The island's unit of currency is the Eastern Caribbean dollar (EC$) , divided into 100 cents. It comes in bills of US$100, $50, $20, $10 and $5 and coins of US$1, $0.50, $0.25, $0.10, $0.05 and $0.01. The rate of exchange is fixed at EC$2.70 to US$1.

In tourist-related business, the US dollar is often used as an unofficial parallel currency, and you'll often find prices for hotels, restaurants and car rental quoted in US dollars (a policy we have adopted in this guide). Bear in mind, though, that you can always insist on paying in EC$ (and the exchange rate usually works out slightly in your favor).

If you are using US dollars or travelers' checks to pay a bill, check in advance whether your change will be given in the same currency (it usually won't).

Banking hours are generally Monday to Thursday 8am-2pm and Friday 8am-4pm. Most of the banks are in St John's and include Antigua Commercial Bank, Barclays, ABIB and Bank of Antigua. (The latter has a branch in Nelson's Dockyard.) Bank of Antigua and ABIB in St John's are also open on Saturday morning.

Most hotels and restaurants automatically add a service charge of 10 percent and government tax of 7 percent. It's always worth asking if it's included in the quoted price or will be added on later.

Antiqua travel guide

Antigua
Where to go
When to go
Getting there
Money and costs
Getting around
Food and drink
Phones and post
Best of Antigua
Holidays and festivals
Tours
Diving & snorkeling
Dive operators
Boats &
     catamarans
Boat operators
Economy, natural hazards

Exploring Antigua
- Barbuda:
  Getting there
  Beyond Cordrington
  Great Fort George
  Falmouth Harbour
  River Fort
  Cordrington

- Falmouth and
  English Harbour
  Eating, drinking,   
  nightlife
  Falmouth
  Heights, Pigeon
       Beach