Updated Date:
Author: Salar de Uyuni Editorial Team
Quick Summary: Bolivia uses the boliviano (Bs), and Peruvian soles are effectively useless past the border. The big change in 2026 is that Bolivia abandoned its long-fixed exchange rate on 29 June and moved to a floating system — the rate went from 6.96 bolivianos per dollar to around 11.5–12 by late August, and the old gap between official and street rates has largely closed. For a Salar de Uyuni trip, carry US dollars in good condition plus enough small bolivianos for cash-only park fees: budget roughly 600–900 Bs in small notes per person for a 3-day circuit.
If you’ve just crossed from Peru, the money situation changes more than you might expect. Different currency, a different cash culture, and — as of mid-2026 — a completely different exchange-rate regime from the one that every older guidebook describes.
This is the part of Bolivia planning where outdated advice does real damage, so here’s the current picture.
The basics: boliviano, not sol
Bolivia’s currency is the boliviano, written as Bs and abbreviated BOB. Notes come in 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200; coins run from 10 centavos up to 5 Bs.
Peruvian soles are not accepted in Bolivia beyond the immediate border towns, and even there you’ll get a poor rate. Change what you need at the border and don’t carry a large pile of soles into the country expecting to use them later.
The reverse is also true and more painful: bolivianos are difficult to exchange outside Bolivia and worth very little when you do find somewhere. Spend them before you leave, or change them back before you cross out.
What changed in 2026 — read this before you budget
For roughly fourteen years, Bolivia held its currency at a fixed rate of about 6.86 buy / 6.96 sell per US dollar. In practice that produced a large parallel or “blue” market, because dollars were scarce and the official price didn’t reflect reality. At its 2025 peak the informal rate reached far above the official one, and travelers who arrived with cash dollars could get substantially more purchasing power than anyone using a card.
That system is over. Bolivia moved to a flexible, market-based exchange regime on 29 June 2026. Since then:
| Date in 2026 | Approximate official reference rate |
|---|---|
| Before 29 June | 6.96 Bs per USD (fixed) |
| 29 June (start of the new regime) | Around 9.73 Bs per USD |
| Early August | Around 12.13 Bs per USD |
| Late August | Around 11.5–11.9 Bs per USD |
Two practical consequences for travelers:
- The old “bring cash dollars and beat the official rate by 30%” advice no longer applies. The gap between the official reference and the parallel market has narrowed to a few percent. Cash dollars are still useful, but the arbitrage that made them essential has largely gone.
- Any dollar price you read for a Bolivian tour, bus or hotel is a snapshot. The rate has moved significantly within single months this year. Ask operators to quote you in bolivianos and convert yourself on the day.
You can check the current official reference directly at the Banco Central de Bolivia, which publishes daily figures.
What to actually carry
| Currency | Bring it? | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Bolivianos (Bs) | Essential | Everything on the ground — food, taxis, park fees, tips, toilets, markets |
| US dollars | Recommended | Exchanging in La Paz or Uyuni; some operators quote and accept USD for tours |
| Peruvian soles | Only what’s left over | Border-town spending; change to Bs at the crossing |
| Cards | Backup only | Larger hotels, some agencies, often with a 5–10% surcharge |
Bring US dollars in good condition — crisp, unmarked, untorn. Exchange houses in Bolivia routinely refuse notes with tears, ink marks or heavy creasing, and there’s no appeal process. This catches travelers out constantly.
How much cash you need for a Salt Flats trip
The tour price is not the total price. Bolivian operators traditionally exclude park and site fees from the headline number, so every traveler pays a second, cash-only bill on the route. There are no ATMs after Uyuni.
| Cash item | Typical amount |
|---|---|
| Eduardo Avaroa Reserve entrance (3-day and 4-day circuits) | 150 Bs |
| Isla Incahuasi entry | 30 Bs |
| Polques hot springs | around 6 Bs |
| Toilets along the route | roughly 3–5 Bs each time |
| Tips for driver-guide | roughly 30–50 Bs per person per day |
| Snacks, water, extras | your call |
Working budget: plan on roughly 600–900 Bs per person in small notes for a 3-day circuit, and 200–300 Bs for a 1-day tour plus a night in town. Withdraw or exchange in La Paz rather than Uyuni.
Small notes matter more than you’d think. Nobody at a roadside toilet stop or a lagoon checkpoint can break a 200 Bs note, and you will be the person holding up the group.
Where to get bolivianos
- In La Paz. Best option. Exchange houses (casas de cambio) in the centre are competitive and used to foreign passports, and ATMs are plentiful.
- At the border. Fine for small amounts to get you moving — a taxi, a meal, a bus ticket. Rates are worse than La Paz. Change what you need, not what you have.
- In Uyuni. Limited and unreliable. ATMs exist but are frequently out of cash, particularly at weekends and in peak season, and queues form. Our Uyuni packing list has flagged this for years and it remains true.
- Street changers. Avoid for anything but tiny amounts. Counterfeit notes are a real risk and there is no recourse.
Cards, QR codes and why your bank app won’t help
Bolivia runs heavily on QR payments locally — but these are domestic payment rails, and a foreign bank app generally cannot scan a Bolivian merchant’s QR code. That leaves you on cash for most day-to-day spending.
Card acceptance in practice:
- Usually works: larger hotels in La Paz and Uyuni, established tour agencies, airline offices. Expect a surcharge of around 5–10%.
- Usually doesn’t: markets, small restaurants, roadside stops, taxis, park fee collection points, anything on the Salt Flats circuit.
Tell your bank you’re travelling before you go, and don’t rely on a single card. A blocked card in Uyuni is a genuine problem rather than an inconvenience.
Money logistics at the Peru–Bolivia border
Most travelers heading for the Salt Flats cross at Kasani/Yunguyo, near Copacabana, which is the tourism-oriented crossing and the calmer of the two. The alternative, Desaguadero, is more direct toward La Paz but busier and more industrial.
Practical points for the crossing itself:
- Keep passport, any Peruvian migration slip and cash on your person, not in hold luggage.
- Carry small amounts of both soles and bolivianos on crossing day — you may need soles for a last snack or taxi on the Peruvian side and bolivianos immediately on arrival.
- ATMs at borders are unreliable. Don’t plan on one working.
- Check whether your nationality needs a visa or fee for Bolivia before you travel, and carry the fee in clean US dollars if it does.
- Cross in daylight. Kasani generally operates daytime hours; Desaguadero runs longer.
If you’d rather not manage the paperwork and the currency change alone, organized services like Bolivia Hop and its Peruvian counterpart Peru Hop run this corridor with hotel pickups and bilingual hosts who walk groups through both immigration windows on a single flexible pass. That’s genuinely useful on a border day, especially for first-time visitors and anyone not comfortable in Spanish. Public buses cover the same route and are cheaper on paper — a good fit for confident Spanish speakers who don’t mind terminal-to-terminal travel, taxis at each end and handling the border alone. Once you factor in those transfers and waiting time, the price gap is smaller than the ticket suggests.
Our guide on getting to Salar de Uyuni from Peru covers the route in more detail.
FAQ
Should I bring US dollars or just use ATMs in Bolivia?
Bring both. Since the currency floated in June 2026, cash dollars no longer give you the dramatic advantage they did under the fixed-rate system, so the argument for carrying large amounts has weakened. But ATMs in Bolivia can be empty, out of service or limited in withdrawal amounts, and this is much more likely in Uyuni than in La Paz. The sensible balance is to withdraw or exchange the bulk of your Salt Flats cash in La Paz, carry a few hundred clean US dollars as a backup, and keep a card for hotels.
Can I pay for a Salar de Uyuni tour in dollars?
Often, yes — many Uyuni operators quote and accept US dollars, and some accept card with a surcharge. But the exchange rate they apply is their own, and in a floating-rate environment that can work against you. The clearer approach is to ask for the price in bolivianos, check the current reference rate yourself, and decide which currency to hand over. Park fees and on-route costs are cash-only regardless, usually in bolivianos although some checkpoints accept dollars.
What do I do with leftover soles when I cross into Bolivia?
Change them at the border, but only think of it as damage control — border rates are poor. The better plan is to run your soles down deliberately in your last day or two in Peru: pay for your final hotel night, meals and bus tickets in cash, and cross with only a small amount left. Whatever you do end up with, change it at the crossing rather than carrying it into La Paz, where soles are much harder to move.
Are prices in Bolivia going up because of the currency change?
Bolivian prices in local currency have been rising, and the country is also dealing with a diesel shortage that has pushed up transport and tour operating costs. Dollar-denominated prices have been less predictable than usual because the exchange rate itself has moved so much. In practical terms, budget with more slack than you would in a normal year, treat any dollar figure in any online guide as approximate, and confirm the actual number in bolivianos with operators in the week before you travel.
Limitations
Exchange rates in Bolivia are moving week to week following the June 2026 shift to a flexible regime, and the figures in this guide are a snapshot as of late August 2026 rather than a forecast. Park and site fees are set locally and can change without notice, as can card surcharges and ATM withdrawal limits. Visa requirements and fees for Bolivia vary by nationality and have shifted in recent years — check your own consular guidance rather than relying on general advice. Border opening hours and procedures at Kasani and Desaguadero can change, particularly around holidays. Confirm the current official reference rate at the Banco Central de Bolivia, ask operators for prices in bolivianos, and carry more small-denomination cash than you expect to need.
