Money & Payments in Timor-Leste

Timor-Leste adopted the US dollar as its official currency in 2000 and has used it ever since. Prices are quoted in dollars, and you do not need to change money into a separate local currency before you arrive.

The one wrinkle is coins. Small change is given in Timorese centavo coins, which are pegged to US cents, so 25 centavos equals 25 cents. These only work inside Timor-Leste, so spend them before you leave. US coins and $1 notes are sometimes refused, so keep your small change in centavos and your notes in dollars.

Bring US dollars in $5, $10, and $20 notes. These are the notes shops, guesthouses, drivers, and markets can actually break. A $50 note can be hard to use and you may not get change for it, and $100 notes are widely refused. Banks and businesses may also reject worn, torn, or heavily marked notes, so bring clean bills.

How much? It depends on your style, but budget travellers often spend $30 to $60 a day once accommodation, food, and local transport are included, and more on days with a dive trip or a private car. Because ATMs are scarce and unreliable outside Dili, bring enough cash for your whole trip, or at least enough to cover everywhere you go after you leave the capital.

Split your cash up. Keep a day's spending money separate from your main stash, leave some in your accommodation safe where available, and carry a small emergency reserve apart from the rest.

ATMs exist only in Dili and Baucau, run mainly by BNU and BNCTL. BNU ATMs are the most reliable for foreign cards. Card networks are patchy in practice: the few Dili venues that accept card payment usually take Visa, while BNU ATMs are the dependable option for Mastercard withdrawals, so bring one of each type if you can. Withdrawal limits and fees apply, and machines can run out of cash on weekends and public holidays.

There are no ATMs on Atauro Island, in Maubisse, in most of the eastern districts, or anywhere genuinely rural. If your trip goes beyond Dili, withdraw what you will need before you leave the capital. Do not assume you can top up along the way.

A practical rule: treat Dili as your only dependable place to get cash. Everywhere else, you spend what you carried in.

Rarely, and only in Dili. A small number of upmarket hotels, a few restaurants, and some larger supermarkets in the capital take cards, mostly Visa. Everywhere else, including almost all of Atauro, the highlands, and the east, is cash only.

Do not build your trip around card payments. Even in places that advertise card acceptance, the machine may be down or the connection may fail. Carry enough cash to cover yourself as if cards did not exist, and treat any card payment that works as a bonus.

Day to day, you pay cash. Booking accommodation, tours, and transport is a different kind of friction. Many guesthouses and operators confirm over WhatsApp rather than a website, replies can be slow, and you may need to message more than once to lock in a date. Popular dive boats and the Atauro ferry fill up, especially in the May to November high season, so book well ahead rather than on arrival.

Online card payments are the weak link. The Citilink flight booking site, for example, is widely reported to reject foreign cards, and travellers often book those flights through a third-party site such as Traveloka or through an agent instead. The same unreliability affects other local online payments.

This is exactly the gap a booking platform closes. Rezerva lets you see real availability and confirm hotels, tours, and transport in one place, with payment and confirmation handled, instead of chasing operators over WhatsApp or fighting a broken checkout. For anything you cannot book ahead, carry the cash to pay on the spot.

Most visitors get a visa on arrival at Dili airport: $30 USD, valid 30 days, paid in cash. There are no ATMs before immigration, so you must arrive with the cash in hand, ideally a $20 and a $10. EU citizens and a few other nationalities enter visa-free for longer, and the land border has its own rules.

For the full breakdown of who needs a visa, who is exempt, extensions, and the land-border procedure, see the dedicated visa guide.