What a visitor's money does in The Gambia: 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.
Gambian Dalasi (GMD) · 1 EUR = 85 GMD · 1 USD = 72 GMD
Bring euros or sterling and change them at a bureau in Senegambia, Kotu or Serrekunda, where the rates are posted and better than the hotels’. Dalasi are hard to get outside the country and not worth taking home. Hotels and tour operators quote in pounds or euros; taxis, markets and bars are dalasi.
Avoid: hotel exchange desks, relying on one card — not every machine takes every network, machines at weekends, when they run dry
Use: Trust Bank, Ecobank, GTBank — on the coast
Euros and sterling change easily at the bureaux in Senegambia. Upriver is cash only.
Domoda — groundnut stew — benachin, which is jollof under its Gambian name, and yassa. Grilled barracuda and ladyfish on the beach at Tanji when the boats land. Wonjo (hibiscus) and baobab juice, and attaya, the green tea poured in three rounds that gets sweeter as it goes.
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.
