Best currency to take to Vietnam

I have a couple of million Dong under the spare bed. True story

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disfunktion said:
Did you take solely Dong with you?

I was thinking Dong in a small amount and the rest on US dollar cash card.
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As I said earlier, that's all I bought with my wife and I. The only dollars we carried was to pay for the visas going into Cambodia. You don't need dollars in Vietnam.
 
disfunktion said:
Did this not work at expensive with conversion charges etc?
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You're going to pay to convert currency at some point - your bank adding a bit to the master card or visa rate is probably still cheaper than a lot of currency changing places (in the UK at least). Usually you'd have to go to one of a few specialist travel money places to beat it - there are a few in London for example - one near Liverpool St always has queues outside it. Even then its unlikely the specialist places could beat the rate for cards such as the Halifax clarity one mentioned on here a lot where the issuer doesn't add anything to the FX rate.

Using your card is often not a bad option when traveling.
 
disfunktion said:
Did you take solely Dong with you?

I was thinking Dong in a small amount and the rest on US dollar cash card.
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I think it's a closed currency, you can't buy it outside of the country

I just used ATMs out there

you will ned some US$ if you are using visa on arrival though
 
We took US dollars and then used ATMs after the first day or so. Dollars are mentally easier to convert back in to your normal currency but there's something hilarious about paying 75 billion Dong for a cup of coffee :D
 
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Get some dong. I spent a few weeks there a couple of years back and paid for everything in dong. Couple of problems with US dollars:

- Not everywhere will accept them
- You'll likely be charged more for paying in dollars
 
cheechm said:
Slightly misleading. They'll accept notes that have been folded. But they most likely won't accept faded, dog-eared notes. I had no problems with any USDs when I was there. Unlike other South-East Asian countries (like Laos or Cambodia) where they predominantly use USD, in Vietnam they use dong (pronounced more like "dom").

Also, too late but a clarity card would have worked well for her.
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This!

Ignore my last post, I was confused and thinking of Burma!

Vietnam is fine for dollars.

Rotty said:
I used a Caxton FX preload card, rates were very good and only charges were local ATM ones
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Caxton is ok as a backup cash card, but Clarity credit card is far superior regarding rates so all possible spending and cash withdrawls should be done with that.
 
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