myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

which is best to take to the Island?

is it a "duel currency" island?

Hello Gordon

In my experience it depends upon what you want to do during your stay.

My first visit to Tobago was an 'all inclusive' and so my expenses were mainly in local shops etc, for this all that was needed was the local $TT currency. Restaurants also charge in $TT

However, many guides and trips charge in $US and whilst most will accept $TT the currency change can be confusing.

A suggestion could be that you pre - book your trips and so will know how many $US you take with you.

Hope this helps

Simon

Hi Gordon
The TT dollar is all you need, forget US$ - the only reason that hotels, guides etc advertise a US$ price is simple - particularly since the advent of the internet - whatever country one is from or nationality, whether US, japanese, european etc, people almost always know what the value of the US$ is against their own currency, whereas only those who conduct extra research will know the approximate tt$ fx rate. Therefore the vendors are talking in internationally recognisable sums, but all are happy or happier to accept payment in tt$ (only the large businesses will operate US$ accounts so all the small traders will end up queueing to change their US in the banks here anyway, so they get tt money).

What I always recommend is to order £50 worth of tt$ from your local bank/travel agent to tide you over after arrival until the banks open (assuming accom is already paid for and that you have a widely accepted credit card), then bring £travellers cheques to change in the bank - £tc's not only get you security against theft or loss, but will earn you a much better fx rate than £cash - at least 5% in my experience. Hope this helps.

Regards

Hi Gordon,

My wife and I visited the island in March/April last. When we arrived I didn't have a cent of 'foreign' currency in my pocket. Our taxi driver stopped at the first cash machine on the way to our hotel (quite willingly - he wanted to be sure to get paid !) and then I periodically topped up from cash machines when in their vicinity. I found that this proved to give me a decent rate of exchange and it avoided me having to carry large amounts of money around. It's fair to say that I did also give the credit card some bashing at supermarkets and restaurants. I wouldn't bother with travellers cheques at all,

Enjoy Tobago ,
Malc C

Hi Gordon
I work in a bank so by nature tend to look at these things fairly closely. We have just returned last week and I only took $TT and 2 credit cards. I certainly would advise against $US as a few times in restaraunts/shops I asked what the cost would be in $US and the whole process was a bit haphazard, usually involving a calculator! When I calculated the cost against the exchange rate I received for $TT and the exchange rate in UK for $US, every time I would have been paying quite a bit more had I paid with $US - one transaction was £5 more on a bill of £26!!
I always use a credit card whenever possible as the exchange rate you get on this is extremely favourable, even taking in to account the extra charge for a foreign transaction.
Hope this helps
Jacqui B