The currency of Mexico is the Mexican peso (written in shorthand as $, MXN$ or MXP). U.S. dollars are not legal tender and are not accepted in most shops, but many tourist-geared shops and resorts accept payment in U.S. dollars, usually on a more disadvantageous exchange rate than the current rate at banks. We recommend paying and tipping in Mexican pesos as much as possible in order to make your funds on vacation stretch for a longer period of time. Be prepared to arrive with the correct currency on hand or make sure to retrieve pesos on arrival, which you can do at a number of ATMs in the airport and across the country. (The ATMs with the best exchange rates are typically ones operated by Banco Santander (red) and Citigroup/Banamex (gray).) There are currency exchange desks at many locations throughout the country as well, some offering competitive exchange rates in relation to ATMs.