Tip · Withdraw the maximum you're comfortable carrying in one go, in Thai baht, and read the fee line on the screen before you confirm. SuperRich (orange or green) in the city beats any airport counter, except the SuperRich booth in the Suvarnabhumi basement.
Most tourists exchange money at the airport. That's a mistake. I used to do it myself out of habit, until I did the maths on one trip and realised the airport rate had cost me around 600 baht on a single 20,000 baht exchange, compared to what SuperRich in the city would have given me. That's a couple of good dinners handed to a currency booth for nothing.
The ATM costs you more than any booth, and the fee went up in 2026. Thailand uses the Thai baht (THB), and a large part of the trip is still cash only: markets, street food, songthaews, boats, most guesthouses outside the cities. So you'll be using an ATM at some point, and how you use it matters more than which booth you pick.
My actual setup: a Revolut card for anything that takes cards, one big ATM withdrawal at a time for everything that doesn't, and a small amount exchanged at SuperRich if I happen to have foreign notes on me.
The ATM fee went up in 2026
For years every big-bank ATM in Thailand charged a foreign card a flat 220 baht per withdrawal, and most guides still quote that number. In 2026 the fee tables at Kasikorn, Krungsri, SCB and the Government Savings Bank all list 250 baht for a Visa or UnionPay card and 350 baht for a Mastercard, and the remaining big banks are reported to be at the same level. Some machines may still show 220 for a while; the point is that the number is no longer fixed and no longer the same for every card.
The machine tells you the fee on screen before you confirm, so read that line rather than trusting any guide, including this one. Your own bank adds its cut on top, typically 1 to 3 percent plus a flat charge, unless your bank waives foreign withdrawals.
AEON ATMs are the exception at 150 baht. You'll find them inside malls and at Lotus's and Big C branches. Worth using if you're there anyway, not worth a taxi across town.
How to lose less to the fee
The fee is per withdrawal, not per amount, so the only real defence is to withdraw big and rarely. Most machines cap a single withdrawal at 20,000 baht, some at 25,000 or 30,000, and your home bank's daily limit applies on top of that. Withdraw the maximum you're comfortable carrying and don't touch an ATM again for a couple of weeks.
To put it in numbers: four withdrawals of 5,000 baht cost you 1,000 to 1,400 baht in Thai fees, against 250 to 350 for one withdrawal of 20,000. The difference is a night's accommodation in most of the country.
At the banks that split the fee by network (Kasikorn, Krungsri, SCB and the Government Savings Bank at the time of writing), a Visa is 100 baht cheaper per withdrawal than a Mastercard, so if you carry both, try the Visa first and check the screen. Revolut and Wise do not refund the Thai bank's fee. A few home bank accounts do (some US and UK banks advertise it), so check yours before you fly rather than assuming.
Decline the currency conversion (DCC)
After the fee screen, the ATM offers to charge you in your home currency and shows you a rate that looks fine. This is dynamic currency conversion, or DCC. The rate is a few percent worse than what your card would get by itself, and it's dressed up as a convenience.
Say no. Choose "THB", "Thai baht", "without conversion", "decline conversion" or whatever wording puts the conversion on your bank instead of the Thai machine. The button that says "continue" or "accept" next to a rate in your home currency is the trap. Some machines ask twice.
Card terminals in hotels and larger restaurants do exactly the same thing at checkout. If the staff ask "baht or euro?", or the terminal shows a total in your currency, the answer is always baht.
Where cards work, and where they don't
Bangkok takes cards in more places than people expect: malls, department stores, chain restaurants, hotels, pharmacies, Grab, and 7-Eleven. The rest of the trip is cash.
Two limits catch people out:
- 7-Eleven has a 200 baht minimum for cards. Below that it's cash, or a Thai wallet app you won't have. Visa, Mastercard and Apple Pay all work above 200 baht, and the minimum applies to contactless too. If you're buying a 20 baht water, have coins.
- Small shops and restaurants set their own minimum, usually 200 to 500 baht, or add a flat 100 baht or around 3 percent for cards. The surcharge is technically against the card networks' rules, but it's common enough that it's worth asking before you order if you're planning to pay by card. Occasionally you'll see a 1,000 baht minimum. Cash is simpler.
Cash only, in practice: markets, street food, songthaews, motorbike taxis, tuk-tuks, longtail boats and most island ferries bought at the pier, national park entry, laundry, small guesthouses outside the cities, and almost everything on a small island.
PromptPay QR codes need a Thai bank account
Every stall, taxi and noodle shop in Thailand has a PromptPay QR code taped to the counter, and you'll watch every local pay with a phone. That system needs a Thai bank account. Apps from a handful of Asian countries are linked into it (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Hong Kong, South Korea and China at the time of writing, which covers Alipay and WeChat Pay), so if your bank app is from one of those, check whether it scans Thai QR. If you're coming from Europe, North America or Australia, it doesn't. Revolut and Wise can't scan it either, whatever the sign says.
There are tourist prepaid wallets that get around this (the TAGTHAi app and Kasikorn's prepaid tourist card, plus a government crypto-to-baht pilot). I haven't used any of them and wouldn't bother for a two-week trip. One big withdrawal covers the same ground with less setup.
Exchange booths: where to go and what to bring
If you do arrive with foreign notes, skip the counters in the arrivals hall. The rate difference against the city is real and adds up fast on anything beyond first-day money.
Suvarnabhumi has one exception. There's a SuperRich booth on the basement floor by the Airport Rail Link, and it gives close to the city rate. The counters upstairs in arrivals don't. Go down one level before you exchange anything. At Don Mueang there's no equivalent, so change a little and do the rest in town.
In town, SuperRich. Two separate companies share the name, and both are good: SuperRich Thailand (green) and SuperRich 1965 (orange). Their main branches sit near Ratchadamri and Ratchaprasong in central Bangkok, with smaller counters in malls and near BTS stations. The rates are usually within a few satang of each other, so pick whichever is closer. A busy booth is a good sign.
Bring your passport. Licensed money changers have to record it now, even for small amounts, and they'll refuse you without it. The bigger offices photocopy it for you.
Bring clean, recent notes. A torn, written-on or old-series bill gets a worse rate or gets refused outright. This matters most for US dollars, where 100s in good condition get the best rate and small or old notes get less.
Outside Bangkok, rates at licensed booths in Chiang Mai, Phuket and Krabi are a little worse than SuperRich but fine. Hotel reception is the worst place to exchange in Thailand. Exchanging at home before you fly is worse still; I've never had a rate there come close to a Bangkok booth. Bring your own currency in notes if you want to exchange, or skip the booths and use the ATM once.
Revolut and Wise
Both let you pay in baht at close to the real exchange rate, with no foreign transaction fee, which makes them the right card for everything that takes cards.
Revolut is what I use for day-to-day spending. Its free plan waives Revolut's own withdrawal fee up to a monthly allowance, and the paid plans allow more, but none of the plans refund the Thai bank's 250 to 350 baht. So the withdraw-big-and-rarely rule applies with Revolut too.
Wise is slightly better for transferring money internationally or paying someone in Thailand directly. Its debit card works at Thai ATMs with the same Thai fee applied.
Whichever you use, load the card with a little money before you fly and test it on a small purchase at home. Some foreign cards get rejected the first time in Thailand until you approve the transaction in the app, and the kerb with a taxi driver waiting is a bad place to find that out.
How much cash to carry
A rough number, if hotels and flights are on card: 1,000 baht a day per person in cash covers street food, markets, local transport and small entry fees in the cities with room to spare. Plan on double that on an island or in a small town, where more of the day is cash only, and add whatever you'll spend on boat trips and rentals, which are often cash too.
On that basis a 20,000 baht withdrawal lasts about ten days on the islands and closer to three weeks in a city. Keep it split between your wallet and your bag rather than all in one pocket. Cash is only part of the day, though. The budget guide has the whole daily spend, room and tours included, at three styles.
Money is one of four things to sort on day one. The others are covered in the SIM card guide, the airports guide and the Grab guide, and the whole first-day list is in the first-trip checklist.