Venezuela has a very active black market for exchanging money. The exchange rate is often 20% or more higher than the official rate, so it’s worth exploring. However, fluency in Spanish is probably essential for success.

How do you find the black market? There’s no kiosk at the airprot that says “Black Market Money Exchange”. The best approach at the Caracas airport is to ask one of the baggage handlers. They can show you where in the airport to get black market exchanges. On our last visit we followed a baggage handler around the terminal till we ended up at a travel agency desk. At the same time we arrived at the desk, a policeman stopped by. Suddenly the baggage handler acted rather cool, like we were just hanging out. When the policeman left, the baggage handler introduced us to the people at the travel agency who then proceeded to exchange our dollars for bolivars.

In the country you can ask at your hotel. In some cases, the hotel itself may be willing to exchange the money. But in any case, the hotel is likely to know where to send you, which may be a nearby store or restaurant.

Except for the slighly funny incident with the wandering policeman at the airport, the black market in Venezuela for money exchange seems very much out in the open.