Foreign travelers, who visit Indonesia from cashless payment method countries, might be surprised that Indonesia is still very much a cash-based society. Even though credit cards are increasingly popular in Indonesia, they are not yet accepted as a preferable method of payment. Most of the shops in Indonesia only accept cash. The foods and goods are mostly priced in thousands of rupiahs. The average food prices in a restaurant are around IDR (Rp) 20,000.000 per serving. Although the food prices might be cheaper in makeshift street food vendors, for hygiene reasons, it is advisable to eat at the restaurants. For those who bring foreign currency with high exchange values, Indonesia offers many great bargains. You might feel like Indonesia is a super discounted place for shopping. Therefore, if you don’t want to have your shopping excursion cut short due to lack of cash, you might find yourself carrying a large amount of money in your wallet. It can be thousands even millions of rupiahs.
Money changers and debit cards
If you want to have Indonesian currency handy just enough to pay for a taxi or meals soon after you leave the plane, you can exchange your money at the money changer in the airport. Then you can exchange more currency at the money changer outside the airport or local banks that sometimes give you fair or even better exchange rates. In the main cities, money changers are easily found in most large shopping malls and hotels. However, if you don’t want to spend most of your trip looking for a money changer, you can use your debit card to withdraw money from an ATM that will give you a quite good exchange rates. The majority of the ATMs provided throughout the country are by the three largest local banks: Bank Mandiri, Bank BNI, and Bank BRI. In several places, you will also find ATM Bersama (connecting the ATM networks of twenty-one banks in Indonesia). It is recommended you bring pristine bank notes with you as torn and old bank notes are often rejected, while folded and creased bank notes will be traded at a reduced rate.
Credit cards
You can use a credit card in all large department stores, high-end restaurants and international chain hotels and restaurants. Sometimes there are stores that accept credit cards with a fee.
Sending packages to your home country
Despite a lot of International Shipping companies in Indonesia, they don’t accept credit cards, except for UPS that can bill your account if you already have one opened.
