So I’m moving to Taiwan in less than a week and I was informed by my school’s coordinator that I’ll need quite a lot of cash to pay for many different things (quarantine hotel, visa expenses, apartment deposit, agency fee, etc.) and I was wondering if it would be wise of me to get Taiwanese dollars here in the US or just bring US dollars to have them exchanged when I get to Taiwan. I assume it’s pretty easy to take out money at ATMS or exchange US dollars at the airport, but would love to hear the opinion of those more experienced in these matters. Apologies if this question has been asked before and much appreciation for any insight you can provide.
Banks often are at near market rates here. If you can survive quarantine without changing money, then I would do it. In normal times. I’d just go to a bank here and change it.
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Apartment deposit and other post-quarantine major expenses you can make withdrawals or exchanges here. But for the quarantine hotel, and the first few days out of quarantine, and as a general rule when you arrive in any foreign country, it’s good to have some local cash on hand
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Quarantine hotel won’t take cash, at least if they are doing this correctly (no direct contact with staff); it should be credit card here.
It would however be a good idea to have some NTD on hand to help after you spring out of the hotel and before you can hit a local bank (Monday to Friday only; closing surprisingly early, sometimes around 3:30 pm).
Guy
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Songshan airport has bank-rate currency exchange. Open every day.
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Don’t take my word on this but there should be a Bank of Taiwan ATM somewhere before you go through customs. Or at least there used to be. Those ones usually get the best rates for USD to NTD conversion.
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Exchange here. I tried to exchange for NTD in Houston Intercontinental Airport and not only are the exchange rate more than two NTD lower than market, but they also charge a 8 dollar fee on top of that. Taiwan bank stands at airports in Taiwan exchange at market rate and don’t charge a fee.
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I think this would be your worst possible option by far. Would just bring some USD and your ATM card. If your US bank charges for overseas withdrawals, you’d be better off opening a Charles Schwab account, but you might be too late for that.
As others have said, changing at the airport here is reasonable (unusually - obviously that’s not the case in most places), or at least it used to be pre-COVID.
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Awesome, thank you all for the speedy advice. I’ll avoid exchanging here in the US and be sure to take USD on top of a credit card and debit card.
Arrivals at TPE (at least as of August) are shepherded through the airport in a set sequence. No stopovers or detours to ATMs were possible when I went through this process a month ago.
Guy
Since you only have a week, it might be too late for you, but you will get the best rate by withdrawing local currency with your debit card at an ATM. To avoid ATM and currency exchange fees, open a Charles Schwab, Fidelity, or Capital One 360 account, and get their debit card. They don’t charge foreign transaction fees, and the first two reimburse all ATM fees. You do need to avoid the ATMs charging fees with a Capital One card, but that’s pretty easy - they will warn you on the screen if they do - just cancel the transaction and go somewhere else. The daily ATM withdrawal limit for Charles Schwab and Capital One is $1000, and starts at $500 with Fidelity.
I reckon if someone rocks up with no TWD and only an ATM card, they’ll find some way to make it work. I’d be surprised if they’re not dealing with that problem multiple times a day.
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There was no need to use NTD at the airport at any point.
Quarantine taxis are also set up to take credit cards.
It’s possible they could make an exception, but I am not sure how and why they would do so.
Guy
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I’m pretty sure I walked by it when I came back in December on the way to customs.
Somebody’s foreign credit card randomly not working, for example.
Interesting. At the height of 14 day quarantine I was allowed to roam the arrival area freely in search of an ATM. Sounds like they may be stricter now!
I was able to withdraw money at an ATM before arriving at Customs.
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There’s an ATM by the exit to the quarantine taxis. You can use it after you’ve gone through everything.
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When I arrived last August (2021) I went to the ATM before getting into the taxi line. Good thing because I had like NT$60 on me and maybe one NT$100 note.
@OP: Do not exchange to NTD outside of Taiwan. You’ll get slammed with horrible rates and insane fees.
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Thank you thank you, I feel much better knowing about that ATM by the exit and knowing that the taxis take credit card. I just might survive my first day in Taiwan!