Ethiopian Birr and money exchange (ATMs)

Money exchange

Only the banks change money in Ethiopia. Bring your passport and currency you want to exchange for Birr. EUR, USD or GBP are the safe choices, but the banks will exchange few other currencies.

ATMs

There are some ATMs with the Visa card logo that allow card withdrawals from foreign accounts. However, when we tried one of them, the transaction was declined although the ATM featured the Visa logo. Please note that not all the banks have ATMs, but you can find international ATMs by the larger hotels and in the shopping malls. It is forbidden to import or export more than 200 Birr in and out of Ethiopia.

Addis Ababa airport (Bole International Airport)

Bole International Airport is the main airport of Addis Ababa and the Ethiopia airline hub.

Visa on arrival

Before claiming your luggage, you will walk past the Ethiopia visa on arrival line. Most of the EU countries nationals excluding Hungary are able to obtain their visa on arrival to the Bole International Airport (Addis Ababa airport). Have the exact amount of 20$ or 17€ ready for a payment.

Money exchange / ATMs

There are two or three banks available at the airport, at least one of them is opened during late night hours (e.g. flight from Istanbul at 1 am in the morning). You can easily change your USD or EUR, only one official exchange rate exists for eeach currency valid for the whole country. There are no ATMs at the airport.

Getting from the airport to Addis Ababa (and it subcities)

Walk outside of the airport building and continue down to the parking lot. Walk by the private cars to the larger crowd of the taxi drivers. Do not take yellow taxis that are more expensive than the blue taxis. Don't forget to haggle and ask multiple taxi drivers to get the price range. There will be some that will often offer lower price or ask you how much you want to pay. Expect to pay more, if coming late at night. Sample price: 150 Birr Airport-Addis Ababa city center.