Indonesian Currency

The Indonesian currency is referred to as the Indonesian Rupiah and is denoted by the currency code IDR. The symbol of this currency is indicated as Rp.

The rupiah consists of banknotes of 1000 rupiah up to 100,000 rupiah and coins in denominations of 50, 100, 200, 500, and 1000 rupiah.

Indonesian Currency IDR, Rupiah Notes, Conversion Rates & Value

The value of the Indonesian Rupiah is very low compared to western countries, which makes Bali one of the cheapest travel destinations in the world. To put this in perspective, 1 Australian dollar gets you around 10,000 IDR, 1 US dollar gets you around 12,000 IDR, and 1 Euro gets you around 14,000 IDR.

To understand how these rates affect your travels, compare to general goods and services. A meal at a basic restaurant in Bali will cost around 2,000-5,000 IDR; a bottle of water will be around 500 IDR; a Bintang Beer will be around 1,000 IDR, and motorbike or scooter hire is between 3,000-5,000 IDR per day.

Budget travellers should be able to live on $20 AUD per day, while the average traveller will be content with around $50 AUD per day. While there is no limit for luxury travellers, most holidaymakers will get by on these numbers without any huge splurges on accommodation or meals.

You can withdraw Indonesian Currency from the many ATMs located all over Bali, but just be wary that you need to press a button after your transaction to get your card returned. This additional feature leads to many people losing their ATM cards in machines all over Bali.

You can also take your own currency to Bali and exchange at the airport or one of the many resellers around Kuta and Seminyak. The rates are never as good as you can get in western countries and beware of added fees for changing your currency. The best way to avoid fees is to hold an account with a bank that doesn’t charge foreign change fees and you can simply withdraw your money from an ATM for a decent rate.