Vietnam landing card and currency.

[johnmell]

Are you required to complete some kind of arrival card when flying to Vietnam, like the TM6 Thailand has.Also what is the best way to get Vietnamese dong.(UK citizen using 15 day visa exempt.)

Many thanks.

[Mahseer]

Tack your question onto the end of this thread as plenty of folks travelled recently plus for specifics on currency state your arrival city.

 

 

cheers

[BurgerGung]

Forget DONG, bring Dollars. (I made the mistake to bring THB and voila, 10% loss in the foreign exchange transaction. 

 

Buying VND outside Vietnam? Wonna lose like 40%, then go right ahead.

 

The private counters near the exit door at ARRIVALS in Hanoi have plenty of currency, even if the banks don't. (You will want to get rid of Dong when you leave. I once spent almost an hour at a bank, needing to show proof of flying out to buy like $ 130 with my Dong).

 

And VINAPHONE has a sweet 89 k VND a month SIM card deal, giving you 2 GB data a day plus 50 minutes. The SIM card cost 34 k and you will need to show your passport to register it.

[BritManToo]

27 minutes ago, BurgerGung said:

Forget DONG, bring Dollars. (I made the mistake to bring THB and voila, 10% loss in the foreign exchange transaction.

I always take Thai Baht, 710,000vnd/1,000 Thai baht at banks in town ........ 550,000vnd at the airport.

So don't change money at the airport.

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

There is NO arrival card for entering Vietnam. As a UK citizen, you go straight to passport control. I don't know if Viet immigration will ask to see a return flight ticket, though. 

 

Where are you flying from? if Thailand and you're using Thai baht, you can buy Viet dong at the exchanges in Bangkok. Vasu on soi 11 Sukhumvit and Super Rich on Ratchdamri near Central World. But you might call to see if they have enough VND. 

 

If arriving at Ho Chi Minh (SGN Airport), you can buy VND at the exchange counters. The best one is Exim Bank, to the right after you exit customs. Nearby counter AgriBank is not bad either. The airport rate is the same as the one listed on Exim's ForEx web page. English pounds should be fine. Today's rate at Exim is 28,500 VND to the pound. 

 

I would not change everything over at the airport. The downtown gold shops have pretty good rates. There's one on Ho Tung Mau, about 150 metres north of the Bitexco Tower, beside the Greek Hellas restaurant that's good. 

 

 

 

 

[thedemon]

Thai ATM cards work very reliably in VN. Mots local bank ATM machines have a small maximum per transaction (2M from memory) but HSBC/Citibank/ANZ machines will dispense 8-10M per transaction. There is a nominal charge per withdrawal but when combined with the exchange rate I doubt it is worse than the cash exchange rate.

 

At SGN there are 2 Citibank ATM's in the hall right after customs just before exiting to the public area. 

[tutsiwarrior]

2 hours ago, Kaoboi Bebobp said:

I would not change everything over at the airport. The downtown gold shops have pretty good rates. There's one on Ho Tung Mau, about 150 metres north of the Bitexco Tower, beside the Greek Hellas restaurant that's good. 

 

 

if you got USD most gold shops offer a favorable VND exchange rate...I did OK out in the boonies in Ha Tinh province in March...

 

 

[Mahseer]

If you are in Hanoi and have cash to change find 67 Hang Bac in the Old Quarter. Enter and go up the stairs at the rear and doubt you'll be disappointed with the exchange rate. Amount of cash (and gold downstairs) that gets traded here is absolutely phenomenal but they'll still respect your $100 bill if that's what you want changing.

[BritManToo]

2 hours ago, Kaoboi Bebobp said:

There is NO arrival card for entering Vietnam. As a UK citizen, you go straight to passport control. I don't know if Viet immigration will ask to see a return flight ticket, though. 

The airline won't let you board without a return ticket (and they check), if no VISA.

Viet immigration don't seem to care, it's how long are you staying, stamp, stamp and you're through with 14 days (whatever you said).

[johnmell]

Thanks for all the info, very helpful. I am flying fron Swampy to HCMC for 4 days. Main purpose is to get a one year multiple non o, based on marriage.I have done 4 yearly extensions but dont want to bring any more money from the UK at the moment, so cant make the 400,000.

Am staying at the Princess Saigon Central hotel in District 1, 20 minute walk from the Thai consulate.Plan is to get 300 dollars at Superich at Swampy, then change 100 in HCMC for dong. 200 is for the visa.Only plan to chill out at a few sports bars when i am there.

Only concern is that to make sure i get good quality dollars, as they are strict in Vietnam about that apparently.

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

I will assume you will use a credit card to pay for the hotel. But $100US will not cut it for expenses over 3 nights/4 days. That's about 2.2 million VND. A bar/food bill at Phatty's Sports Bar in D1 will hit you for about 500,000-700,000 VND. Bottled beer is 50,000, pints 100,000. A bit cheaper in the Saigon craft beer pubs, 70,000 to over 100,000 for not-quite-pints. 

 

Taxi from SGN airport (Mai Linh or Vinasun --  stay away from the others) will run about 150,000 down to D1 depending on traffic.

[RupertIII]

On 7/27/2019 at 7:10 PM, BritManToo said:

I always take Thai Baht, 710,000vnd/1,000 Thai baht at banks in town ........ 550,000vnd at the airport.

So don't change money at the airport.

Thanks for that. Flying out next week and just checked BKK Bank website - 1K THB = 746K VND so I assume the same rate at Swampy. By "at the airport" are you referring to Vietnam?