Currency in Brazil: what to use and how to exchange

The real has floated against the dollar, euro and pound for years, so the rate you get on the day you travel is the rate that matters. Check it the week before you fly and again on arrival, then stop watching it: a few centavos either way will not change your trip.

Cards do most of the work. Visa and Mastercard are accepted in hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, pharmacies and most shops, and contactless is normal in cities. Pix, Brazil's instant bank-transfer system, is now the default at many tills and market stalls: the vendor shows a QR code, you scan it with a banking app, and the money moves in seconds. Pix needs a Brazilian bank account, so foreign visitors usually fall back on cards or cash instead.

Cash is not dead. Keep R$100–200 on you for street food, small buses, beach vendors, rural stalls and tips. Small notes are more useful than large ones; a R$100 note can be hard to break at a corner kiosk early in the morning.

For exchanging, bank branches and the exchange counters at major airports such as Guarulhos and Galeão are the reliable options, though airport rates are usually a little worse than in town. City-centre exchange offices in Rio and São Paulo are common; compare two or three before handing over money. Street kiosks and anyone offering a rate far above the official one are best avoided.

ATMs are widespread but not always friendly to foreign cards. Banco do Brasil, Bradesco, Itaú and Santander machines usually work with international cards; some others do not. Withdraw in larger amounts to reduce per-transaction fees, and use machines inside banks, malls or airports rather than on a dark street at night.

When a card machine asks whether to charge you in reais or in your home currency, choose reais. That keeps the conversion with your bank instead of the merchant's processor, which normally adds a margin.