Currency

The official currency of KSA is the Saudi Riyal or SAR. You can get money from most banks. They tend to give large bills and not small change, as 500 SAR bills are the norm.

There are 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 and 500 SAR paper notes. Change is .25, .50, 1 and 2 SAR coins.

As of the year 2021, 20 riyal bills are now back in print, which makes life a bit easier.

The current exchange rate:

3.75 Riyals to 1 US dollar,

4.4 Riyals to 1 Euro

4.9 Riyals to 1 British Pound.

When you are planning a trip you can go online to see the most current exchange rates for your country’s currency. If you plan on getting a credit card to use exclusively overseas or have one already, make sure it has free foreign transaction fees. That means that every time you charge something on your card, you are not charged an additional conversion fee. Saves a lot of small change! Now that Coronavirus is in our lives, it also makes it a lot easier to use your charge card instead of cash. Some places here will only accept cards now.