spending money in vietnam

[watgate]

I am planning on visiting Vietnam in October and would like to know what is the best currency to bring for spending there. I know I can use my atm card to withdraw funds but would prefer to bring some money with me.

Edited June 22, 2018 by watgate

[dddave]

Dollars and Euros.  Exchange rates for cash can vary widely so a bit of rate shopping necessary.  Make sure bills are crisp and new and unmarked.

Very easy to get confused with Dongs big numbers (Today, US$10=227,447 Dong) so a good idea to use a calculator prior to transactions and figure out what your change should be as traders there often will take advantage of tourist's currency confusion.

Still a great place to visit.

[LongTimeLurker]

The street stalls and markets will quote you prices in US$. Best to take a load of them, large and small bills.

 

You can change money at gold shops for better rates than the banks.

[tutsiwarrior]

the gold shops are usually the best and they're everywhere...but ye gotta have clean recently issued fresh bills, the banks insist on it too...

 

 

[dddave]

4 hours ago, LongTimeLurker said:

The street stalls and markets will quote you prices in US$. Best to take a load of them, large and small bills.

 

You can change money at gold shops for better rates than the banks.

This is excellent advice.  Can not have enough $1s, 5s & 10s.

[Mahseer]

Just to show how exchange rates vary in Hanoi I was today quoted 22,000/US$ at a travel agent, 22,500 at a gold shop and 23,500 upstairs of a gold shop at 67 Hang Bac in the Old Quarter where they handle massive amounts of cash and judging by the number of people in there their rate would likely be amongst the best but no way of knowing for sure.

 

Didn't enquire at a bank.

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

For nearly all transactions, prices are marked in Viet dong. So instead of worrying about/arguing over the offered exchange rate every time you buy something, pay the VND marked price in Viet dong. Also, keep your phone calculator at the ready and have them type out the price with all the zeroes. If a vendor puts up 3 fingers, is it 3,000, 30,000 or 300,000? Have the vendor type it out.

 

FYI: ATMs frequently dispense no more than 2 million dong, only $85US. So you will have to hit the gold shops or banks (Exim and ACB are good)  frequently. 

 

TIP: Keep big notes and small notes separate. I keep the 100k's and 500k's in one side of my wallet and 50k's and lower in the other side.

Edited July 28, 2018 by Kaoboi Bebobp

[Mahseer]

8 minutes ago, Kaoboi Bebobp said:

 

TIP: Keep big notes and small notes separate. I keep the 100k's and 500k's in one side of my wallet and 50k's and lower in the other side.

Excellent tip. Was in a coffee shop this morning just outside Bac Ha and lighting wasn't the greatest and combined with my aging eyes I inadvertently gave the waitress a 500,000 note for a 40,000dong bill. Kind lass pointed out as much and returned the bill. Happy to leave 10,000 tip from the 50,000 bill I meant to pay with.

[watcharacters]

On 6/24/2018 at 11:16 PM, dddave said:

This is excellent advice.  Can not have enough $1s, 5s & 10s.

 

Agree wholeheartedly.

 

Hell, I'l like to have several million of each.