US dollar to Vietnamese dong currency exchange?

Question

I am traveling to Vietnam in a week and a half and have a few questions. What is the conversion rate? Is it best to exchange money in the US or in Vietnam? How much do you think I may need for a 3 week stay in Vietnam? Thank you!

Answer 1

I recently returned from living in VN for 4 years. During that time I used my ATM card - I never cashed a travelers check, and maybe changed US$ 2 or 3 times. ANZ and Citibank cash machines are available in Ha Noi and no doubt HCMC. Smaller towns have ATMs as well, but the ones I saw in Phan Rang for instance required a 5 digit pin, and my ATM cards only have 4 digit pins - so I made sure I cashed up in Ha Noi before heading to the hinterlands.

Answer 2

Your question has really been answered already, but if you want up to date exchange rate check out http://xe.com

Have a great trip!

Answer 3

It's 15'000 dawm per dollar.  

It use to be higher & the most dominant exchange in Vietnam, but our country(the U.S.) is falling back. Plus- it may be different when you're over in Vietnam, due to scammers & crooks, especially in the South.

Answer 4

First of all i would like to say to the person before me, stop making ignorant comments.... again. South vietnam has a lot of crooks? Do NOT generalize. There are differnt types of people everywhere!

1 dollar = 16,000 dong

a bowl of noodles in Saigon (average restaurant)= 13,000-25,000 d

4 delicious dishes at a fancy restaurant (Saigon)= 200,000-350,000

You can find different things for different prices everywhere. If you eat out in fancy restaurants, it will be a lot more expensive then eating at a small restaurant. Same with clothes. If you go to a shop that has good service and mannequins outside the shop, chances are, clothes will be more expensive (around 150,000 per shirt), but if you go to a market or average shop it'll be half the price or even cheaper. Be careful, some people like to rip you off too.

For three weeks stay, its really hard to say. Are you planning on going to the clubs? Because that will be expensive. My sister in law and brother go to the clubs a lot and spend about 100 us dollars per night there becaue alcohol is expensive there.

But if you're just doing some regular sightseeing and eating out, i would think you need to bring 500 dollars. But i'm not so sure.

Best bet is bring as much as you can. If you don't spend all of it, then it won't hurt to bring it back home. Good luck and have fun.

Beware: public bathrooms, mosquitos, ripoffs, weather (extrememly hot in spring, summer, and fall. Very humid, it'll be hard just to pull your pants up. I'm serious too).

Answer 5

Swarty gave a good answer if you use the budget hotels and most are quite nice.  If you like luxery then you had better budget more.  The larger hotels have some prices like in the States.  

Don't think you can buy Dong in the US.  There are plenty of Banks, Jewelry Stores and ATM's in the larger cities to take care of your needs. Cheers

Answer 6

1 USD = 16,118 VND

Should change to VND currency .

Average room per day in VN : 30~ 35USD x 3 weeks = 630  ~ 735 USD

( u can rent a house for temporary stay , maybe cheaper )

Eating ... Averagre 10~15USD per day x 3 weeks = 210~ 325 USD

Transportation : 15USD x 3 weeks = 315 USD

other fee 150USD more

TOTAL 1,305 ~ 1,525 USD

This amount is for normal tourist ... howevere u can save with budget service abt 500~700USD .

Stay fun ;)