Quote:
Originally Posted by MrDK
[b]
Changing my money before coming to Thailand.
Basically the answer to this is Don't. You might lose as much as 10% if you do this.
There are two reasons why you get a better exchange rate inside Thailand than outside. - On-shore vs Off-shore rates (see below or THB - Now Have a 2-Tier Market by K2)
- The Thai baht is not a "world currency", hence foreign banks have a higher expense ratio keeping them in stock.
If you come from a country with a currency that is not readily accepted in Thailand you may want to exchange to US$, €uro, A$, UKŁ, etc. |
I don't completely agree with this statement. There might be exceptions.
Today I changed AED (Arab Emirates Dirham) into Thai Baht at Emirates Mall.
We got a very good exchange rate, a whopping 8.7 Baht per Dirham.
As you say, changing currency which is not readily accepted will get you no where in Thailand. We had our experience where they wanted to give us only 7 Baht tops for 1 AED. (Explanation: We no trust middle east money)
Now, changing AED into US$ or Pound Sterling first and then changing it again to Baht in Thailand doesn't sound like a good idea to me.