GoKunming Forums

Vietnam Money

Haali (1178 posts) • 0

Where can you get Vietnam currency in Kunming? Going to bank of China later. If they don't have it, then will dollars do?

Alien (3819 posts) • 0

You can change dollars and/or rmb (I think) at border in bank in Laocai; my guess is that you can almost certainly use debit/credit cards in Viet Nam, though perhaps not those for Chinese banks.
In Kunming, if the BOC can't do it then I don't know, but I'm sure the BOC folks could tell you. At any rate you won't have any trouble.

AlexKMG (2387 posts) • 0

Don't bother with trying to find dong in Kunming.

There are plenty of money changers right after crossing into Vietnam at Laocai. I've never used them, but haven't heard any horror stories. There are also official banks on nearby streets which do fx. They open till 5pm Vietnam time which means 6pm China.

As for rates, the dollar still fetches a better rate than rmb, and Hanoi better than Laocai, but it's at worse 5% difference, so for small amounts it's not worth the effort to hunt down USD.

My personal advice is if you are heading straight to Hanoi and not Sapa or overnighting in Laocai, then just fx enough rmb to dong for what you need, and then use your Chinese bank atm card. Many atms now have the unionpay logo, and Chinese bank atm fx rates and fees are very reasonable given the convenience and safety factors. I think even in Laocai, the Agriculture Vietnam bank atm has a unionpay logo on it. Just to be clear, I didn't go the atm route my last trip as I had plenty of crisp new dollars, but I plan on using my CCB atm card next time instead of trying to fx cash. I do recommend you bring a non China atm or visa card with you as backup.

HFCAMPO (3062 posts) • 0

There is a big Bank of China just near Nanping Jie. There are people who exchange money here and you can get some good rates. I have used them several times and they do not rip you off as this is their livelihood. However, you can get money exchnaged anywhere in LaoCai which is probably the best bet.

opper (52 posts) • 0

I just did this a week ago. You can change money in hekou in banks or from money changers in convenience stores. However having USD is better (cheaper, easier to understand how much you're actually spending) for larger transactions such as paying for hotels. There are several ATM machines which let you withdraw dong also.

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