Carrying money in Thailand- Cash or prepaid card ?

It is one of the common questions that pops in our mind. You probably would have read and heard so many pickpocket experiences which you yourself may or may not face. When we were at Thailand we never came across any such experiences (thankfully!). We indeed felt as safe as our native country, but, you will never know.

We did follow some basic rules like 

• keeping wallet in the front pocket
• keeping most of the money in the hotel safe and carrying only the required amount
• ladies may avoid carrying big handbags
• finally, if you are carrying a backpack which contains your camera its advisable to wear it on the front side

Foreign exchange rates for Thai baht are better when you exchange them in your country. There are many ways to do that.

What we did

                         

We booked through www.bookmyforex.com, who delivered the foreign exchange right at our doorstep, within 2-3 days of placing the order. We took both cash and a Forex card with a 60-40 split, but looking back, the card was pretty much useless, and we had to withdraw most of the money from the Forex card through an ATM, against a fee of 200 baht. 

Foreign exchange in Thailand

Exchange rates available at the Airport are usually high so it's advisable not to use facilities there unless one is in dire need of local currency. Super Rich outlets are available in the major BTS stations but we found the the rates were pretty high and also, they might refuse to accept some currencies.

Using a Debit Card

                       

We inquired at some counters at the Don Mueng airport (on our way from bangkok to Krabi) for the exchange rate and found them pretty high. For example, if the exchange rate was 1 THB for 1.9 INR, these counters were charging 2.5 INR for 1 THB. Hence we decided to withdraw money from the ATM using our international debit card. It turned out to be a wise decision as exchange rate was close to our expectation and only 200 THB were charged as the transaction cost. 

Using a Credit card

Do not have any personal experience to share; all the travel websites warned against high Exchange rates as well as higher interest rates and transaction rates for using credit cards. As a result, we stayed away from using credit cards, and frankly, didn't see a need for it as well.