Travelling with Mrs B to Vietnam next week, for the second time. Last time, the AUS $ was so high I did not worry too much about squeezing best value out of exchange for Vietnamese currency.
But now that the backside has fallen out of the dollar, I am looking for the best deal I can find. Any suggestions? The banks here seem to trim their rate, is it better to get cash when I get to Ho Chi Minh City?
We are staying in District 1, so there should be plenty of banks nearby, and I want to change about $800-$1000.
Thanks in advance for suggestions.
Best Value Currency Exchange AUS$ to Viet Dong?
branners on 28/07/2015 - 10:30
Comments
That's it. Shop name is Hà Tâm, those Street View photos must have been early in the money because the shutters are all down.
I went to that one but found one around the corner in Le Thanh Ton slightly better rate.
Excellent. Good to see there's a few competitive options available in the one area.
A few trips back we were getting good rates from the Exchanges at the original Saigon Square. Their rates were lousy on the last trip.
Best rate that I can get is at citibank atm through my Citibank Plus ATM card. For cash, I have given up trying to better the airport. There are a dozen money changers in a row (abreast) and I just walk along the row and pick the best rate. The couple of times that I tried in the city, including jewellery shops near BTMarket, I could not better the airport rate, and so I don't bother any more.
Peck, you mean the airport in HCMC? Arriving on a Sunday night, so will they be open?
Yep. Saigon/Ho Chi Minh Airport. You can't miss them. Most seem to be agents for car hire,hotels etc too. They always seem to be open, and so I am not sure when they close. The latest that I have ever arrived was 6.30pm. If not open, and if you have no Dong (roughly pronounced Dom) they seem to accept AUD in most places, but they will skim a little on the rate. (Nothing as bad as buying at Aust. airports though) It is an easy airport to get around in too because non travellers cannot enter the airport (Meet and greet done curbside)
From my whirlpool post re viet trip in sep 14 so YMMV. http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2257943&p…
There are 2 x Citibank ATM just after you clear immigration.There is also a Citibank ATM at the front of the Ben Thanh markets.Although I had my card, I didn't use either. I found out that in Vietnam, cash is king. At the 2 jewellery stores on the side of the Ben Thanh markets, I was exchanging AUD to Viet dong at rates a little higher than XE cross rates. Didn't bother with ATM after that.
Thanks for that Obs. Sounds like we have a winner!
Wow! I never knew about those ATMs. Are they near the money changers at the airport? Thanks Obs. I should exit the airport a bit slower and look around. I will check them out this week! Hopefully they charge no fees (No fees at their bank located ATMs)
Sorry to hijack your thread, but if anyone has suggestions for Hanoi please could you also mention it.
And we have a winner!
Followed the advice, used the currency exchange just past immigration. Had a great rate, a fraction under what was on XE.com and no transaction fees. Reckon I made about 8 percent net on what my Aussie bank would have charged me.
Also checked the rate at the shops outside the Ben Thanh Market, as advised. Looks to be right in the hunt, so will change some more there when I need it.
Another OB Mission: Accomplished!I used the Citibank ATM's near the currency exchange shops in the exit lobby at Saigon airport. No idea how the rate compared but I expect it to be 'the best' if my Thailand Citibank ATM experiences are anything to go by. Thanks Obs, the ATMs there are so obvious that I don't know how I missed them in all of my previous trips. Probably because I am always hot, tired, and flustered by the time that I get there.
You need to be very careful holding Dongs because they are very volatile.
When everything is good you can watch your holdings grow in size going up and up rapidly but if things turn bad the Dong can rapidly pull back.
I also recommend some sort of protection especially when handling Viet Dongs.
I thought that the Dong was locked in to the USD. So it would not be any more volatile than the USD.
If you've got a Citibank Plus card, check www.findmyciti.com/vn to find Citibank ATMs.
Citibank also gives a list of banks in Vietnam that do not charge fees for cash withdrawals or balance enquiries:
* ACB
* Agribank
* ANZ
* BIDV
* Commonwealth
* DongA
* Eximbank
* MBBank
* MHB
* Sacombank
* Saigonbank
* Seabank
* Standard Chartered
* Techcombank
* VIB
* Vietcombank
* VietinbankCitibank Plus card is so good! Yesterday in Bangkok I got better than the best of the day at XE.com web site.
We travel to VN fairly regularly and was only just there 2 weeks ago. What we tend to do is take whatever cash (VND) we had left over from last time, which is usually just enough to cover taxis, and change over AUD once on the ground.
We had a recommendation to change money at a jewellery shop opposite Ben Thanh market last time and that worked out well. They consistently had the best rate when I checked. They're on the right hand side corner of Nguyen An Ninh as you look across the road from the markets West Gate.
Not sure how to embed images here. Please check out this map… X marks the spot.
http://i.imgur.com/x8du0ok.jpg