Buying Thai Baht
 

I thought it's a general rule to always buy foreign currency locally, say at VBCE rather than at the airport.

According to a few co-workers who have recently gone to Thailand and the below article, it's cheaper to purchase it at the airport in Thailand. Any truth to this?

https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Travel-g2...And.Money.html

really another thread? they all sell baht near the same price everywhere. U may lose out on 1 or 2 baht on ur dollar which is equivilent to 4 to 8 cents. but yes airport has the better rate when i was there

I read that you get a better rate in thailand.

take cash money and buy in thailand, end of thread

just take your first chunk out at an ATM in the airport then just exchange the rest in cash there, or just use ATM's the whole time

really not that hard

Take newer $100's as with these countries higher values are easier to exchange.. I also do my exchanges in Thailand, no specifically the Airport.. Those rates fluctuate.. Sometimes the airports are cheaper, sometimes the money kiosks are cheaper.. So you really just gotta gamble.. There are plenty of Kiosks around Bangkok, and around town, so I dont think that will be a problem for you. My first exchange is always $500-$1k start, then I kinda play with the funds to find out roughly how much I would need for the rest of the trip.

Hope that helps.

Does anyone think taking USD is worth it, or just take CDN?

The answer seems obvious (only exchange your money once), but I was reading on reddit and it looked like travelers were getting 38B/1USD and 25B/1CDN....which means you'd get 52% more using USD than CDN. And exchanging CDN here to USD is only at 1.4....

Your over thinking this guys. I was just in Thailand and exchanged my money at the airport. I later need more and when to the local bank was ripped off but didn't want to go around and shop for the best rate. All my money was converted from Canadian to Baht.

ya because who the fuck wants canadian cash....everyone wants USD

and yes it's true 50/100 bills get you a better rate than 5/10/20's

i'll let you know in a couple days what the actual cash exchange rates are on the street...

You get any info for the exchange rate blkgsr?

canadian is like mid 24's....get a far better rate on my debit use (including fees) and credit card purchases (mid 25's right now)

USD is mid 33's for the 5-20's and low 34's for 50/100's

also this is Koh Tao....bangkok or other major say Phuket might be better...i won't know for another two weeks in bangkok

awesome, thanks for the update man. I'm flying over at the end of March, are you going to be around still?

Can't you use USD cash to pay for stuff like you do in mexico?

Been tracking the THB using this web site:
Bank foreign currency exchange rates - Compare currency exchange rates across banks

fly to Boracay on the 29th

^loved boracay. tons of diving and probably amazing and best spot diving for me

diving on koh tao right now isn't the best (visibility) but doing our wreck specialty so don't have too much of an option, but still doing other fun dives while were here....it's cheap and i'll regret not doing it once i'm back to work in a month wishing i was back travelling.

Charlie's Currency Exchange on Granville I find has the best rates, VCBC has the 2nd best.

The thing to keep in mind with Charlie's is he doesn't always have all currencies in stock so best thing is to call ahead first if you need something less popular. He also sometimes doesn't have all denominations of every currency, so you might not get the precise amount you are looking for. VCBE on the other hand carries pretty much everything.

wrap it before you tap it
buy some viagra so you can actually fuck the hookers after you do all the blow you're gonna do

blow in thailand...more like meth, m and pills

A bit off topic, go to Surigao... wayyy better than Boracay. Boracay is getting too commercialized.

Back on topic... I usually exchange $100 USD worth at the airport (good enough for taxi and some spending to from BKK to the city).

If I would then just go to the money exchanges around Bangkok (e.g. at the malls) or go to an ATM and withdraw from there.

right now using ATM is WAY better than street pricing by the way....just use your card

I've been doing some tracking online, and although rates are better using your ATM cards, thai fees and bank fees make it less. Unless the bank rates I got from TMB, SIA, Siam, and Citibank are crap....I'm thinking that USD or CDN cash is the way to go.

This is based off coast capital FYI, they limit ATM withdrawals to $400 CDN and have a $5 bank fee for international atm w/d

most ATM's here charge 200 bhat

are the bank rates accurate? are you seeing 26.5 Baht / CAD dollar