What a visitor's money does in Curacao: every guide rated from very cheap to very expensive, cheapest first, then the things that cost travellers money without buying anything — the ATM, the taxi, the SIM.
Caribbean Guilder (XCG) · 1 USD = 1.79 XCG · 1 EUR = 2.05 XCG
The guilder is pegged to the dollar and US dollars are accepted almost everywhere, usually with change given in guilders. Euros are not. Cards are widely taken; keep small dollars for beach bars and bus fares.
Avoid: standalone machines in the cruise terminal
Use: Maduro & Curiel’s Bank, RBC, Banco di Caribe
Machines offer guilders or US dollars. Take dollars if you are island-hopping — guilders are worthless the moment you leave.
Look for keshi yena, a whole cheese stuffed with spiced meat, and stobá stew. The Marshe Bieu — the old market in Willemstad — does the local version of a set lunch for a few guilders. Blue Curacao is made here and is better with the local Amstel Bright.
The cost rating is this site's own, for a visitor, from the guides' authors and the corrections readers send in. The general rules — the conversion prompt, shoulder season, the airport taxi — are in budget travel tips.
