Thailand - currency exchange?

Travel International Travel
1

Hi,

Planning a trip to Thailand soon. Question about money exchange. My plan is to take about 50% American Express traveler’s checks, and 50% cash. My question is mostly about the cash.

Will NT dollars be easily exchangable in Thailand? As easy to exchange as U.S. dollars?

Are ATM cards issued by Taiwanese banks accepted in Thailand?

Travel will be mostly in Bangkok and Koh Samui, etc. islands.

Suggestions?

Thanks,

Seeker4

2

NT is easily exchangable. However when changing money from NT to Baht the rate will favour the currency exchanger. You are usually better off changing all your NT to baht in CKS airport as the rate is usually much better than what the Thai money exchangers will give you.

3

DON’T take nt$!!! because the rate is REALLY bad and you’d be wasting a lot of money. I’m sooo glad I excahnged my money before going. On the other hand, the US$ rate is good, and traveller’s cheques usually get a slightly better rate.

4

If you are staying around Sukumvit, then change your money at Soi 7, Vassu travel where you will get a much better rate than any of the banks.

5

Be careful . . . be very, very careful. Double and triple-check with your bank in Taiwan if you want to use your ATM outisde of Taiwan.

From my experience, some banks will say you can, others will admit you cannot. I could not use my ChinaTrust ATM card nor my EnTie ATM card last year in Thailand. However, my Taiwanese friends could use their cards (from the same banks and others) to get cash without any problems.

Even if your bank assures you that you will be able to use the ATM card issued from their bank, it still might be good to have a back-up plan–i.e., cash or traveler’s checks.

Have a good and safe trip to Thailand. Please post some notes when you get back–I’d be curious to hear what the mood is like in Thailand after the recent disaster. Also, I’d like to know if the number of tourists is down–or are people continuing to travel to Thailand as before.

6

Banks charge 30 baht stamp duty when cashing traveller’s cheques. So even though the rate is better you may not necessarily end up with more baht in your pocket. (especially if the traveller’s cheques are in small denominations)

And just to reiterate the comments of two of the earlier posters. Do not take NT$ to Thailand. The rate is extremely poor. You will loose about 10% of your money.