Travel guides
Money in Paraguay: the guarani, cards and what to carry
The official currency is the guarani, with notes from 2,000 to 100,000. In practice you will juggle four payment methods on the same trip, and the expensive mistake is finding out too late which one the counter in front of you does not take.
The short answer
Paraguay’s currency is the guarani, issued by the Central Bank of Paraguay. On an actual trip you will use four things at once: guaranies, the dollars you brought, a card, and small change. Each one covers part of the day and none covers all of it. What decides is not the exchange rate. It is the counter you are standing at.
| The official currency | The guarani, written Gs. or ₲. It has been Paraguay’s monetary sign since 5 October 1943, according to the Central Bank of Paraguay |
| Notes in circulation | 2,000, 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, 50,000 and 100,000 guaranies, per the BCP. The 100,000 is the country’s most used note |
| Coins | 50, 100, 500 and 1,000 guaranies. Useful for change, parking and city buses, and very little else |
| US dollars | The reference currency for anything expensive: hotels, electronics, tours and private transport. Changed at any exchange house |
| Brazilian reais and Argentine pesos | Circulate in the border strip, in Ciudad del Este and Encarnacion, and lose value the moment you leave it. Rarely used in Asuncion |
| Cards | Fine in malls, hotels, supermarkets and city restaurants. Useless at markets, on buses, at tolls, for tips and for street parking attendants |
| When only guarani cash works | The immigration overstay fine, markets, city buses, road tolls, parking attendants and most tips |
| How we charge | A closed price per vehicle, quoted in US dollars. A 30% deposit to book and the balance later. We also take guaranies, reais and Argentine pesos |
| What this post does not give you | An exchange rate. It moves every business day, and a number written here would be wrong by tomorrow morning |
The guarani, and why the numbers look enormous
The question reaches our WhatsApp almost every week, always in the same shape: what money should I bring to Paraguay? The honest answer is that the country’s currency is the guarani, that you will probably use four different things on the same trip, and that the real problem is not which one is best. It is knowing in advance which counter takes which.
The guarani has been Paraguay’s monetary sign since 5 October 1943, according to the Central Bank of Paraguay itself. It is written Gs. or with the symbol ₲, and the first thing that unsettles a visitor is the number of zeros. The largest note is Gs. 100,000 and the smallest Gs. 2,000: the numbers are big because the unit is small, not because things are expensive.
The mental trick that works is to drop the last three zeros and think in thousands. Paraguayans do exactly that when they speak: forty five means Gs. 45,000. Once you think in thousands, prices fit in your head and you stop counting the note three times at the till.
The second surprise is how comfortably Paraguay lives with foreign currency. Hotel rates quoted in dollars, electronics priced in dollars, shop windows on the border marked in Brazilian reais, and your change handed back in guaranies. That is not chaos, it is a border economy working as designed. What you need is a plan, and the plan fits in three lines: bring US dollars to change, use a card in formal places, and always keep guarani cash in your pocket.
The notes and coins you will actually handle
Denominations in circulation according to the Central Bank of Paraguay’s billetes y monedas page, bcp.gov.py, consulted on 28 September 2026. The right-hand column is ours, and comes from years of driving visitors around.
| Denomination | What it is | What it actually pays for |
|---|---|---|
| Gs. 100,000 | The country’s largest note | Hotels, dinner, a big purchase. It is Paraguay’s most demanded note: 45.7% of all notes in circulation in December 2024, per the BCP. Taxi drivers and market stalls often cannot break it |
| Gs. 50,000 | The everyday large note | Lunch, pharmacy, supermarket. It is what the ATM gives you and the one you will break most often |
| Gs. 20,000 | The most useful note in your wallet | Short rides, coffee, restaurant tips, museum entry. Keep several |
| Gs. 10,000 | Small change of the day | City buses, water, a snack, a tip for the porter who carries your bag |
| Gs. 5,000 and Gs. 2,000 | The small notes | Parking attendants, bus station toilets, market stalls, counter change |
| Coins of 1,000, 500, 100 and 50 | The four coins in circulation | Change, parking and city buses. Little else, and they are heavy: spend them before you fly out |
The 2,000, 5,000 and 10,000 values circulate on polymer, a plastic substrate that survives a wet pocket and hard folding. The 20,000, 50,000 and 100,000 are paper.
One change is under way and worth knowing about. The Central Bank of Paraguay announced a new family of banknotes, presented on 5 October 2026 on the currency’s 83rd anniversary, with distribution starting in the first quarter of 2027. The denominations stay the same, the sizes become progressively smaller from the 100,000 down, and the 10,000 moves to polymer, according to the Paraguayan daily ABC Color on 10 September 2026.
The part that matters to a traveller: the current notes are not being withdrawn. They will circulate alongside the new ones. If you have guaranies left over from an earlier trip, they are still good, and nobody can refuse them for being the old design.
Where foreign currency works, and where it does not
This is the part that actually costs money, because paying in the wrong currency at the wrong counter means accepting whatever rate the seller invents.
Where foreign currency is usually taken
- Exchange houses, which are the right place to convert what you brought, and which you will find in malls, in downtown Ciudad del Este, in downtown Encarnacion and across Asuncion.
- Import shops in Ciudad del Este, which price in US dollars and take Brazilian reais without blinking, because most of their customers cross the bridge every morning.
- Hotels and guesthouses aimed at foreign visitors: the rate is usually quoted in dollars from the moment you book.
- Tours and transport booked in advance, ours included: we quote in dollars and receive in guaranies, reais or Argentine pesos.
- Larger border businesses, which often run a card terminal that settles in reais for Brazilian customers.
Where you will need guaranies
- Markets, street stalls and any informal trade: the counter rate there is always worse and your change comes back in guaranies anyway.
- City buses, street taxis, parking attendants and highway tolls.
- Asuncion in general. Away from the border, offering reais or pesos gets you a polite blank look.
- Neighbourhood restaurants, bakeries, corner pharmacies and anything not built for tourists.
- The immigration overstay fine on your way out, which is the extreme case and gets its own section below.
The rule we give visitors who come to shop: pay in the currency the price tag is written in, and never the other way round. Converting at the counter of the person selling to you always costs. How much that gap matters by product category is worked out in shopping in Ciudad del Este.
Cards and ATMs in Paraguay
International credit and debit cards work well in formal Paraguay. The catch is that a large part of any travel day happens in informal Paraguay.
- Works without drama: malls, chain stores, supermarkets, hotels, city restaurants, large pharmacies, branded fuel stations and travel agencies.
- Works, but ask first: the smaller shops of Ciudad del Este, which sometimes add a percentage for card payment or simply prefer cash. Ask for the cash price before you decide.
- Does not work: city buses, markets, parking attendants, public toilets, tips, highway tolls, food stalls and many street taxis.
- Ride-hailing apps: they operate in Asuncion and charge the card on file, which solves short hops without cash. Coverage outside the main cities is patchy.
- ATMs: you will find them at the airport, in malls and in city centres, and most dispense guaranies. Some dispense dollars. The international withdrawal fee is set by your own bank, not by Paraguay, so check it before you fly.
- Tell your bank you are travelling: a purchase in a border city is exactly the profile that triggers a fraud block. A travel notice in your banking app saves you a frozen card at the till.
- Carry two cards from different networks and do not keep them in the same place. It is the dullest advice in travel and the one that rescues the most trips.
How to arrive with the money side sorted
The order the decisions actually arrive in, the way we explain it to passengers who ask.
- 1
Leave home with US dollars in cash, not guaranies
Buying guaranies abroad usually gives you a worse rate, because it is thinly traded outside Paraguay. Dollar notes change easily at any exchange house in a mall or a city centre.
- 2
Change only what you will spend in cash
The guarani is not a currency to take home as a souvenir: whatever is left you will change back at a loss. Estimate the informal spending on your itinerary and change that, not the whole trip.
- 3
Use an exchange house, never a street changer
The exchange houses of Ciudad del Este, Encarnacion and the Asuncion malls are formal businesses: they post the rate on a screen and give you a receipt. Street changing is where counterfeit notes and short change live.
- 4
Ask for smaller notes
Change everything and take a brick of 100,000 notes and you will spend the trip hearing that nobody has change. Ask for part of it in 20,000 and 10,000. It costs nothing and it changes your day.
- 5
Split the day’s cash from the trip’s cash
One wallet for today’s spending, the rest in the hotel safe or your case. True anywhere, doubly true in a busy border city.
- 6
Keep a guarani cushion for the way out
Tips, a last bottle of water, the parking attendant and, worst case, the immigration fine. Gs. 100,000 in your pocket on departure day is the cheapest insurance of the trip.
If you arrive by air, the ride from the airport to your hotel is precisely the moment when you have not changed anything yet. That is why our Asuncion airport transfers run on a closed price from USD 49 per vehicle, paid in advance by link: you walk out of arrivals without needing cash in hand or a three in the morning queue at a currency desk.
The moments when only guarani cash will do
There is a short list of situations in Paraguay where the card does not work, dollars do not help and reais or pesos are no use at all. They are few, but they are exactly the ones that catch visitors out, because they happen outside shops.
The most expensive is the immigration overstay fine. Anyone who enters Paraguay and stays beyond the authorised period pays a fine on the way out, and the figure we see applied is Gs. 669,012. It is paid in cash and in guaranies at the immigration post, with no card terminal and no dollars, reais or pesos accepted at that window. It is the one situation where running out of guaranies can literally hold up your departure. Who needs what, and for how long, is set out in Paraguay entry requirements.
Then come the small ones, which add up to the day. The parking attendant, an institution in central Asuncion and Ciudad del Este, works in Gs. 5,000 and Gs. 10,000 notes. Bus station toilets take coins. City buses are cash. Markets are cash, not least because the price quietly rises when you produce a card. And restaurant tips, which run around 10% and often are not on the bill, are cash.
There is one more case almost nobody plans for: the road. There are tolls between Asuncion and Ciudad del Este, and a Paraguayan toll booth is guarani cash. Travellers who hire a car and set off without change discover this at the barrier. On our transfers that is not your problem, because tolls are already inside the closed price, but if you are driving yourself, carry small notes.
The rule we repeat to every passenger is simple: always carry the price of a dinner in guarani cash, even if you plan to pay for everything by card. It is not superstition. It is the difference between a two minute inconvenience and a two hour problem.
What we charge, and in which currency
Prices from our August 2026 tariff, per vehicle and not per passenger, with fuel, tolls and driver included. We quote in US dollars and take several currencies.
| Route | Distance and time | Sedan, 1 to 3 | Minivan, up to 7 | Sprinter, 8 to 14 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asuncion airport to the city | about 15 km, 25 to 40 min | From USD 49 | On request | On request |
| Asuncion to Ciudad del Este | 327 km, 4 h 30 min to 5 h | USD 347 one way, USD 539 return | USD 397, USD 672 | USD 858 |
| Asuncion to Foz do Iguacu | 340 km, 5 to 6 h with the border | USD 417 one way, USD 707 return | USD 497, USD 847 | USD 892 |
| Asuncion to Puerto Iguazu | 350 km, 5 h 30 min to 6 h 30 min, two borders | USD 447 one way, USD 763 return | USD 527, USD 896 | USD 918 |
| Asuncion to Encarnacion | 370 km, 5 to 5 h 30 min | USD 417 one way, USD 707 return | USD 497, USD 847 | USD 970 |
The price is per vehicle, not per passenger: the sedan takes 1 to 3, the Hyundai H1 minivan up to 7 and the Mercedes Sprinter 8 to 14. On airport transfers the first bag per passenger is included, an extra bag is USD 5, waiting time is free for 30 minutes and USD 10 per hour after that.
A booking is confirmed with a 30% deposit and the balance is settled later. Payment goes through a link that takes cards, bank transfer, digital wallets and crypto, and we also receive guaranies, reais and Argentine pesos. In other words, transport is the one part of the trip where you do not have to think about currency at all, because it is fixed before you board.
When we are worth booking, and when we are not
We are a private transport company, not an exchange house and not a bank. It is worth being clear about which money problems we solve and which we do not.
Worth it
- You land at an awkward hour and do not want to hunt for a currency desk or haggle with a taxi while holding your luggage.
- There are three or more of you: the price is per vehicle, so splitting it changes the whole calculation.
- You are going shopping in Ciudad del Este and want the car waiting, rather than carrying bags and cash through the street.
- You want the cost of transport locked in US dollars before you travel, instead of depending on the day’s rate.
- You are coming from outside the region and would rather not deal with tolls, borders and guarani change on your own.
Not worth it
- You are in Asuncion and the trip is a short hop inside the city: an app or a street taxi does it for far less.
- You are travelling alone on a tight budget: the scheduled bus between Asuncion and Ciudad del Este takes around 5 hours for a fraction of the price.
- You want us to change money for you. We do not, and no serious transport company should.
- You want advice on the exchange rate or the best day to change. We do not give it: it is not our trade, and anyone who promises it is guessing.
- You only need a hotel to mall hop in Ciudad del Este with the hotel ten minutes away. That is money thrown away.
Why this post has no exchange rate, and where to find one
You may well have arrived here also wanting to know what a dollar is worth in guaranies. We understand, and we have deliberately chosen not to publish that number. The rate moves every business day and sometimes within the same day. Any figure written on this page would be wrong tomorrow, and a wrong number about money is worse than no number at all.
The right places to look are the Central Bank of Paraguay at bcp.gov.py, which publishes a reference rate, and the screen at the exchange house where you actually change your money, which is the rate that governs you. There is usually a gap between the two, and that is normal: one is statistical, the other is commercial.
It is also worth distrusting the easy comparison. The best rate is not the one on the loudest sign. Check two or three exchange houses in the same mall before changing a large amount, and be suspicious of any rate well above the rest, because in currency exchange an offer that good usually arrives with a counterfeit note or a commission that only appears at the moment of signing.
What does not move, and is why we publish it, is our own pricing. It comes from our August 2026 tariff, it is in US dollars, it is per vehicle and it includes fuel, tolls and the driver. If you want one part of the trip with a predictable cost, start there. The rest Paraguay handles fine, with a tidy wallet and some guarani cash in your pocket.
And if you want to understand the city where most of these calculations happen, it is laid out in our complete Ciudad del Este guide.
Frequently asked questions
The questions people actually send us on WhatsApp before travelling to Paraguay.
What is the currency of Paraguay?
The guarani, written Gs. or with the symbol ₲. According to the Central Bank of Paraguay it has been the country’s monetary sign since 5 October 1943. Notes in circulation are 2,000, 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, 50,000 and 100,000 guaranies, and coins are 50, 100, 500 and 1,000.
Can I pay in US dollars in Paraguay?
In plenty of places, yes. Hotels, import shops, travel agencies and large border businesses take dollars, and many of them quote their prices in dollars in the first place. Outside that circuit, and especially in Asuncion, guaranies are what circulate. For everyday cash spending, change your money.
Should I bring dollars, euros or my own currency?
US dollars in cash are the easiest to change in Paraguay and the currency most prices are benchmarked against. Euros are changed in the larger exchange houses but with a thinner market. Brazilian reais and Argentine pesos work near the border and fade fast away from it.
Where do I change money in Paraguay?
At formal exchange houses, which you will find in malls, in downtown Ciudad del Este, in downtown Encarnacion and across Asuncion. They post the rate on a screen and give a receipt. Avoid street changers: that is where counterfeit notes and short change happen. ATMs also dispense guaranies, with whatever fee your bank charges.
Should I change money before I travel?
No. Buying guaranies outside Paraguay usually gives a worse rate, because it is thinly traded abroad. The efficient route is to carry US dollars in cash and change them in country, and to change only the amount you will spend in cash.
Do international cards work in Paraguay?
Yes, in formal commerce: malls, hotels, supermarkets, city restaurants, branded fuel stations and travel agencies. They do not work on city buses, in markets, at tolls, for tips, in public toilets or with parking attendants. Tell your bank you are travelling, because a purchase in a border city often triggers a fraud block.
Are there ATMs at Asuncion airport?
Yes, there are ATMs at the airport, and also in malls and city centres. Most dispense guaranies and some dispense dollars. The international withdrawal fee is set by your own bank rather than by Paraguay and varies a lot, so check it before you fly. It is the most common hidden cost of the trip.
How much guarani cash should I carry?
Our rule of thumb is to always carry the price of a dinner in guaranies, even if you plan to pay for everything by card. That covers tips, buses, parking attendants, station toilets and markets, which are exactly the places where cards and foreign currency are no use.
Is there anything that can only be paid in guarani cash?
Yes, and the costly one is the immigration overstay fine. The figure we see applied is Gs. 669,012, paid in cash and in guaranies at the immigration post, with no card terminal and no dollars, reais or pesos accepted. Beyond that, city buses, markets, road tolls, parking attendants and tips are all guarani cash.
Are the banknotes changing? Will my old notes still be valid?
The Central Bank of Paraguay announced a new family of banknotes, presented on 5 October 2026 with distribution from the first quarter of 2027, keeping the same denominations with new sizes and materials, according to ABC Color on 10 September 2026. The current notes are not being withdrawn: they will circulate alongside the new ones, so anything you have kept is still good.
What is the guarani worth today?
We deliberately do not publish an exchange rate: it moves every business day and a number written here would be wrong tomorrow. Check the reference rate on the Central Bank of Paraguay site at bcp.gov.py, and compare it with the screens of two or three exchange houses before changing a large amount.
What currency do you charge transfers in?
We quote in US dollars, with a closed price per vehicle rather than per passenger, including fuel, tolls and the driver. We also accept guaranies, Brazilian reais and Argentine pesos. A booking is confirmed with a 30% deposit and the balance is settled later.
How do I pay for a booking?
Through a payment link that accepts cards, bank transfer, digital wallets and crypto. You book with 30% and settle the balance afterwards. It is the part of the trip where you do not need to worry about exchange rates, because the amount is fixed before you travel.
Do you change money or recommend an exchange house?
We do not change money: we are a private transport company, and no serious transport company should be doing currency exchange. The driver knows the formal exchange houses along the route and can stop at one if you ask when booking, but you choose the rate and you sign the receipt.
A tidy wallet is most of the answer
Bring US dollars to change, use a card in formal places, always keep guarani cash in your pocket, and never convert currency at the counter of the person selling to you. Do that and the country becomes easy. And if you want transport out of the equation entirely, send us the date, the pick-up point and how many of you there are: we reply with a closed price in dollars, everything included.
Note and coin denominations and the date the guarani was created come from the Central Bank of Paraguay’s official pages at bcp.gov.py; the 45.7% share of the Gs. 100,000 note refers to December 2024, per the BCP; the details of the new banknote family come from ABC Color of 10 September 2026. All consulted on 28 September 2026 and subject to change without notice. We do not publish exchange rates. Our prices are per vehicle, in US dollars, from the August 2026 tariff, with fuel, tolls and driver included, and the immigration fine figure is what we see applied in practice, not a tariff of ours.