São Tomé and Príncipe travel tips
What a visitor's money does in São Tomé and Príncipe: 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.
São Tomé and Príncipe Dobra (STN) · 1 EUR = 24.5 STN · 1 USD = 21.7 STN
A cash economy. The dobra is pegged to the euro at 24.5, and euros are taken almost everywhere a visitor spends — hotels, guides, taxis — with change given in dobras. Cards work at a few hotels in the capital and very little else. Bring the trip in euros, in small notes.
Avoid: relying on a foreign card in the machines
Use: BISTP, Ecobank, Afriland First Bank (all in the capital)
Bring euros in cash for the whole stay. The rate is fixed, so there is nothing to shop around for, and euros are accepted directly in most places that see visitors.
Fish, breadfruit, banana and palm oil: calulu, a long-cooked stew of smoked fish and leaves, is the national dish. The roças serve lunch on the veranda, and the chocolate made on the island from its own cocoa is the thing to carry home.
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.
