Cambodia/Vietnam - cash?

Going to Cambodia and Vietnam for a few weeks. Should I bring cash (dollars? euros?) or are ATMs widely available? Which payment method do guest houses, tour companies etc prefer?

TIA!

Depending on where in each country you go you should be ok for bank machines, if its gonna be a quick run around Phenom pehn , Siam Reap , HCMC,Da nang, Hanoi etc etc ( on the beaten track) you should be ok relying on ATM's.
In my experience there i would do no harm to have say $100-150 in $5 and $10 bills, v useful.
Enjoy

Was in Vietnam last month, mainly on the well beaten tourist path: ATMs are generally available (1% charge + Irish bank charge). Credit cards (Visa) are generally accepted but with a 3-4% handling charge. Hotels & Jewlery shops (& some other businesses) will change dollars, usually at good rates ($1 = 16,000 dong which some would give, others gave 15,500). People will accept dollars for payment also (small denominations), but will give change in local currency.

You can pay in both countries in dollars, in Cambodia almost in preference to the riel.
You can change Euros in both countries although in Cambodia it is converted to dollars and most banks give a terrible rate so it would be cheaper to convert into dollars in Vietnam - hotels there gave a very good rate, whether intentionally or not I don't know.
I found moneychangers very expensive in Vietnam and the main bank has a max withdrawa of about 80 euros - about 75 million dong
ATMs in Cambodia are reasonably common, especially if you are doing the usual Phnomh Penh, Siam Riep, Sihanoukville route. No AMEX though.
All tourist companies quote prices in dollars, and like payment in it too.

Don't take out too much vietnamese currency over there - you can buy Dong but you can't sell it back - ANYWHERE! Not even in the currency exchange counter in Hanoi Airport. My friend had 100 euros worth of dong and couldn't get rid of it until someone else went over this year.

Also, When booking your hotels - use the Rough Guide. I would not just show up and pick something up. When you book the hotel (through the guide) - arrange for the hotel to send a taxi to pick you up at the airport. It will only cost 10 dollars but its a lot safer.

We had a bad experience in one hotel - we just picked any taxi at the airport - he took us to a different (and dodgy) hotel of the same name as the one we booked (there are 30 hotels there with the same name - I gave him the exact address - he knew what he was doing). The hotel staff tried to overchange as when we checked-in. We said no thanks - they locked us in, wouldn't let us until we paid (ordinarily I would have told them to f-off but the meat cleaver one guy had pursuaded me otherwise).

Not trying to put you off going -its a beautiful place with nice people. You just need to be extra safe.

The few times I used an ATM I took out 2,000,000 dong at a time (approx €100), not sure what the upper limit was. God, Vietnam was so cheap!

Take Dollars. I had trouble finding ATM's in Pnom Penh & even more so in Siem Reap. Pay for accomodation with cash, they seem to prefer dollars.

I did this route 2 years ago and can't remember any problems with getting cash, always keep a supply of small denomination dollars as a backup- they are welcome everywhere. And I would avoid using credit cards as much as possible.As previous posters mentioned, get rid of local currencies before leaving both countries.

As regards accomodation, insist on seeing the room before you agree to taking it - its common practice in both countries.

I'd recommend a visit to Halong bay, its simply beautiful. We did a 3day boat trip for $50 including food - great seafood! And not forgetting Hoi'An for tailors.

shilling said:

Take Dollars. I had trouble finding ATM's in Pnom Penh & even more so in Siem Reap. Pay for accomodation with cash, they seem to prefer dollars.

Click to expand...

www.canbypublications.com/siemreap/srbanks.htm

The internet was very useful for finding ATMs, the link above has lists for other towns as well with decent details on the locations. The free street maps in the hotels often have the ATMs marked on them as well.
I usually paid cash too although I used credit cards when the option was readily accepted without surcharge - fancy places like the FCC.

I didn't think ATM machines were in cambodia, I was there approx 3 years ago and there weren't any to be gotten. Had get a taxi back to Thailand, had just enough money left for that. Has anyone else gotten the "white Toyota Camry.... " along the dirt roads ....

I think the official line is that local currency must be used but in reality USD's are the preferred currency by traders. I also think that it's a restricted currency (the Vietnamese dong that is) and that you can't take it out of the country. Therefore you should be very careful about ending up with 0000's of dong at the end of your trip.

On my travels in Vietnam, 5 yrs ago, I only encountered ATM's in Hanoi and Hoi Chi Minh. I had US Travellers Cheques with me and didn't have too many probs cashing these for USD's. The transaction charge was very low too.

As has been mentioned before the exchange rate for USD to Vietnamese Dong is about 1:15,000 but it is possible to get Dong notes (no coins) in denominations as low as 200 Dong. Therefore you end up carrying quite a wedge of dong and you find yourself having to closely read each note to count the 0's.

Final bit of advice, not about cash but rather tailoring in Hoi An, there are some great garments to be bought there but don't make the same mistake as I did. I bought several suits but didn't account for the fact that I had lost a fair bit of weight on my travels around SE Asia. I only got to wear the suits a handful of times before I returned to my regular proportions!!