What a visitor's money does in Ecuador: 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.
US Dollar (USD) · US dollars are the national currency
Ecuador uses the US dollar, so there is nothing to exchange. Bring small notes — change for anything above a twenty is hard to find on the islands, and coins are used constantly.
Avoid: assuming a machine will have cash — they run dry regularly
Use: Banco Pichincha, Banco del Pacífico (Puerto Ayora and Puerto Baquerizo Moreno)
Bring more cash than you think you need. The $200 park fee and the $20 transit card are payable in cash on arrival, and there are no machines on the outer islands.
Locro de papa, a potato and cheese soup with avocado. Encebollado for a hangover, which is the national position on it. And the fruit — tree tomato, naranjilla, granadilla — in juices that cost a dollar and do not exist anywhere else.
Fish is excellent and the set almuerzo in Puerto Ayora costs a few dollars. Encebollado is the local cure-all. Bring anything specialised with you — the islands import almost everything and prices reflect it.
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.
