This article is perfect if you planning to travel to Jamaica for the first time and want to handle and travel comfortably with local currency. But not only that, this blog includes great tips that will help you to save when you travel and be clearer with your money.
Overall, as much as you know about the local currency, that’s how you will be able to really handle your money better, recognize it and communicate better with vendors when purchasing product or service.
Yes, you can also travel with USD but I truly recommend to travel with local currency, its more financially efficient for you and you will be able to support the local economy. Before you travel you can ensure to have a currency converter app on your phone and internet service so you can always check the cost and track your travel budget.
Jamaica local currency is dollar, also called JMD but even though locals use that currency mainly, in a lot of tourist places you will be quoted in USD currency. Most local street vendors and small business will operate with JMD only, so even if you choose to pay in USD the change will return in local currency.
Its always important for me to reminder travelers this is not a cheap destination, and you will spend good amount of money here if you want to have fun an do it all. You can travel with a low budget from 50 USD per day of 1000 USD per day, it all depends on your style of travel.
I always recommended to bring cash USD and convert small portion for the first days in the airport, the rate is not the best but not the worst and you will have it much easier with having just a bit of cash for you first days. Ensure that you cash can cover:
· Transpiration for airport to accommodation
· 2-3 Nights in you first accommodation (in case you didn’t pre-booked)
· Food \ groceries for the first days
· Extra cash for other activities
There are ATM everywhere island wide, but its always good to have cash in hand when traveling for several days instead of going to the ATM every day. If you traveling to country side and remoted area I would recommend to have enough cash for your stay because these places rarely have ATM’s…
Most ATM’s open 24\7 and offer JMD and USD so make sure you read carefully the screen before clicking … Its also very recommended to advise you bank before traveling so they would know why they get transaction from Jamaica and not your resident area. This can easy prevent a lot of cases where the ATM’s swallow you card as a safety measure… or just block any withdrawals…
The local dialect has several different terms when it comes to Money Talk, so just to give you a bit extra, I made a simple poster your can screenshot and save for you next visit. Using these terms might give you a local discount lol…
I hope that this short guide give you a bit more of idea how to handle money when traveling in the island…. More guide’s coming soon.
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