Money in Vietnam — how to pay and where to exchange
The Vietnamese dong, cards vs cash, ATMs and fees, Wise/Revolut, exchanging money and a daily budget. Updated for 2026.
Reading a price tag
Rule of thumb: drop four zeros and you have roughly the price in dollars. 150,000 ₫ is about $6. The converter below uses today’s published rate.
Currency converter
The six notes you will actually see
| Note | Colour | ≈ in dollars |
|---|---|---|
| 500,000 ₫ | Blue | ~$20 |
| 200,000 ₫ | Brown | ~$8 |
| 100,000 ₫ | Green | ~$4 |
| 50,000 ₫ | Pink | ~$2 |
| 20,000 ₫ | Blue | ~$0.80 |
| 10,000 ₫ | Brown | ~$0.40 |
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20,000 and 500,000 are both blue. Only the shade differs — the 500 is darker. It is the most expensive change-related mistake in Vietnam: check the number in your hand rather than the colour, and keep the big notes in a separate pocket of your wallet. Break 500k notes at supermarkets or chains — street vendors rarely have change for them.
How to pay: the ladder of losses
Every option on one scale, from free to expensive. Between the top and the bottom line there is up to 9% of everything you spend.
- Wise / RevolutNear-interbank FX, spend or withdraw straight in dong~0%
- Cash USD at a bank counterVietcombank, BIDV. Passport required, best cash rate−0.1…0.3%
- Licensed exchange officeFaster than a bank, rate slightly below it−0.4%
- Bank ATM withdrawalLocal ATM fee plus whatever your home bank charges−1.1…3.3%
- Dynamic currency conversionThe “pay in your own currency?” prompt at tills and ATMs−3…7%
- Hotel or guesthouseNo queue and no passport — that is what you are paying for−3.5%
- Airport counterChange a taxi fare and a SIM, do the rest in town−4…9%
The three you set up before flying
- Everywhere with a till
Visa & Mastercard
Where it works: Contactless in malls, mid- and upper-range restaurants and hotelsWhat to bring: Visa or Mastercard as your main card — Amex is rarely acceptedWhat trips you up: Markets, street food and small cafés are cash only: always carry dongVNDnever your home currency - The usual way to get cash
ATM withdrawals
Where it works: Bank ATMs — Vietcombank, BIDV, ACB, Techcombank; TPBank and a few others allow more per goWhat to bring: A card whose issuer you have told you are travelling, plus a second one from another networkWhat trips you up: The machine’s own conversion offer — that prompt is DCC, and it is the priciest line on the ladder above2–3M ₫per withdrawal, usually - Cheapest if set up before you fly
Wise / Revolut
Where it works: Anywhere a card does — top up at home, then spend or withdraw straight in dongWhat to bring: An account opened and verified before departure: neither can be set up on arrivalWhat trips you up: The monthly fee-free ATM allowance runs out — check it before you rely on itInterbankrate on conversion
Carry two cards from different networks: ATMs go offline and banks block cards for “unusual” foreign use. If you move money in crypto, the routes and fees are in cashing out USDT.
Where you may not change money, and what to declare
Two rules changed in 2026, and both apply to an ordinary tourist — not only to large sums.
Licensed places only. Since 9 February 2026, decree 340/2025 bans changing currency with private individuals and at unlicensed outlets — including the gold and jewellery shops that did it for decades. A licence is issued by the State Bank and has to be displayed. The penalty scales with the size of the transaction.
- under $1,000Formal warning
- $1,000 – $10,00010–20M ₫
- $10,000 – $100,00020–30M ₫
- $100,000 and above80–100M ₫
From $1,000 the whole sum is confiscated — for a trip that, not the size of the fine, is the real risk.
Declaring cash at the border. There is no limit on how much currency you may bring in, but you must declare $5,000 or more in any foreign currency, or 15 million ₫ in dong. The same thresholds apply on the way out. Since 1 July 2026, decree 169/2026 fines undeclared cash and gold above the limit by up to 50 million ₫. Declaring forbids nothing — it is a form at the desk, and it is what lets you take the money back out again.
What to budget per day
Three levels: hostel and street food, mid-range hotel and cafés, air-conditioning and restaurants. Per person, flights and visa excluded. The full category breakdown is in Vietnam prices.
| Expense | Budget | Mid-range | Comfort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accommodation | $5–12 | $20–40 | $60–120 |
| Food | $6–10 | $12–25 | $30–60 |
| Transport | $1–4 | $4–8 | $8–20 |
| Activities | $0–4 | $4–12 | $12–35 |
| Total per day | ~$20 | ~$60 | ~$150 |
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What it is made of
Prices depend on the city
Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi run well above Da Lat and Phan Thiet — sometimes double on accommodation. Real receipts, city by city.
Short answers
Visa and Mastercard contactless work in malls, hotels and mid- to upper-range restaurants, but small vendors and street food are cash-only (VND). At any terminal or ATM, always choose to be charged in dong rather than your home currency — dynamic currency conversion costs 3–7%.
Withdraw dong at bank ATMs (Vietcombank, BIDV, ACB, Techcombank). Expect a local ATM fee of roughly 1.1–3.3% plus your home bank’s foreign fee. TPBank and a few others allow higher per-withdrawal limits.
Yes — both give near-interbank exchange rates and are popular with travellers. Use them for card payments and ATM withdrawals, and keep some clean USD cash to exchange as a backup.
Bank branches (Vietcombank, BIDV) with your passport, or reputable gold/jewellery shops (being restricted from February 2026). Avoid airport counters — the rates are poor. Bring clean, undamaged USD notes.
Roughly 25,000 ₫ ≈ $1 (it floats). Quick mental math: drop the last three zeros and multiply by about 0.04 to get US dollars — so 100,000 ₫ ≈ $4.
If you need more depth
Rates from the source, the QR-payment PDF and the reads where the numbers are laid out in full.