As mentioned in this thread, check with you credit card companies and bank to see who has the best deal. In my experience, going back as early as 2008, Santander Serfin in Mexico is a partner with Bank of America. You can withdraw cash from a Santander ATM with your Bank of America ATM card, zero fees, nada. In some of the big tourist area you have your choice of withdrawing USD or MX pesos. Before opening a BofA account, check to make sure the partnership is still in effect. PS: Santander banks in other countries don't have the same deal with Bank of America. Sames goes for HSBC, Scotia, CitiBank...they are all franchises, without relationships that cross international borders.

I recently heard you can get better than bank rates when exchanging USD privately in Brazil. Venezuela and Argentina are great places to get great exchange rates when trading on the "private" market. In both of these countries I transfer funds from my Bank of America account to a friend's Bank of America account, then got local funds from them. Trading USD with street money changers in Lima (Nov 2014) saved me bank fees and got me a good rate. Hard to exchange outside big bills once I got outside of Lima.

Download a currency conversion app for your smart phone. I use the free app "Currency" for my iPhone. A conversion app will help you strike a reasonable deal at the border and informs you what price is being asked in your home currency.

In the end, get a credit card that cuts a fair deal, then deal with the fees. Its the price of adventure...and its worth it.

__________________
Peter B
2008/09 - NJ to Costa Rica and back to NJ
2012/13 - NJ to Northern Argentina, Jamaica, Cuba and back to NJ
2023 - Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia...back to Peru.

Blogs: Peter's Ride