Money, cards and ATMs in Kuwait

The dinar

• The Kuwaiti dinar is the highest-valued currency in the world, pegged to a basket dominated by the US dollar and worth well over three dollars.
• It divides into 1,000 fils, so prices carry three decimal places. A 2.750 KWD coffee is under three dinars.
• The decimal point is where people go wrong. A restaurant bill of 18.500 is eighteen and a half dinars - a sum, but not the sum it looks like at a glance.
• Small notes and fils coins are worth carrying, because a single dinar is a large unit for a small purchase.

Cards and cash

• Cards work everywhere, and Kuwait is close to cashless in practice. KNET is the local network and contactless is universal.
• Cash machines are everywhere. Decline the offer to be billed in your home currency.
• Declare 3,000 KWD or more in cash or travellers cheques on arrival.

The debt rule

• Unpaid fines, bills and commercial disputes can stop you leaving the country. The FCDO also notes re-entry visas may be denied.
• This is the same mechanism as Saudi Arabia's exit ban, and it is equally invisible until you are at passport control.
• Settle everything before departure day: hotel bills, traffic fines on a rental, any dispute with a supplier. A disputed charge you intended to argue about from home is not a plan here.

Costs

• Kuwait is expensive - comparable to the UAE for hotels and eating out, without the tourist infrastructure to show for it.
• Fuel and delivery are absurdly cheap; almost everything else is not.

Tipping

• Not expected and not part of the culture. Rounding up is fine; a service charge is often already added.