Most basic items cost less than in Britain and a bit more than they
do in the US; more specific details are given below and throughout the
Guide . Generally, if you're sticking to a very tight budget - camping
and buying food from shops - you could squeeze through on £15-20/US$25-30
a day. You're not going to last long living like this, though, and a
more comfortable average daily budget, covering a motel room, bus travel,
a museum or two and a restaurant meal would work out at around £40-45/US$65-75.
Naturally, once you upgrade your accommodation, eat out two or three
times a day, and take in the city nightlife, this figure can easily
double. Remember, too, that recently the Canadian dollar has been fairly
weak, so if you're coming from abroad your money may stretch further
than you thought - though of course there are no guarantees there.
Currency
Canadian currency is the dollar ($), made up of 100 cents (¢) to the
dollar. Coins are issued in 5¢ (nickel), 10¢ (dime), 25¢ (quarter), $1
and $2 denominations: the $1 coin is known as a "loonie" after the bird
on one face;
Credit cards, ATMs, cheques and banks
One of the quickest and easiest ways of obtaining money in Canada is
through an ATM , particularly if your home bank ATM card is on the
Cirrus or Delta networks. It's also virtually essential to have at least
one credit card to reserve and prepay for hotels or car rental, where
otherwise you're likely to be asked for a big cash deposit: Visa,
MasterCard, American Express and Diners are widely accepted. Credit
cards can also be used to obtain cash advances over the counter in most
banks but there will invariably be a minimum amount you can draw and
you'll pay credit-card rates of interest on the cash from the date of
withdrawal. If you have a PIN you can also obtain cash from ATMs with
your credit card. With other credit cards, state bank cards and ATM
cards, you should check with your bank before leaving home.
While it's a good idea to have some Canadian cash from the outset, a
good way to carry the bulk of funds is in travellers' cheques ,
available from banks and building societies, usually with a one percent
commission on the amount ordered. (Exchange costs are usually waived if
you have a bank-issued travel insurance policy.) Buy cheques in Canadian
dollars and try to take American Express or Visa cheques, which are
accepted as cash in virtually every shop, garage, restaurant and bar
throughout Canada. Using travellers' cheques in this way is a better
option than trying to cash them in a bank - a surprising number of major
banks in Canada will not change travellers' cheques, and when they do
you'll usually have to pay a commission.
If you run out of money abroad, or there is some kind of emergency, the
quickest way to get money sent out is to contact your bank at home and
have them wire the cash to the nearest bank. You can do the same thing
through Thomas Cook or American Express (free to card holders) if there
is a branch nearby, and can also have cash sent out through Western
Union (tel 1-800/235-0000 in Canada; tel 0800/833833 in UK; tel
1-800/325-6000 in US) to a bank, post office or local agent - a process
that takes just minutes but will be expensive.
Banking hours are Monday to Thursday 10am to 3pm, and until 6pm on
Fridays; the trend is increasingly to longer hours and Saturday morning
opening. But don't rely on finding a bank open outside these core
weekday hours. The main nationwide banks include the Toronto Dominion,
the Royal Bank of Canada, the National Bank of Canada, the Bank of
Montréal and the Canadian Western Bank.
Average costs
Canada is generally good value, a fact which becomes evident from the
minute you wake up: cheap Canadian breakfasts are the stuff of legend,
dishing up coffee, bacon, eggs and toast for around $8 or less, while
healthier snacks like soups and salads cost from about $5.
Bus fares are reasonable, the twelve-hour journey from Vancouver to
Calgary, for instance, costing about $115 one-way. Trains cost a good
deal more - around $200 for the 24-hour trip from Vancouver to Edmonton
- but usually much less than internal flights, though charter companies
like Canada 3000 are bringing prices of these flights down: Vancouver to
Calgary, an hour's flight, will cost around $120 excluding tax on an
early-morning or late-evening charter.
Room rates start at around $15 for a hostel dorm, and about $35 for a
double in the grottier hotels. In most parts of the country, you should
find perfectly good motel rooms from around $45. Basic town campgrounds
are never expensive, and provincial and national sites start from as
little as $10; in fully serviced commercial places it's rare to pay more
than $25. Accommodation prices are higher from June to early September,
and throughout the more remote areas of the north, particularly the
Yukon and NWT.
Tips and taxes
There are several hidden costs to take into account when travelling
round Canada. Tips and service are generally not added to restaurant
bills; it's usual to leave fifteen percent, even after the cheapest
meals. More importantly, though, virtually all prices in Canada for
everything from bubblegum to hotel rooms are quoted without tax . This
means the price you see quoted is rarely the price you pay, and
round-figures prices of things costing, say, $5 or $55, end up being
ludicrous sums like $5.63 or $59.94.
There are both national and provincial taxes. The dreaded Goods and
Services Tax (GST) - the equivalent of VAT in Europe - is a nationwide
seven-percent charge levied on most goods and services, including hotel
and restaurant bills. All provinces except Alberta, the Yukon and NWT
levy a Provincial Sales Tax (PST) of five to ten percent on most goods
and services, including hotel accommodation; only visitors to Québec
(where it's called TVQ), Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland can
currently apply for a rebate - claim forms are supplied by tourist
offices (the rebate situation changes from time to time, and some other
provinces may start to offer rebates to keep their visitors sweet). A
so-called Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), a fifteen-percent combination of
GST and PST, applies in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Labrador and
Newfoundland. Most provinces also have a hotel rooms' tax of up to ten
percent. The net result is that you can end up paying something like
seventeen percent over the listed price for hotel rooms in some parts of
the country.
As a small mercy, visitors can claim a rebate of GST on certain goods
over the value of $3.50 if they're for use outside Canada and removed
from the country within sixty days. More significantly, a GST rebate is
available for accommodation expenditure over $100 during a maximum
period of one month. Claim forms are available at many hotels, shops and
airports or from any Canadian embassy. Return them, with all original
receipts , to the address given on the form. People leaving by land to
the US can claim their rebate at selected border duty-free shops. The
amounts can add up, so it's worth thinking about. For more information
call 902/432-5608 (outside Canada) or tel 1-800/668-4748 (within
Canada).
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