Tunisian Dinar and spending options

Steven_daniels_rct

Afternoon all,

I am completely confused and just after some helpful advice.

I am off on holiday to Tunisia on the 22nd February for a week. It is a closed currency and therefore I cant sort out any cash beforehand and have to get it on arrival.

I have looked at the various travel cards and get a bit confused with it all. I notice the Halifax Clarity card is the recommended one but my credit rating is not the best. I have been completely debt free for 6 months now but still rebuilding my credit score.

I was then thinking of a pre-paid card and notice that UKash is recommended but it says that it can only be used for spending in Euros and Dollars. Therefore I assume that this is also useless to me in Tunisia.

What would people recommend me to do? I cant use my normal bank card as it is classed as a 'card from hell' if used abroad.

Should I take sterling cash and just change money as and when needed? I dont know what to do and any help/guidance would be much appreciated

walwin

I went in November for a week and took sterling cash and my FairFX Euro currency card.

I was advised to only change up in smallish amounts as you are not supposed to take dinars out of the country when you leave and the rate if you change back to sterling is very poor.
I changed up £150 to start with and didn't actually need to change any more (we were all inclusive but went out every day and had lunches and drinks). We had an excellent up-market lunch on our last day which I paid for using the card which came to less than 40 Euros including the currency exchange rate mark-up percentage.

I don't know which airport you're going into but if you want to buy duty free at Enfidha airport everything is priced in Euros anyway. If you have any dinars left you can only spend them in the airport cafeteria.

I would suggest you rent a safety deposit box in your hotel.

Have a great holiday

PompeyPete

Take £sterling.

Change a few quid at the airport on arrival.

Nearly all hotels will change money, and as the rate is set by the government the rate is unlikely to vary by a few millims.

The Tunisian Dinar is a funny currency as it uses 3 decimal points.

Despite what anyone else might advise, tip in Dinars, as it's much easier for the locals to spend their own currency rather than mess about trying to grt rid of £coins or euros.

There is a recently introduced Exit Tax of 30 Dinar per person including sprogs of any age, so be aware of that.