Money in Brazil: the real, cards, cash and Pix
Brazil's currency is the real, written R$ and pronounced hay-AL, with reais as the plural. Cards work almost everywhere, including small cafés and beach kiosks, so you need far less cash than most guidebooks suggest. Carry a little anyway for boat operators, tips and the places where the card machine has no signal.
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The short answer
- Currency
- Brazilian real, R$, code BRL. Plural: reais.
- Notes in circulation
- 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 reais.
- Cards
- Visa and Mastercard almost everywhere, contactless standard. Amex is patchy.
- What a card payment costs you
- Brazil's IOF tax on foreign cards, around 3.5 percent, plus whatever your own bank charges.
- ATM withdrawal fee
- Around R$20 per withdrawal at Banco24Horas machines, before your bank's own fee.
- Pix
- Brazil's instant transfer system. Usable by visitors through a travel wallet app, no Brazilian tax number needed.
The real, in practice
The real replaced a long series of failed currencies in 1994 and has been stable enough since that Brazilians quote prices in it without hesitation. You will see it written R$ before the number, with a comma for the decimal: R$ 12,50 is twelve reais and fifty centavos.
We deliberately do not print an exchange rate on this page. Any number here would be wrong within weeks, and a stale rate is worse than none. Check it on the day you travel and remember that the rate your card gives you is the one that counts, not the one on the airport board.
Card or cash
Brazil is further along than most of Europe here. Card machines turn up at juice stands, in taxis, on the beach and at market stalls, and contactless is normal. For a two week trip most travellers spend almost everything on a card.
Cash still earns its place in a few situations: the boatman who runs you out to an island, tips for a guide or a driver, entrance fees at small community-run sites, and anywhere the mobile signal gives out, which in the Pantanal and parts of the Amazon it does. A few hundred reais covers a week of that.
Two habits save real money. Always pay in reais when a machine offers you the choice, because paying in your home currency hands the exchange rate to the terminal and costs several percent. And withdraw larger amounts less often, since the ATM fee is per withdrawal, not per real.
Pix, and whether you need it
Pix is the instant bank transfer the whole country runs on. Brazilians pay for almost everything with it by scanning a code, and small businesses often prefer it to a card because it settles immediately and costs them nothing.
It was built around the Brazilian tax number, the CPF, which visitors do not have. Several travel wallet apps now bridge that gap and let you pay a Pix code with a foreign card, verified with your passport. It is genuinely useful if you are staying a while or spending time away from the tourist path.
For a normal two week trip you can skip it. A card and some cash cover everything, and we would rather you spent the setup time on something else.
What things actually cost
Brazil is not the bargain it was a decade ago, and prices vary more by region than by anything else. Rio and São Paulo cost roughly what a mid-sized European city costs. The northeast is noticeably cheaper. The Pantanal and the Amazon are the expensive exceptions, not because of the food and the beds but because everything has to be brought in and every guide is a specialist.
The one number worth knowing: a set lunch, the prato feito or the buffet sold by weight, feeds you properly in the middle of the day for a fraction of what dinner costs. It is what most Brazilians do and it is the single easiest way to keep a trip affordable without eating badly.
Common questions
Should I bring US dollars or euros to exchange?
Not as your main plan. Exchange offices are thin outside airports and big city centres, the rates are poor and it means carrying cash you do not need. Withdraw reais from an ATM on arrival instead. A small emergency reserve in your own currency does no harm.
Is it safe to use ATMs in Brazil?
Yes, with the same habits you would use anywhere. Use machines inside a bank branch, a shopping centre or an airport rather than one standing on the street, and avoid withdrawing late at night. Many street machines shut down in the evening anyway.
Do I tip in Brazil, and in cash?
Restaurants add a ten percent service charge to the bill, which is customary rather than legally required, and paying it is the norm. Beyond that, tips for guides and drivers are welcome and best given in cash.
Where this matters on a trip
Sources
Planning a trip to Brazil?
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