Currency

Currency in Bonaire is the Antillean guilder, a sound currency backed by gold and foreign exchange. Connected to the U.S. dollar, it fluctuates with the value of the currency. It depends on the rate of the U.S. dollar. Currently, that rate is USD $1 = Nafl 1.75. Florin and guilder are the same. The Netherlands Antilles florin is written both NAF and Nafl. Our experience is all shops accept USD currency, and offering change back in USD, NAF or Nafl. As well, most till receipts from shops and restaurants show purchase price in both currencies as well.


January 1, 2011 is the tentative date for the US dollar to become the island’s main currency. To smooth the transition an “Exchange Office” was set up January 2010 in Bonaire under the control of the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank). It will deal with currency conversion, wages, price control, responsibilities, technological problems and other issues.