Money in Georgia (2026): ATM Fees, Cards and Tipping

1 USD

2.63 GEL

1 EUR

3.04 GEL

Fee-free ATMs

Basisbank

Restaurant tip

10%

Rates above are the National Bank of Georgia's official rates for 2 September 2026. The lari has sat between roughly 2.6 and 2.8 to the dollar for a few years, so a quick mental rule of "divide by 2.6" gets you close enough at a restaurant. Prices on this page are given in GEL with a dollar conversion at today's rate.

The lari in your hand

Georgia's currency is the lari (GEL, symbol ₾), in use since 1995 and divided into 100 tetri. Banknotes come in 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 lari. Coins are 1 and 2 lari plus 5, 10, 20 and 50 tetri; smaller tetri coins exist on paper but you will not see them. The 200 note is the one you rarely meet, and a corner shop or a taxi driver may not have change for it, so ask the ATM for an amount that comes in 50s and 20s (1,990 rather than 2,000, for example).

The lari is not traded outside the region, so do not try to buy it at home. Get it here, from an ATM or an exchange office, and spend or change back what is left before you leave. Nobody abroad will want it.

ATMs and what they charge

ATMs are everywhere in Tbilisi, Batumi and Kutaisi, in bank branches, supermarkets, metro stations and pharmacy doorways, and every town of any size has a few. The catch is the fee. Some banks charge nothing to foreign cards. Others add a flat fee of a few lari, and one or two add a lot more. Every machine shows its fee on screen before you confirm, so read that screen and cancel if the number surprises you. Your own bank's foreign withdrawal fee comes on top, whatever machine you use.

Withdrawal limits per transaction vary from 200 to 3,000 GEL depending on the bank and the machine, with 500 and 2,000 the most common ceilings. If you want a bigger sum, do it in two withdrawals at a fee-free machine rather than paying a flat fee twice elsewhere. A few ATMs also dispense US dollars; those charge on every bank, so withdraw lari and change it if you really need dollars.

A note on which machines to trust: TBC and Bank of Georgia run the networks nearly everyone in Georgia uses, including us; their machines are everywhere, reliable and fine to use, and the few-lari foreign-card fee shows on screen before you confirm. Basisbank and Cartu simply skip that fee for foreign cards, so they are worth choosing when one is nearby.

At Tbilisi Airport the arrivals hall has Liberty Bank, Bank of Georgia and TBC machines by the exit doors (the freestanding terminals right outside customs are bill-payment boxes, not ATMs). A Bank of Georgia withdrawal of 100 GEL or so covers the bus, a Bolt and a first meal; take the rest out of a Basisbank machine in the city the next day. Our airport guide covers the bus and taxi options in detail.

Cards and phone payments

Georgia is a long way from cash-only. In Tbilisi and Batumi a card works in restaurants, supermarkets (Carrefour, Goodwill, Nikora, Spar), cafes, hotels, pharmacies, malls and Bolt rides. Visa and Mastercard are universal. American Express is accepted at some hotels and upmarket restaurants and at Bank of Georgia ATMs, but do not rely on it day to day. Apple Pay and Google Pay work on almost every terminal in the cities, and contactless is the default rather than a novelty.

Cash is still the answer in these places:

• Bazaars and produce markets, including the Dezerter Bazaar and the Dry Bridge.
• Marshrutkas (minibuses) and shared taxis anywhere in the country.
• Family guesthouses in villages, and many in Kazbegi, Svaneti and Tusheti.
• Street food windows, small corner shops, and cafes that set a 10 to 20 GEL minimum for card payments.
• Tips. There is no line for a tip on Georgian card terminals.

One thing that catches people out: your bank app will want to send you a text or push notification to confirm a login or a large payment. That needs a working phone. Either keep your home SIM active for roaming texts, or make sure your data connection is ready before you need it.

Exchanging cash

Exchange offices are as common as pharmacies in Tbilisi, often two or three on one block, each with a lit board of buy and sell rates outside. They are not all the same. Dollars and euros get the tightest spreads and are accepted everywhere; pounds, Turkish lira and Russian roubles are accepted at most offices with a wider spread; anything else (Swiss francs, Scandinavian currencies, Asian currencies) gets a poor rate or a shrug. If you are bringing cash, bring clean US dollar or euro notes. Torn, marked or heavily worn bills are refused or marked down.

• Skip the airport desks. There are half a dozen inside the arrivals hall and their rates are consistently worse than in the city. Use an ATM there instead and change cash later.
• Compare two boards before you commit. The difference between a good office and a bad one on the same street is real money on a few hundred dollars.
• Read the right column. You are selling your dollars, so the office's buy rate is the one that applies to you. The bigger, prettier number on the board is usually the other one.
• "No commission" means nothing. The fee is inside the rate. Work out what you actually get per 100 dollars.
• Count the notes at the window. Scams are rare here; mistakes are not. It takes ten seconds.

Rico Credit is a chain of exchange offices with branches across Tbilisi and the other cities; its rates are fair and it is a safe default when you do not want to compare boards. Bank branches also change money, at slightly worse rates, and are the place for anything unusual.

How much cash to carry

If you pay by card wherever you can, 30 to 50 GEL (about $11 to $19) a day in cash is enough in Tbilisi and Batumi for markets, a marshrutka, a tip and the odd cash-only cafe. Double that if you eat at cheap places that do not take cards. In the mountains the rule changes completely: guesthouses, drivers and shops in Ushguli, Tusheti, Juta and most of Khevsureti take cash only and there is no ATM to fall back on, so carry the whole trip's spending in lari from the last town with a bank.

Tipping

Tipping in Georgia is optional in the true sense. Staff are paid a wage, nobody chases you down the street, and rounding up is a normal way to say thanks. In restaurants a tip of about 10 percent is polite where the service was good, but first look at the bottom of the bill: a service charge of 10 percent (sometimes 12 or 15) is printed on many Tbilisi bills, separately from the 18 percent VAT, and when it is there no extra tip is expected.

Tip in lari, not dollars. A $5 note looks generous but is a nuisance to change for the person receiving it. And if you are invited to eat at someone's home, which happens more than you would expect here, never offer money. Bring wine, sweets or something from your country. Cash for a home-cooked meal would insult the host; our supra guide explains what is expected of a guest.

What things cost in 2026

Georgia is still one of the cheapest countries in Europe, but Tbilisi prices have climbed since 2022 and the tourist streets (Shardeni, Aghmashenebeli, the Old Town lanes) charge roughly half again what the same dish costs two streets away. These are typical September 2026 prices; the ranges are real, not padding.

For a fuller breakdown by trip style, with accommodation and transport costs outside Tbilisi, see our Georgia travel budget.

Six mistakes we still see

• Changing money at the airport. Use the arrivals-hall ATM for a first 100 GEL and change the rest in town.
• Accepting the conversion on the ATM or card terminal. Always choose lari.
• Arriving in the mountains without cash. Ushguli, Tusheti and Juta have no ATMs. Withdraw in the last town with a bank.
• Bringing an unusual currency. Convert to dollars or euros before you come.
• Relying on one card. Carry a second card from a different issuer and a small dollar or euro reserve.
• Tipping twice. Read the bill for a service charge before adding 10 percent on top.

Money outside Tbilisi

The banking network thins out fast once you leave the three big cities. Regional towns (Kutaisi, Telavi, Zugdidi, Gori, Akhaltsikhe) have several ATMs and card terminals in most restaurants and hotels, plus a few exchange offices near the centre. Mestia and Stepantsminda each have a handful of machines, mostly Bank of Georgia and Liberty, and the larger hotels take cards. Beyond that, plan for cash only: no ATMs in Ushguli, Omalo and the rest of Tusheti, Juta, Roshka or the villages of Racha away from Oni and Ambrolauri. Fee-free Basisbank and Cartu machines are a city thing; in a small town you will likely pay a few lari to Bank of Georgia, TBC or Credo, which is still cheaper than running out.

Safety and scams

Money-related crime against visitors is rare in Georgia. There is no organised pickpocketing scene of the kind Barcelona or Rome has, card skimming is not a known problem, and counterfeit lari is almost unheard of. The things that actually cost people money are small and avoidable:

• Street taxis at the airport and stations quoting whatever they think you will pay. Use Bolt, every time.
• Misreading the exchange board and getting the sell rate instead of the buy rate. Check the column.
• Tourist-street menus priced for tourists. Walk two streets in any direction.

Use ATMs attached to a bank branch or inside a supermarket if you want to be careful, and cover the keypad as you would anywhere. Our safety guide has the wider picture.

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