For visitors entering South Africa with Foreign currency, the forex will need to be exchanged to ZAR (South African Rands) in order to transact in South Africa unless an accepted credit card is used.

It is very expensive to simply allow the credit card companies to process your forex transactions with fees and costs in a number of cases way in excess of what you could exchange your foreign currency for in South Africa.

If you are not a regular traveller with a large sum of money that you exchange every year it is best to use one of the bureau de change available at the airport or most shopping centers. If on the other hand you are exchanging a fairly large sum of money, it would be best to visit a local bank or branch of your bank in South Africa to get a spot rate. This is likely to be a few points better than a burea de change.

Large sums of foreign currency can be exchanged by using a forex currency exchange financial service provider, which are commonly used by foreign Nationals who are making significant purchases like the purchase of property, vehicles or other expensive assets where a 1/2 point difference in the exhange rate can make a sizeable difference to the capital amount.

In essence, for travellers and visitors who are not exchanging klarge sums of foreign exchange, the local banks or bureau de change will offer acceptable rates of exchange. Always be aware that using main street banks or forex currency exchange representatives that are certified financial services providers is recommended and never give out your banking details to anyone.