Cash

Cash is KING in Vietnam and although paying for rooms at hotels on card is mostly okay, paying for food, and drinks is mostly cash only. I myself took out $1,800 USD in cash to Vietnam and stored it safely in my backpack. I got Vietnamese currency BEFORE I arrived. I personally hate using ATM machines abroad. The fees, the conversion rates, and the risk of the ATM eating or losing the card is far more stressful (to me) than say having a lot of cash on my person.

Having run out of money towards the end of the trip I started to use ATM’s in Saigon and could not believe the charges, plus limits of 1 or 2 million VND in most ATM’s. Honestly bringing cash with me was the best thing I did (pre-trip), it saved me so much in fees and hassle.

I know bank cards are coming out more and more these days that avoid ATM fee’s etc, but for me I JUST DON'T TRUST forgeign banks that much and much prefer taking the cash I need for an entire month (or even entire trip).

This is just a personal thing but it does help me budget too because in my mind, when that cash is gone then it’s time to think about ending the the trip.

But for those more confident travelers, you will be fine to use ATM’s, they are found in most areas and have a limit of 10,000,000 - 15,000,000 VND per day but like I said finding those were difficult. Most only let me take out 2 or 3 million at a time (this may be because I bank in Thailand).

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Vietnamese money is VERY complicated at first, but you will get used to it quickly.

The best way to simplify things is to think of 20,000 as $1 and 200,000 as $10.

Even though that is a little off it just makes things much more easy to grasp.