Money and Costs

Lari (GEL)

• Budget accommodation per person 25 GEL
• Two-course meal 15–20 GEL
• Museum 3 GEL
• Beer per bottle 2–3GEL
• 100km marshrutka ride 8 GEL

• Georgia’s currency is the lari (GEL). It has been fairly stable since it was introduced in 1995. One lari is divided into 100 tetri.
• Banknotes come in denominations of one, two, five, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 lari; coins run from one tetri to two lari.
• ATMs, generally accepting MasterCard, Visa, Cirrus and Maestro cards, are plentiful in cities and towns.
• There are also plenty of banks and small money-exchange offices in most towns and cities, where you can exchange US dollars, euros and sometimes sterling and the currencies of Georgia's neighbouring countries.
• You can make purchases with credit cards at some hotels, restaurants and shops, though less frequently outside Tbilisi.
• Common tipping practice in restaurants is just to round up the bill to the next round number.