When traveling from the U.S. to Canada, the worst crowds are always behind you.
I went to Canada a few months ago and ordered ~$150 CAD from my bank. They mailed the notes to me. I think the mailing fee made that small amount a less good deal but I wanted to have some local currency in-pocket when I arrived.
True. however, the popularity of Banff seems to be growing constantly. We tried going to Lake Louise a couple times this year and I figured if we got on the road so we arrived there by 9:00 am we’d be good. Wrong! Both times it was so packed that even the alternate parking was full. I Found out later that in the summer, you need to try for arriving around 6:00 but of course, lousy weather can make a huge difference if you don’t mind hiking in the rain/snow.
Before you go, see if your bank plays nicely with any Canadian banks (I used to bank with BoA, so going to one of these banks was slightly less painful than other ways of getting cash. One or more of your credit cards also might waive foreign transaction/atm fees. If it does, that’s the easiest way to get cash.
I’ve never taken that train trip, but I have done that drive. It’s lovely.
Well, as mentioned the RCMP are the provincial enforcement in 7 provinces and 3 territories. Heck, their official motto is a traffic warning , “Keep right!” (Maintiens le droit) 
Also note - radar detectors are illegal to use in many provinces. Many provinces also have laws mandating that you switch lanes and slow down when passing emergency vehicles (police, ambulance, tow truck) stopped with lights flashing - a common courtesy anyway. Same as USA, passing school busses stopped with lights flashing is illegal no matter how many lanes, both ways unless there’s a center divider between you and the bus,
Also note, it depends but my Canadian credit card has a 2.5% premium on any foreign currency transactions, no reason to suspect American cards are any less fee-happy. However, that probably still works out less than any bank transaction fees, and I suspect your ATM withdrawal will probably work out about the same as credit card.
This isn’t overseas or an airport currency exchange (stay away from those), you won’t see that sort of massive disparity between the published exchange rate and the buy or sell rate using an standard ATM or your credit card.
Rule of thumb when evaluating prices - A US$1 is $1.33 give or take, and the other way $1 Canadian is about $US0.75; it bounces around, recently up to almost $0.77 and sometimes below 75 cents but barring any interesting tariffs or stock market crashes, that is it. Then consider that in high tourist areas, everything costs more. Banff costs more than Canmore or Calgary, Whistler last time I was there catered to a very rich tourist crowd too, etc.
I’m told liquor stores will swap cash at a better rates than banks, but this information is about 25 years old.
Get a Visa card from TDBank (a subsidiary of Toronto Dominion, a Canadian bank). No foreign transaction fees charged. If you have a deposit account there, no charges for using your ATM or debit card at their machines.
Thanks all for the tips!
I don’t know. ISTR a documentary back some years where an Oscar Leroy was claiming otherwise.
Many bigger stores will accept US cash, those in high tourist areas may even have a sign by the register with a posted exchange rate. I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing most will give you $1.25 to $US1 nowadays (Whatever makes an easy calculation). Considering that the exchange rate is $1.33, it’s not a horrible rate difference for smaller purchases if you run out of Canadian cash. You’ll get change in Canadian. (I.e. “Oh, you gave me a $20US, that’s equivalent to $C25, so here’s your change for $C25”)
When my wife managed a restaurant, the boss let her buy US cash from the register at that rate, which was simpler than trying to deposit it. We’d get $20 or so every week or two. Then the next owner travelled to the US more, and he took the bills himself.
Some places will not take US cash due to quirky policies or whatever, and all coins are taken at par but may not work in vending machines. And if you go home with our coins, they definitely do not work in US vending machines.
This is common in the US as well (the increased fines in construction areas) - and for very good reason as you noted.
We visited Quebec in June, and just paid for stuff using our US credit cards. I think we got nailed with small fees each time which is annoying, but they were small (like a dollar or two). We did get some Canadian currency - and wound up not spending it all. So we used it for our last gasoline fillup.
Then that afternoon we stopped for a snack in a VERY small town (we took the less direct way, as we wanted to cross the border at “moose alley” in NH) and were nervous they wouldn’t take credit cards. Fortunately, they did.
Depending on the exchange rate, lots of places will take your US currency at face value, but will return change in Canadian currency.
It will buy you a round in some bars in Florida , though.
Do NOT besmirch the King of Canada! :eek:
I can’t imagine any places in Canada, especially gas stations, that won’t take credit cards. Some places want to use chip for debit so have a PIN number for the chip. Also, all Canadian credit cards use chip now, but if that fails they can still swipe the card. You will run across newer ATMs occasionally that use the chip instead of reading the stripe.
Indeed, in some places in the USA if I tried to swipe my Canadian cards, the terminal would say - “chip enabled, use chip and pin instead”.
Interesting!
I’ve heard there are formulas you can use to derive a “ZIP code” based on your Canadian postal code when asked at a gas pump.
You just use the numbers from the postal code and add 00 to the end, so M6H 2S5 becomes 62500.
I just came back from Canada. I would warn your bank that you plan on traveling there. I don’t know what’s up with my bank, I’ve been to Ireland, Scotland, and a few other places in the past couple of years and had no problems. When I went to Canada my debit card was declined when I tried to get something to eat. When I went to use my credit card it too was declined.
I got texts and emails almost right away saying they detected fraud. The last time they got fraud I got a text saying I could say it was fraud or that it was not fraud. They seemed to have changed that this time around and the only option I had was to say it was fraud. Kind of sucks to be somewhere and not have any access to money. I have a second credit card so it wasn’t too bad, but still.
Always go online (or call, blah) to manage your accounts and find the ‘travel’ section. Set the dates you are traveling and locations. You might not be able to use your cards unless you do, AND you will help prevent fraud during and after your trip. Little things can trip you up, and when you get on line to advise them, they might tell you something helpful, such as, “Hey moron, despite telling you a bajillion times that you must have a chipped card and exactly a 4-digit PIN setup, you can’t use your card in Europe in because you never upgraded your cart nor set a 4-digit pin!” Lmao… that’s for my boss, who I traveled all over Europe with for three weeks and he had not a dime to his name. My credit card bill was one for the ages. Although not going to Europe, get online and tell your bank and/or card issuers where the heck you’re going.
Call your mobile phone provider. Get the skinny on whether you are enabled to travel, what plan you can access while there, and how to end that plan upon return (if it doesn’t automatically). Might cost 10 USD per day and kicks in automatically when you hit the local cell towers, and you get access to your US plan for that (as an example)
I am have been traveling the world for 25 years. I want to be sure I have money and my mobile phone. Then I can handle most anything.
Thanks!
I hadn’t thought about my phone. I will contact them.
My local bank wanted to trade US for Canadian at parity. 
I chose not to take the offer…
Good advice on notifying your bank.
We travelled to Canada in 2017 and again this June and didn’t do so either time, and we were fine - but as you’ve noted that’s not always the case. When my son went to Europe 3 years ago I made sure he did so.
Oooh - good point.
We were staying in northern Vermont this summer - within 10 miles of the border. Typo Knig and some others went on a bit of a hike, somewhat less than 10 miles from the border, and I’m pretty sure we got charged for a day (he says he got a notification, I never looked at the bill).
We have Verizon Wireless, and it’s 5.00 a day for travel to Canada, then you use your data / minutes as you normally would. For Europe, it was 10.00 a day - not that I’ve ever used it, but when our son travelled to Europe we activated it on his number. We didn’t have to do anything to turn it off afterward; we just get billed when we use it. Though turning it off will prevent false positives if you’re travelling near - but not across - the border in the future.