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The currency used in Portugal and the Algarve is the Euro. This is the same as in most of the other European Union countries including Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland and Finland.
The main advantage of changing from the 'Escudo', back in January 2002, to the new Euro, is that you can now use the same money in nearly all of the European countries without having to change currency.
There are 7 different Euro banknotes in denominations ranging from 5 Euros up to 500 Euros and each note has it's own prominent colour, and design, depicting one of the seven periods of european architectural history.
These features help distinguish the notes from one another and are standard throughout every country that uses the Euro.
The Euro has 8 different coin denominations: 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents, and 1 and 2 Euros.
All the coins have one side that is of common design throught Europe, with the reverse side specific to the relevant country.
In Portugal, the national side of a Euro coin shows the royal seal of Dom Afonso Henriques.
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The coins, as with the banknotes, increase in size as their value increases.
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