Trying to plan ahead so any know if card payments are common at hostels in South Africa or cash is king?
South Africa is one of the easiest places in Africa for card payments. Almost every hostel I stayed in - from Cape Town’s The Backpack to J-Bay Surf Lodge - accepted Visa and Mastercard without hesitation. Cash wasn’t really necessary beyond small taxis or buying fruit at markets. I rarely needed to withdraw, except when visiting rural areas near the Drakensberg where things were more old fashioned. In the cities, hostels are very card-friendly.
I assumed I could use card everywhere but ran into some surprises. My hostel in Hazyview near Kruger didn’t have a working card machine the day I arrived, and the closest ATM was 15 minutes away. After that, I always asked ahead. In Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, card payments were smooth. Still, I’d say carry enough cash to cover your first night and a meal or two, just in case. Most staff are helpful and used to foreign travelers needing a mix of both.
Most hostels I stayed at around the Garden Route and Joburg accepted card, no issue. But smaller places in the Drakensberg region didn’t have working machines - one blamed load shedding, another just said cash was easier. I kept about R500-R700 in my bag for check-ins just in case. If you’re sticking to major cities, card should work. But rural or beach hostels? Don’t count on it.
Stayed at hostels in Cape Town, Knysna, and PE in April 2024 - all of them took card at check-in. They had portable POS machines and had no problem processing international Visa and Mastercard. A couple asked for prepayment online, which also worked fine. That said, in Coffee Bay, the backpacker lodge I stayed at asked for full payment in cash. So while cards are pretty common in urban areas, it’s smart to have cash when heading off-grid.