Cash Culture & ATMs

Thailand is both more cash-driven and more digitally advanced than most visitors expect. Cards are the awkward option in the middle.

Where cards work

Fine at hotels, malls, supermarkets and restaurants aimed at visitors. Useless at markets, street food, songthaews, small local restaurants and massage shops — which is to say, most of what you will remember about the trip.

Carry cash. A couple of thousand baht covers an ordinary day, and small notes matter: breaking a 1,000 at a food stall is genuinely awkward.

Always decline the conversion

When an ATM or card machine offers to charge you in your home currency instead of baht, say no. That option uses a poor rate and costs you a few percent every time. Choose baht.

Practical habits

• Break big notes at supermarkets and 7-Eleven, where nobody minds
• Tell your bank you are travelling, or expect a block at the worst moment
• Bank branches and exchange booths in town beat airport counters on rate, usually by a lot
• Count your change without making a performance of it — mistakes happen and are rarely deliberate

Thailand’s QR payment system is excellent and used by everyone, but it runs off a Thai bank account, so it is mostly for residents rather than visitors.