Uganda Currency and Money Guide

The quick answer

The currency is the Ugandan shilling. Outside the main hotels and a handful of city restaurants, Uganda runs on cash and on mobile money, not on cards. Plan to carry more cash than you would in Europe or North America, and plan where you are going to keep it.

Cards, and where they stop working

International cards work at upmarket hotels and lodges, at some restaurants in Kampala and Entebbe, and at ATMs in the larger towns. They do not reliably work anywhere else. A lodge in the southwest may take a card for the room and want cash for everything else, and a park gate, a craft stall or a boda boda will want cash without exception.

Tell your bank you are traveling before you go. A card blocked for suspected fraud on day two of a two-week trip is a genuinely serious problem in a place where the card was the backup.

Mobile money

Mobile money is not a novelty here, it is infrastructure. A great deal of ordinary commerce moves through phone-based transfers, and in many places a vendor will find that easier than making change. Most visitors will not set it up for a short trip, which is fine, but it is worth understanding why the person you are paying looks mildly inconvenienced by a large note.

US dollars, and the note rule

US dollars are widely accepted for larger transactions such as park fees, permits and lodges, and this is where people get caught. Old, small-denomination or damaged notes are frequently refused or exchanged at a worse rate. Bring notes that are recent, clean, unmarked and untorn, and bring large denominations for anything you intend to pay in dollars.

Do not treat that as a quirk. It is a firm commercial convention and arguing with it at a park gate will not change the answer.

ATMs and carrying cash

The FCDO's advice on reducing the risk of being followed, pickpocketed or mugged is specific and worth repeating here, because it is mostly about money:

• Do not carry large amounts of cash.
• Use arranged transport when you go to withdraw cash.
• Use indoor ATMs rather than street-facing ones.
• Do not wear expensive-looking jewelry or watches.
• Do not walk after dark.

Withdraw in the larger towns while you can. ATM availability thins out quickly once you leave them, and the southwest is exactly where you will want cash for tips and extras.

Tipping

Tipping is customary in tourism and is a meaningful part of income for guides, trackers, porters and lodge staff. On a gorilla trek in particular there is a whole team involved, including trackers who were in the forest before you arrived and porters who will carry your bag up a very steep hill for a modest fee. Carry small notes in shillings specifically for this, because the moment you need them is on a forest path, not at a till.

What we do not publish

We do not print an exchange rate, a permit price or a suggested tip figure on this page. Rates move, fees are set by the authorities and change, and a number that was right when it was written is read as a quote months later. Ask us for the current figures when you are planning, and we will give you ones that are true that week.

Sources

• UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office: Uganda safety and security: terrorism, the political situation, crime, road travel and local laws. Accessed 14 September 2026.
• UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office: Uganda travel advice: entry requirements, safety and security, health and local laws. Accessed 14 September 2026.