Currency in Vietnam: Money Guide to Dong, ATMs and Cards

The currency in Vietnam is the Vietnamese dong (VND, symbol ₫). At about 26,000 dong to the US dollar, a 100,000 note is just under 4 dollars. Pay in dong for nearly everything: US dollars are legal only at banks and licensed exchanges. Use ATMs at VPBank or ACB to dodge the usual 50,000 dong fee, and carry cash. Rates checked October 2026.

The maths that trips people up is the zeros. Knock four off and multiply by four: 250,000 dong is 25 times four, about 10 dollars. It is close enough to stop you overpaying in a market.

Vietnamese dong notes and how not to mix them up

Coins have dropped out of daily use, so everything you handle is a note. The six high values are plastic polymer, the small ones are still paper, and every note carries Ho Chi Minh on the front, which is why they blur together in a dim taxi.

The 20,000 and the 500,000 are both blue. Hand over the wrong one and you have paid 25 times what you meant. Most vendors are honest and hand it back, but a few count on you not checking. Keep the 500,000s in a separate pocket from your spending money and read the number before the note leaves your hand. The 10,000 and 200,000 cause the same trouble in poor light. Common tourist traps in Vietnam covers the other money tricks, including the short-changing that goes with this one.

The orange 200,000 is the one most often mistaken for a 10,000 in poor light.

Can you use US dollars in Vietnam?

Rarely, and you should not plan to. Under the State Bank of Vietnam's foreign exchange rules, prices, payments and contracts inside the country are meant to be in dong. The cases where foreign currency is allowed are licensed banks, exchange counters, duty free shops and some fees collected at border gates. Shops caught taking dollars can be fined, and it does happen, though rarely.

In practice a few hotels and tour desks in Hanoi and Saigon will quote or accept dollars, and the rate they give is always worse than the bank's. Bring dollars as a backup, not as spending money. Take clean, new, unfolded notes, because torn or marked bills get refused at exchange counters. Gold shops in the cities change dollars at good rates, but they are only legal if they hold an exchange licence.

ATMs in Vietnam: which banks charge a fee

Most Vietnamese bank ATMs charge foreign cards a flat fee of about 50,000 to 55,000 dong per withdrawal, roughly 2 dollars, and cap each withdrawal at 3 to 5 million. Your own bank may add its fee on top. A few banks are cheaper, and one that used to be free no longer is.

Fee policies change without notice, so read the screen before you confirm, and check your statement afterwards, since some travellers report a VPBank fee appearing a day later. With a flat fee, one large withdrawal costs less than three small ones.

Always choose to be charged in dong

Many ATMs and card machines ask whether to charge you in your home currency. Decline it. This is dynamic currency conversion, and the machine's own rate usually carries a markup of several per cent. Pick VND every time and let your card provider convert.

Are ATMs safe in Vietnam?

Yes, broadly. Use machines attached to a bank branch or inside a shopping centre rather than a lone kiosk on a dark street, cover the keypad, and take your card first, since some machines return the card before the cash. Card skimming is reported in Vietnam but is uncommon.

Cover the keypad and take your card before the cash.

Cards or cash in Vietnam?

Cash, with a card in reserve. Hotels, chain cafes, supermarkets, airlines and most tour companies take Visa and Mastercard, sometimes with a 2 to 3% surcharge. Street food stalls, markets, small homestays, local buses, parking and almost every cave ticket counter take cash only. Vietnamese people pay each other by scanning bank QR codes, which visitors without a local account cannot use.

Grab, the ride and food app, lets you pay by card or in cash to the driver. Adding a card avoids arguments about change, though some foreign cards get declined, so keep cash for that too. A short city ride costs about 20,000 to 75,000 dong.

What things cost in Vietnam in dong and dollars

Thirty dollars is about 780,000 dong, enough for a dorm bed, three street meals, a few beers and a Grab ride, which is close to a full backpacker day.

A bare-bones backpacker gets by on about 700,000 dong a day. Travelling Vietnam on an ultra low budget shows how, and what three days in Phong Nha cost breaks one region down line by line.

A street bowl is still under 3 dollars almost anywhere outside a hotel.

Changing money in Vietnam

The airport exchange counters at Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat give fair rates, better than most airports elsewhere, so changing enough for the first day is fine. In the cities, banks and licensed exchange shops beat hotels. Count your notes at the counter before walking away. Euros, pounds and Australian dollars change easily in Hanoi and Saigon and less easily in small towns.

Travel cards such as Wise and Revolut work well: you pay a near market rate on card spending, and their own ATM fee allowances combine nicely with VPBank's free machines. They do not stop the Vietnamese ATM fee at other banks.

Markets run on cash, and change is counted out by hand.

Money in rural Vietnam and Phong Nha

Away from the cities, cash matters more. Son Trach, the village at the gate of Phong Nha, has ATMs, but there are few of them and the free banks are not among them. Draw what you need in Dong Hoi or Hue before you arrive. Park ticket counters take cash, and so do most restaurants and the hostels covered in where to stay in Phong Nha.

Guided tours are different. Most are booked and paid ahead, so the biggest cost of the trip does not need a bag of cash; check the payment options when you book. What you do want in cash is the tip at the end. Tipping is not compulsory, but guides and porters on a multi-day trek expect something, and tipping culture in Vietnam gives the usual amounts. Phone signal drops out in the valleys, which matters if your bank sends a security code by text; eSIM and phone signal in Phong Nha explains where it works.

The ticket counter for this boardwalk takes cash, not cards. Photo: Nguyễn Dũng / Google Maps.