Money in Peru

Fifty Soles Bills

Peruvian Money

Soles vs Dollars

Peruvian money is called Soles. The money symbol for Soles is "S/." The dot is not a decimal point. That confused me at first. When we traveled, the exchange rate was about S/.3 for every dollar. To figure out the approximate cost of something in dollars, we just divided by 3. Find out the current exchange rate here.

Exchange Rate

Paying in Peru

There are some places that take dollars, but many don't. All of the little shops and taxis took soles, not dollars. Most restaurants and hotels took either Visa or Mastercard, but not both. There are many ATM’s (Cajero Automatico) to pull money from a debit card. Choose one that is inside a bank or one with doors that lock while you are inside. You can change money in the airports and at hotels.

Money Fraud in Peru

Fraud is a large problem in Peru. Make sure to call your bank or credit card and let them know you will be traveling to Peru. Chase bank told us that they would reject the card and freeze the account if we tried to use it in Peru because of Peru's fraud problem. We took a different card. We took a few hundred dollars in cash that we exchanged in the airport, and then withdrew money about S/.400 at a time for spending money.

Counterfeit money is also a problem in Peru. Your missionary should be comfortable with Peruvian money, and well versed in telling counterfeit from real money. Learn how to spot a counterfeit at this website.

Peruvian Currency

Budget

Cost of a Peru Missionary Tour

The cost of a vacation to pick up a missionary in Peru will vary widely. Thhere are many variables that will affect the cost.

For instance, my family of 3 traveled in August 2014, during high season. We hired a guide for our Cusco leg and prebooked everything. We stayed 9 days and visited Lima, Arequipa and Cusco. We spent about $5000.

The Sullivan family traveled in November 2015, during low season. They booked everything themselves, and left many of the tours to be purchased in Peru. They stayed 14 days and visited Lima, Arequipa, Cusco and Puno. They spent $3500.

Example Costs

You can see that cost's vary widely, but to give you an idea, here's where we spent our money.

We spent:

Broken down another way, we spent

The costs of the excursions in Cusco include about 8+ hours of taxi rides and 3 hour round trip train tickets, as well as 2 dinners and 2 lunches, and a personal guide. Cusco is definitely the most expensive part, but also not something I would skip.

You can save money by booking your Machu Picchu and transportation there yourself. The Sullivan family did this, and spent about $700, $450 less than I did. Learn how to do it yourself.

Book Machu Picchu