Tips for managing your money in Thailand, whether to come with euros or withdraw with your bank card from ATMs.
To keep as much as possible for yourself rather than throwing it away at our friendly bankers.
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Bring euros or withdraw on the spot?
Banknotes, euros and Thai baht. Photo: Gwengoat
It's always better to bring euros with you to exchange them at the best rate, but you need to be cautious; although theft is much rarer than in other countries, it still happens unfortunately.
If you travel with a lot of cash, there are travel accessories that can be very useful for hiding bills: see here.
As for the law, you are allowed to walk around with €9,999 in cash without having to make a declaration to customs.
And if you want to pay with your card, you're sure to be robbed at every withdrawal, both by Thai bankers and those from your country of origin.
Exchanging money in Thailand
A tourist prepares to exchange money at a currency kiosk in Bangkok's Chinatown. Photo: Nittaya Nattayai
You will have no trouble finding exchange offices open late in tourist areas (sometimes until 10 pm).
Elsewhere, you can exchange your money at banks, which are generally open from Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm.
But you should know that in general, the exchange rate is more advantageous in tourist areas, in remote areas, there is no competition…
And one of the best places to exchange money in Thailand at the best rate is Superrich, remember this name, there is an office at Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok.
Withdraw money from an ATM
ATM at Phuket airport. Photo: Uwe Aranas
You will have no trouble finding ATMs in Thailand, even in remote areas, and there is always one next to a 7-Eleven, these stores that are open 24 hours a day.
But you should know that for each withdrawal with a normal bank card (except for some exceptions, see solution below), there are always 5 to 6 euros in fees taken by the French bank and 220 bahts by the Thai bank.
And to make sure you have the pleasure of seeing you again soon, withdrawals from Thai ATMs are generally limited to 20,000 bahts…
Money in Thailand: other solutions
Between carrying a lot of cash and risking being robbed, or enriching bankers through ATMs, here are some other solutions:
The miracle Thailand card
Updated October 18, 2021: the link to the bank works, but I'm not sure if the miracle card still exists.
Krungthai Bank (which is well represented throughout the country) offers a solution that you can apply as soon as you arrive, as there are some at the international airport.
In fact, it's a special operation, on the Krungthai Bank (KTB) website you can read:
“The Miracle Thailand card is offered to tourists by three organizations: KTB, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), and the Thai Travel Agents Association (ATTA). It aims to promote and develop the tourism industry in Thailand.”
With just your passport, you can apply for the Miracle Thailand card, a card that allows you to withdraw money from ATMs and pay merchants.
It only costs 100 baht and will take 50 baht each time you recharge it.
It also allows you to have discounts on many sales points and insurance.
This is not a card for expatriates; it's only valid for the duration of your stay.
But it's a good solution if you want to bring cash, you can put some of it in this card, so your money is safe.
Afterwards, I don't know what happens in case of theft, but since it's linked to your passport, I think it's secure.
The Wize card (new name for Transferwise)
An ideal solution for travelers or expatriates, you can now open a multi-currency account for free with Wise.
Wise is a platform that allows you to transfer money internationally from one account to another with a very low commission.
With more than 4 million customers moving over $4 billion every month, they have become a reference in the field.
Wise also now offers a multi-currency bank account that includes a Mastercard debit card to spend in any currency, anywhere with no hidden fees.
Account benefits:
- You can pay with the currencies in your account for free
- Free withdrawals up to £200 per month (238 euros), beyond that a 2% transaction fee will be charged.
- Automatic currency conversion at the real exchange rate
- You only pay small conversion fees, between 0.35% and 2%
The main advantage is one of the best exchange rates if you open a baht account with Wise and reduced withdrawal fees.
But you will always have to pay the withdrawal fees applied to all foreign cards in Thailand.
The only way to avoid it is in addition to the Wise account, toopen a Thai bank account.
See the article : Managing your money easily while traveling with Wise's multi-currency account
The Travelex card
It's the card that replaces traveler's checks, but it's heavily criticized by users; ultimately, with the exchange rate, it's not very advantageous and complicated to use.
See their website (but I also advise you to do a search “reviews on travelex card” on Google, and read the many negative reviews): travelex.fr
The Revolut card
It offers many similar benefits to Wise, including the management of different currencies, but it offers a limited free version and a paid version.
It's a prepaid online bank, you top up your account by transfer, debit card or by receiving transfers.
Benefits of the free version
There are 0 fees. You can pay your expenses abroad automatically in the local currency without any exchange fees.
You can withdraw up to 200 euros in cash from a dispenser, without any fees, apart from, of course, the tax taken by Thai banks on foreign cards.
And if you don't use your card, there are no additional fees.
Limit
You can only withdraw cash for free from an ATM in local currency up to €200 per month.
Beyond that, 2% transaction fees will be charged to you.
For free card payments, you are limited to €5,000 per month, beyond which a 0.5% transaction fee will be charged.
See their site: revolut.com/fr/
The N26 card
I do not recommend this card, as the bank is already dishonest with its affiliates, which bodes ill for customers.
Since the above remark, published in December 2019, my intuition about the N26 bank has unfortunately proven correct.
Updated on October 18, 2021:
According to economic journalist Pierre Jovanovic, N26 bank is at risk of bankruptcy!
“N-26 BANK LOSES MORE THAN 100 MILLION AND RISKS BANKRUPTCY from October 4 to 8, 2021:
I have reported to you here several times the actions of thugs from N-26, a pseudo German bank that does not exist but has managed to deceive "7 million customers worldwide []
In short, this bank is losing money. Its losses are between 120 and 130 million euros!!!! []
And the financial regulator of Berlin, BAFIN, has condemned it to pay 4.25 million euros for having opened accounts by photo and not by video, although this had already been requested on several occasions!!!!
And where do you think these 4 million will come from... considering they've already lost a minimum of 120 million in 2021 ??? »
Source: Pierre Jovanovic's press review
Updated on January 16 2022 :
Since this article was updated to alert on the situation of N26 bank, many other articles have appeared, such as this one from December 2021 in Midi Libre:
French N26 customers claim that the online bank has stolen their money: what's really going on?
See also:
Thailand launches an electronic wallet for international tourists
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16 comments
ok n26 and other revolut do not charge fees, but that does not solve the main problem since the largest part (5.80EUR) is charged by the Thai bank. am I wrong?
Hi David,
Yes, it takes away a bit from one side, after that I don't know which bank you're in but if, for example, you withdraw with a La Poste Visa, they take more than Thai banks.
Is the Miracle Thailand card no longer available?
Hello Ninnog
There is also in the same genre the Visit Thailand card:
Visit Thailand: a practical and secure bank card to make life easier for travelers in Thailand
Hello everyone, For my part, I'm with Boursorama bank, and recently they offer an Ultimate card that allows you to withdraw and buy abroad without any fees. In Thailand, the fees of 220 bahts in ATMs are taken by Thai banks.
Yes, Boursorama seems to be a good bank; I'm currently with LaPoste, but on my next trip to France, I'll switch to that one.
Unfortunately, you can't sign up for it if you're outside France.
Of course, you can register from Thailand on the internet. To do this, you must have a French mobile number and use a VPN by setting your server to France…
Hello, I have an N26 Black card and every time I withdraw money, the Thai bank charges me 220 baht.
Hi Alain,
Yes, it's the Thai bank that takes it, the N26 card can't do anything about it.
I do not understand why you state "I do not recommend this card because the bank is already dishonest with its affiliates, which does not bode well for customers" I have an account with them and I am completely satisfied
This site is partially funded by affiliate links, we receive a few cents when visitors click on a link and sign up for a program and the price does not change for the visitor (as noted at the bottom of all pages on the site).
And in this field, there are many scammers including N26, I put the N26 affiliate link which was correct at first which received a lot of visits but was not recognized by N26 and they refused to respond about it via support for several months.
As I left a negative comment and pointed it out to them, they finally contacted me to say that the link on their site had a problem, they're dishonest people because this article received a huge number of visits.
Personally, if there's a rotten branch on the tree, it doesn't make me want to climb it…
It was a very interesting bank at one time, now there are many competitors with better offers like Revolut or, the one I chose because I travel a lot and it's great to be able to manage a multi-currency account, Transferwise.
Hello Pierreto,
Having a multi-currency account with TransferWise, including one in Thai baht, I suppose, can you tell us if, when withdrawing from ATMs, Thai banks charge you the 220 THB fee, because normally, the card debits from your THB account (no EUR/THB conversion like with an N26 card for example)?
In fact, I would like to know if ATMs charge 220 THB because they detect that the card's bank is not Thai or because the card's currency is not baht.
Yes, they charge the tax, it's for all foreign cards.
I am with Fortuneo, which has issued me two free MasterCard gold cards (joint account)
. No fees for foreign transactions or fees in France for ATM withdrawals. It's much better than the previous service for me (postal bank 2 or 3% fees + €20 commission - to be checked currently as I haven't made any of these supplementary withdrawals for a long time)
. On the other hand, the exchange rate applied is less favorable than street currency exchange. Same in Thai banks or at the airport. We have known this for a long time.
And it's impossible to avoid the 220 baht deducted by Thai banks for ATM withdrawals.
Total gratuity is never for free. Banks will always find ways to charge customers.
Some online banks now offer the same type of card as Fortuneo. It's already much better than before, when payments and withdrawals with CC were an exception for me. Competition is beneficial.
Hello,
I have long been a merchant importing from Thailand, so the exchange fees were often a matter of hundreds, if not thousands, of euros…
I have come to the conclusion that bringing cash is by far the most profitable solution by exchanging at Superrichthailand (which has closed its office at the airport).
You need to go to the downtown Bangkok office 'Rajmari'.
You should know, as mentioned earlier, but incorrectly, there is no limit on cash deposits in Thailand; only the export of Baht is regulated.
So far, in France, to be able to circulate with more than €10,000 in cash, you must be able to justify the origin of the funds, even on the streets of France.
If you are traveling and have withdrawn money from your account, the receipt alone will suffice.
For expats, opening a local account seems essential, as it's easy, inexpensive, and for some visas, it's simply mandatory.
I use Wise for account-to-account transfers only, it's good, but more expensive than Superrich Thailand.
If the amounts transferred are low, a few thousand euros, the taxi to the center of Bangkok will eat up the difference in the exchange rate.
In short, for expats a Thai account is essential, for others cash and superrichthziland can help you gain 10/20% of purchasing power during your stay…
Forget the ATMs, and if you exchange: never at the bank (neither in Thailand nor in France) and always go around the various currency exchange offices.
In general, the one located right in the middle of the airport upon arrival is a "joke".
At Suvarnabhumi every 100 m, you earn 1%, it's worth waiting and walking…
I was going to forget in Chiang Mai, there is Mr Pierre exchange on Thapei Road, good rate…
No issues with N26 for 3 years.