Money

Money used in Bhutan or the currency is known as the Bhutanese Ngultrum and represented by BTN or Nu. One ngultrum is divided into 100 chhertum. The ngultrum is currently pegged to the Indian rupee at parity. There are no coins and you can expect to be handed wads of cash. Foreign travelers need to take a note that US$50 and US$100 bills are given a better exchange rate than a US$20 or US$10 bill. The smaller US$ bills fetch about 5% lesser value than the larger bills.

The ministry of finance issued the first banknotes in 1974 in the denominations of Nu.1, Nu.5, and Nu.10 followed by Nu.2, Nu.20, Nu.50, and Nu.100 in 1978. The Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan took over the ministry of finance as the central bank of Bhutan in 1982 and began issuing banknotes from the following year. 

The Monetary Authority of Bhutan in 2006 introduced the latest series of notes with denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000. All the currency notes have different colors and except Nu.1 and Nu.5, all other notes have the picture of either the present or previous kings of Bhutan on one side and picture of popular Dzongs on the other side.

• Nu.1 is blue, red and green colored. It has a picture of dragons on one side and a picture of Simtokha Dzong on the other side.
• Nu.5 is yellow, brown and red colored. It has a picture of birds on one side and a picture of Taktshang monastery on the other side.
• Nu.10 is dark green and yellow colored. It has a picture of the previous king, Jigme Singye Wangchuk on one side and a picture of Rinpung Dzong on the other side.
• Nu.20 is yellow and green colored. It has a picture of the present king, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk on one side and a picture of Punakha Dzong on the other side.
• Nu.50 is pink, orange and green colored. It has a picture of the present king, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk on one side and a picture of Trongsa Dzong on the other side.
• Nu.100 is green colored. It has a picture of the previous king, Jigme Singye Wangchuk on one side and a picture of Tashichho Dzong on the other side.
• Nu.500 is pink, orange and green colored. It has a picture of the first king of Bhutan, Ugyen Wangchuk on one side and a picture of Punakha Dzong on the other side.
• Nu.1000 is yellow, red and gold colored. It has a picture of the present king, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk on one side and a picture of Tashichho Dzong on the other side.