Cash or card in Malaysia? Ringgit, DuitNow QR, ATMs and tipping

The ringgit: notes, coins and the 5-sen rounding

Malaysia's currency is the ringgit (MYR, written RM), the only legal tender in the country, issued by the central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia. Notes come in RM1, RM5, RM10, RM20, RM50 and RM100; one ringgit is 100 sen, and the coins, in yellow and silver colours, are 5, 10, 20 and 50 sen. US dollars, Singapore dollars and yen cannot be used for payment inside Malaysia, so change them or leave them at home.

Bills paid over the counter are rounded to the nearest 5 sen. The rounding applies only to the total, tax included, not to each item: a total ending in 1, 2, 6 or 7 sen is rounded down, and one ending in 3, 4, 8 or 9 sen is rounded up.

For a sense of scale, the European Central Bank's reference rate on 6 November 2026 was RM4.5319 to the euro, which works out at about RM4.06 to the US dollar and about RM5.43 to the pound. At that rate, the RM10 tourism tax on a hotel room is about US$2.50 a night, a RM5 tip about US$1.20, and a RM40 standard adult return on the Penang Hill funicular about US$10.

Prices and times checked 8 November 2026

Card or cash: where a foreign card works

In tourist areas and cities, major credit cards are accepted almost everywhere: hotels, shopping malls and restaurants. Small street stalls and hawker stalls mostly take cash. Pay without cash where you can and carry only the cash you need for the day, mainly for stall meals and small purchases. For sizing a withdrawal, our Malaysia trip-cost guide budgets food at about MYR 43 a day each if you eat at hawker stalls and Indian canteens, and our Malaysia food guide gives hawker meal prices.

Hotels may ask to see a credit card as a deposit when you check in, whether or not the room is already paid, so bring a card with room on its limit.

When a card terminal or an ATM offers to charge you in your home currency, choose ringgit. This offer, called dynamic currency conversion, includes an exchange rate and additional fees. Merchants and ATMs should give you the choice and must not make it for you, and declining does not stop the payment or the withdrawal.

Cash matters most in remote places. Mulu National Park has no banks and no ATMs, so the park tells visitors to bring ringgit in cash.

DuitNow QR and paying with a phone

DuitNow QR is the code scheme run by PayNet, the national payment network; look for its logo on the shop's door, table or stand. International travellers can pay at these codes with supported banking or eWallet apps from home: open your app, scan the DuitNow QR at the checkout, enter the amount in ringgit, and the payment is taken from your account in your home currency. There is nothing to register, and the service is free for consumers.

Whether your own app is supported depends on your bank or wallet. Alipay+, which works through national schemes like PayNet, is the largest source of visitors' QR payments. If your bank or wallet app does not show DuitNow or Alipay+, pay by card where it is taken and in cash where it is not.

Grab, the ride-hailing app, takes cash, credit and debit cards, GrabPay or PayLater, chosen when you book.

Touch 'n Go, train gates and cashless buses to Singapore

The Touch 'n Go card pays tolls, train and bus fares and car parks; it is sold through the Touch 'n Go eWallet or at Touch 'n Go shops, and the enhanced card has NFC, so you can reload it through the eWallet app. Car parks such as the National Museum's in Kuala Lumpur take payment by Touch 'n Go card. Carry one for Kuala Lumpur's LRT, MRT and monorail; our Malaysia transport guide gives the fares, including the KLIA Ekspres airport train, and how the Penang ferry takes payment.

On KTM Komuter trains you can skip the card altogether. The gates take a QR ticket, the KTM or KITS wallet, a Komuter Link card, a Touch 'n Go card, a physical MyDebit, Visa or Mastercard debit, credit or prepaid card, or Apple Pay, Samsung Pay or Google Pay. Tap out with the same card you tapped in with, and with a phone wallet use the same device both times.

Causeway Link's buses between Johor Bahru and Singapore stopped taking cash on board on 1 October 2026, on all its cross-border and feeder services; the fares stayed the same. Tourists can buy a Single Journey Ticket in the LUGO app or tap a contactless debit or credit card on the terminal when they board; a ManjaLink card is not needed.

Prices and times checked 8 November 2026

ATMs, money changers and keeping your card safe

Ringgit can be withdrawn at globally networked ATMs, including with a credit or debit card at machines marked for it. Your own bank may charge for each withdrawal and cap how much you take out a day, so check its foreign fees and limits before you fly.

To change notes, most people use a licensed money changer in a shopping mall or on the street; airports, banks and hotels change money too, and euros can be changed without problems. Money changers display their rates on a board, so compare it before you hand over cash. Licensed money changers are listed in Bank Negara Malaysia's Financial Sector Participants Directory. If you fly on to a domestic flight on the day you land, change enough at the airport for your first costs.

Credit card and ATM fraud is widespread, including card copying, so keep your card in sight when you pay, do not carry large sums, and leave what you do not need in the hotel safe. Thefts by people posing as plain-clothes police officers are also reported, so pay nothing for an offence without an official receipt.

Prices and times checked 8 November 2026

Hotel bills: service charge, SST and the tourism tax

A room rate in Malaysia often grows on the bill. Service tax is 8% on taxable services, and 6% on food and drink, telecommunications, parking and logistics; the 8% rate has applied since 1 March 2024. Budget with the tax included. At hotels and high-end restaurants, expect a 10% service charge as well.

Foreign tourists pay a tourism tax of RM10 per room per night at hotels and other paid accommodation in Malaysia, the rate fixed by the government order in force since 15 December 2025; it is charged per room, not per person, and the hotel collects it from you, usually at check-in, or it is added when you book through an online platform. Malaysian citizens and permanent residents are exempt, and it is not collected at places with four rooms or fewer, or at homestays and kampungstays registered with the tourism ministry.

A worked example for one night in a RM200 room, with SST on the room rate only: RM200 + RM20 service charge (10%) + RM16 SST (8%) + RM10 tourism tax = about RM246. In Penang, the state adds a hotel fee that hotels collect for the city councils; as reported in May 2023, it is RM3 a night at hotels rated four stars and above, which makes the same night about RM249, and RM2 at three stars and below, including hostels.

Prices and times checked 8 November 2026

Tipping and two-tier prices

Tipping is not customary in Malaysia. A tip is generally unnecessary, but if service at a hotel, restaurant or taxi was good you can give one, and about RM5 is the norm; at taxis and stalls people sometimes leave the change.

Many attractions charge visitors more than Malaysians. On the Penang Hill funicular, a standard adult (13 to 59) pays RM40 return in the normal lane and RM80 in the express lane, while holders of a MyKad, MyKid, MM2H or i-Kad pay RM16 and RM40. At the National Museum in Kuala Lumpur, non-citizens pay RM5, non-citizen children aged 6 to 12 pay RM2, and children under 6 enter free, against RM2 for citizens.

Prices and times checked 8 November 2026

Cash at the border

If you carry cash and bearer negotiable instruments, such as traveller's cheques, worth US$10,000 or more in total, in any mix of currencies, declare them on Customs Form No. 7, available at the customs counter, when you arrive or leave. There is no limit on foreign currency notes, but taking ringgit notes worth more than US$10,000 into or out of Malaysia needs prior permission from Bank Negara Malaysia, and you still declare them. Customs could seize undeclared money, and the penalty can reach a fine of RM3 million and up to 5 years in prison.

Our Malaysia entry guide covers the rest of the customs and arrival rules, and our Malaysia safety guide covers the areas governments advise against.