Curacao's currency is the Caribbean guilder, abbreviated XCG, and as of 2026 it is the only legal tender on the island. If you read an older travel article describing an "upcoming" currency change or still quoting prices in the old guilder, that information is out of date. The transition finished more than a year ago, and this guide covers exactly what changed and what it means for a trip here.
What actually changed, and when
According to the Central Bank of Curacao and Sint Maarten (CBCS), the Caribbean guilder became legal tender on March 31, 2025. A co-circulation period ran from March 31 to June 30, 2025, during which both the old Netherlands Antillean guilder, commonly abbreviated NAf. or ANG, and the new XCG could be used for cash payments, with change typically given back in XCG. On July 1, 2025, the ANG stopped being legal tender entirely and is no longer accepted anywhere on the island. As of your 2026 trip, only XCG is in active use for payments in both Curacao and Sint Maarten.
The important thing this did not change: value. The XCG is pegged at exactly the same rate the old ANG used, USD 1 equals XCG 1.79. This was a rename and a redesign of the notes and coins, not a devaluation or a new exchange rate to learn. If you are used to converting prices at roughly 1.79 guilders to the dollar from a previous trip, that math still works.
If you happen to still be holding old ANG cash from a previous visit, it remains exchangeable, at commercial banks for account holders until March 31, 2026, and directly at the Central Bank until March 31, 2055 (up to NAf 2,500 without an appointment). Past those dates and limits, check directly with the Central Bank for current exchange terms.
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Do you need XCG cash, or can you just use dollars?
US dollars are widely accepted at tourist-facing businesses across the island, hotels, restaurants, tour operators, and most shops geared toward visitors. Where this gets slightly inconvenient: change is often given back in XCG rather than dollars, so a cash-only dollar traveler will end up accumulating some local currency regardless of intent. Card payments are standard at hotels, restaurants, and larger shops, which covers most of a typical visitor's spending without needing cash at all. Carry some cash, in either XCG or USD, for smaller vendors, taxis, and rural areas where card readers are less consistent.
One honest gap here: we do not have a precisely documented current figure for exactly how consistently small, non-tourist-facing vendors accept USD outright versus expecting XCG. Treat dollar acceptance outside clearly tourist-facing businesses as likely but not guaranteed, and keep a reasonable stash of XCG for anything off the main tourist path.
ATMs and cards
ATM withdrawals on Curacao dispense XCG. If you withdraw with a foreign card, your home bank will typically convert the charge from XCG at close to the market rate, near the USD 1 to XCG 1.79 peg, rather than a card network doing the conversion at the point of withdrawal. As with any foreign ATM use, check your own bank's foreign transaction fee policy before you travel; that is a home-bank question, not a Curacao-specific one, and we cannot tell you what your particular bank charges.
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Tipping in the local currency
Tipping norms follow the same structure regardless of which currency you are counting in. At restaurants and hotels, a service charge, often called servieskosten, is commonly already included on the bill, typically around 10 percent at restaurants and 12 percent at hotels, per Curacao's tourism board. Check the bill for this line first. If it is already there, an additional tip is not expected, though an extra 5 percent for genuinely great service is appreciated. If no service charge appears on the bill, 10 to 15 percent is the norm, in either XCG or USD.
For taxis, roughly 10 percent of the fare, or simply rounding up, matches standard local guidance; our without a car guide covers how those unmetered fares actually get set. Tour guides on land tours commonly receive USD 5 to 10 per person for good service, and boat, snorkel, or dive crews, the kind you would tip after a sunset-cruise-happy-hour trip or a snorkel stop at a west-coast site like Playa Kalki, are commonly tipped 10 to 20 percent of the package price, shared among the crew. These figures come from Curacao's tourism board and corroborating operator guides, and hold regardless of whether you tip in dollars or guilders.
The tax line you will see on every bill
Curacao's sales tax system, Omzetbelasting, or OB, applies at different rates depending on category: 7 percent on accommodations, 9 percent on restaurant food, soft drinks, alcohol, diving, and tours, and 6 percent on most other goods and services. Posted retail prices generally already include OB, but hotel and restaurant bills often itemize it as a separate line, so do not mistake it for an unexpected surcharge; it is a standard, government-set tax rather than a service add-on. Note also that there has been government discussion of replacing the 7 percent accommodations tax with a flat per-visitor entry fee, targeted for no later than 2026 under a coalition agreement, but as of this writing that change has not been enacted. If you see it mentioned elsewhere, treat it as proposed, not current, until confirmed on official channels.
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Quick reference for your trip
Bring a mix of a card for the majority of spending and a modest amount of cash, in USD or XCG, for taxis, small vendors, and tips. Expect change back in XCG even when you pay in dollars. Do not bring old ANG guilders expecting to spend them; that currency is no longer legal tender anywhere on the island, though it remains exchangeable through the Central Bank under the terms above. And do not budget assuming last year's numbers if you are pricing a trip; our Curacao vacation cost guide and budget guide both build from current, sourced figures rather than outdated currency assumptions.
If you are weighing a bundled package against booking everything yourself, currency logistics are a minor factor either way since both routes ultimately settle in XCG locally; our packages versus direct guide covers the bigger cost trade-offs that actually matter more than which currency you are holding.
The honest bottom line
The Caribbean guilder is not a future change to plan around, it is simply Curacao's current currency, pegged at the same USD 1 to XCG 1.79 rate the island has used for decades under its old name. Cards cover most spending, dollars work at tourist-facing businesses, and a modest cash reserve in either currency handles the rest. The only real trap left is outdated information: if a source still talks about the guilder switch as upcoming, it is describing a transition that finished back in mid-2025.
