Money Tips for Tunisia

The Tunisian Dinar is a Closed Currency, So Exchange Your USD, EUR, or GBP in Tunisia

The Tunisian dinar is a closed currency. This means you cannot exchange your home currency for Tunisian dinar outside of Tunisia. If you want cash, you’ll need to bring a major currency like USD, EUR, or GBP to Tunisia and exchange it at the airport or a currency exchange.

And Hold Onto That Receipt!

When you exchange your money for dinar, make sure you hold onto the currency exchange receipt! If you happen to have any cash leftover, you cannot exchange the money back to your currency without this receipt. If you don’t have it, you’ll be left with a bunch of Tunisian dinar that’s worth nothing outside of the country, as it is illegal to exchange. Bring this receipt and your passport to a currency exchange to exchange the money back.

Otherwise, Use an ATM

Or if the above seems like too much of a bother, do what we did and use an ATM! We didn’t run into any issues using a foreign card with Tunisian ATMs and were able to withdraw Tunisian dinar easily in this manner, even in the middle of nowhere. There was a small charge each time we withdrew money, so keep that in mind. However, if you use a card that gives you ATM fee rebates, you can get this money back at the end of the month. We use Charles Schwab Investor Checking, a free account that we couldn’t recommend more.

Hot tip: Make sure to decline the currency conversion.

Don’t Be Afraid to Haggle

Haggling is a way of life here. If there is no fixed pricing on a product you want to buy, you are expected to haggle the price down. This is where your French will come in handy, but don’t worry; many vendors are used to dealing with tourists who don’t speak their language and may whip out a piece of paper for you to write your counter-offer.

Try Contacting the Accommodation Directly for a Discount

We saved quite a bit of money in Tunisia by contacting accommodations directly. When you don’t book through a platform, the accommodation also saves money, so they’re generally willing to give you the room for a better price than what you can find online. So, if you can contact the accommodation directly through WhatsApp before you book, do it!