Money

Official currency of the United Arab Emirates is called Dirham, commonly used abbreviation is Dh. One Dirham is 100 fils. There are banknotes of values of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 Dirham available. The coins exist in values of 1 Dh and 5, 10, 25 and 50 fils.
Dirham is related to the american Dollar by a fixed exchange rate, 1 USD equals to 3.671 Dh. Actually there is a possibility to exchange any world currency in the UAE, but we recommend to have American Dollars or Euros with you.

Most favorable exchange rates are to find notably in private exchange offices which are located mostly in centers of big cities. However, the disadvantage are their opening hours, exchange offices are not open all day round. You can exchange money also in local banks which have longer opening hours. But the exchange rates are not so favorable. Also hotels, restaurants etc. offer quite unfavorable exchange rates.

Paying

We recommend to carry at least a small cash with you including little banknotes and coins. That is because on some places you can face unwillingness to give change for a big banknote. But the possibility of paying by credit card is a standard, you can pay by the majority of international credit cards (VISA, MasterCard etc.). There exist a sufficiently wide ATM network. You can find an ATM in banks, but also directly on the street. We strongly recommend to always check if the ATM is connected to international systems.

Tip

Tip is not claimed in the UAE, it depends on your personal desision. The only exception are better restaurants which bill a service charge directly. It is mostly 15% of the amount spent in the restaurant. If you decide to give a tip, people like cab drivers or gas filling station workers usually get about 2 Dh.