Cash vs Card and ATM. Kiwi 1st time visitor to Vietnam. 10 day trip, how much cash should I bring in with me, and how much should I buy when we get there ? We have currency on a wise card – what’s the generaly advice and approach here ? How easy it is to get cash out and what do you need it for ? What would be the split of cash to card transcations ? Speciifically in Hanoi, Sapa, ha long and Tam coc ? Many Thanks to this great group.
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Hello I am a tour guide in Sapa I organize tours to visit famous places in Sapa and hiking tours through villages and see terraced fields I have private car service 5 seats 7 seats and 9 seats limousine can pick you up from Hanoi or Noi Bai airport straight to Sapa if you are interested you can contact me
Well I for one like lots of massages especially when they are 8 or 9 bucks
Oh, and money exchanges have to be licensed now, so not many around as before…
Been to Vietnam we just withdrawn money at the airport atm.. They have atm without withdrawal fee I just forgot what bank was that anyway you can see it when you use the atm
All ive took is my card (UK) zero fees from VP BANK ATM’S 100% exchange rate, my bank doesn’t charge me fees from abroad either… no problems at all, and most places take card now…
Cash is king. Steet vendors don’t accept card. Wise for Grab. Credit card (not debit card) for security deposits with hotels. A lot of establishments accept cards but with a 1%-3% transaction charge. I charged 1k AUD of purchases on my CC and the charges amounted to 32 AUD. So it’s up you to decide if its worth it. I reckon the convenience is worth it. You’ll realise this when you’re faced with millions in denominations that looks the same .The amount of cash you bring will depend on how much you’ll use your card. I didn’t use ATM because I didn’t want to risk the possibility of my card getting stuck in a machine.
Hi Mark, we are kiwis who just did 3 weeks in Hanoi-Sapa-Dong Hoi-Danang-HoiAn-HCMC. We took 4million VND with us, just so we had cash on arrival without needing to find ATM at airport or urgently. We used our debit cards at ATMs, but only some banks will allow foreign bank withdrawal. HCBC in Hanoi was good, 5million cash out with NZ7 fee. We kept withdrawing cash and using that for small transactions/ markets etc. Cash is definitely required. For larger shops/restaurants/hotels we put it on the credit card. Use Grab loaded with your credit card. Grab is so cheap. Don’t exchange money at the airport. In Sapa the ATM was limited so best get cash out in Hanoi first. Vietnam is pretty cheap so $5million was about $333 NZD.
We’ve hardly used cash the whole time, just bring a bit of Dong and a few US dollars
I’m here in Vietnam now and it’s my third week of my 2 month stay. I found that cash is king here, most merchants will hit you with a 5% fee for using a credit card, I arrived with bit of USD, took Grab from the airport and took cash from the VP bank atm machine. No extra fees and they give you the official exchange rate and my home bank doesn’t charge me for using ATM here.
You should prepare some cash in advance, as using cards or foreign currency exchange often comes with additional fees. In my opinion, around VND 3 million per person per destination is generally sufficient.