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Banknotes and coins from different countries

Travel Tips · Money

Money in Asia: Cash, Cards & Avoiding Bad Exchange Rates

Where cash still rules, which ATMs to use, and how to avoid quietly losing money on every transaction.

6 min readUpdated 27 August 2026

Guide in progress — this page uses placeholder content and will be updated with first-hand experience, photos and verified details.

Asia is not one payment culture. Singapore and South Korea are close to cashless; Japan and Vietnam still run large parts of daily life on notes and coins. Getting this wrong is the most common way travellers lose money without noticing.

Cash versus card, country by country

  • Japan — cards are widely accepted in hotels, chains and department stores, but small restaurants, shrines, markets and older shops are cash-only. Carry more cash than feels normal.
  • Vietnam — hotels and larger restaurants take cards; street food, markets and small cafés do not. Carry small notes, and take a moment to learn the notes, as several are similar in colour.
  • Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia — largely cashless; contactless works nearly everywhere.
  • Thailand — mixed, and increasingly QR-based for locals. Cash still matters at markets.

ATMs

Use ATMs attached to a real bank branch rather than free-standing machines in tourist areas — the rates and fees are better and the machines are more secure.

In Japan specifically, not every ATM accepts foreign cards. 7-Eleven and Japan Post ATMs reliably do, and both are everywhere.

Withdraw larger amounts less often. Most fees are per transaction, so four withdrawals cost four times as much as one.

Dynamic currency conversion — the quiet fee

When an ATM or card terminal offers to charge you in your home currency instead of the local one, decline. Paying in the local currency and letting your own bank convert is almost always cheaper. The offered rate includes a margin you never see quoted.

Cards worth carrying

  1. A main card with low or no foreign transaction fees.
  2. A second card on a different network, kept somewhere separate from the first.
  3. A small emergency cash reserve in USD, which is exchangeable almost anywhere.

Tell your bank where you are going, or set travel notices in the app, so a legitimate transaction abroad doesn't freeze the card.

Small habits that help

  • Keep a day's spending money separate from your reserve.
  • Break large notes early — small vendors often can't change them.
  • Check the currency on the terminal screen before you tap, not after.

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