop at a bank?

& for what it is worth, the only country where I felt treated like an unrecognizable alien from Pluto was in the US.* The Canadian side always has treated my 'foreign exchange transactions' as a regular happening.

:C
* off the top I've done currency exchanges (one country to another) in UK, France, Denmark (pre Euro), Israel
(and maybe Lebanon), Australia, US.

[Blazing_Zippers]

Thanks all. About getting money at the border, we stopped at a bank to exchange $300.00 and were treated like cheaters. They examined the bills, asked all sort of questions, etc.
I was just wondering about a better way. No problem carrying Canadian money at all. I do understand the bit about being in a foreign country, and using their money.
See you next year up North.

[enblethen]

We hit a cash machine after crossing into Canada to get Canadian dollars. Don't have to worry about exchange rate.
On close to returning, we count up all the Canadian money and exchange it back by pumping into the gas tank.
Check to see if your bank has an affiliate in Canada. That saves foreign exchange charges (for us anyway} Get a kick back on money spent and put on credit cards. Exchange rate is figured at the time card is used.

[Crowe]

When i go to or through Canada i go to my bank and order Canadian money to take with me. You can get it at an ATM in Canada but the fees are high.

You might want to check the exchange rate your bank is giving you vs. the OANDA currency exchange website (https://www.oanda.com/). You won't get what the "going rate" is but you should get within 3-4% of the open market rate. Banks may advertise they don't charge a fee-it's just hidden in the rate they give you. I can also order money through my bank but it's a royal hosing. My bank charges no ATM fees in Canada, nor does my credit card charge transaction fees. It's not a "one size fits all" situation and is bank-dependent. We just got back from Alberta and using our credit card gave us the best rate, followed by ATMs and banks. Many banks won't exchange money if you don't have an account there or will only do a minimal amount.

[camp-n-family]

Use a credit card. Yup, we have them up here too 😉

[2gypsies1]

We got some Canadian currency at a bank just after crossing - the best rate. We used Canadian while in Canada and the Yukon...yes, common courtesy.

When Canadians visit the U.S. places won't accept Canadian currency. In fact, at the end of our trip we had a minimal amount left over. We tried to exchange it in Montana on our way to Glacier Nat'l Park. No one would accept it. We dropped the excess in the national park's donation bucket.

We also had a credit card that didn't have a foreign currency charge and we used that as much as possible while in Canada. For the provincial parks, we used Canadian.

[Islandman]

Using an ATM is the easiest way to get your Canadian cash, some banks charge a higher fee than others, but the convenience is worth the small fee in my mind.