What a visitor's money does in Eswatini: 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.
Swazi Lilangeni (SZL) · 1 EUR = 18.8 SZL · 1 USD = 16.7 SZL
The lilangeni is pegged one to one to the South African rand, and rand are accepted everywhere in Eswatini at par, so there is no need to change money if you arrive from South Africa. It does not work the other way: emalangeni are not taken in South Africa, so spend them or swap them for rand before you leave. Cards work at the lodges, the malls and the fuel stations; the craft markets and the parks’ smaller gates want cash.
Avoid: carrying emalangeni into South Africa, where they are not accepted
Use: Standard Bank, FNB, Nedbank — in Mbabane, Manzini and the Ezulwini malls
Rand are accepted at par everywhere, so South African cash needs no changing.
Braai — grilled meat over a wood fire — is how most of the country eats out, with pap and chakalaka, as in South Africa next door. Sishwala, a thick maize porridge, is the local staple. The Ezulwini valley has the restaurants; Malkerns, just south, has the farm stalls and the craft workshops.
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.
