I will be visiting Vietnam in February. Doing the stretch of the country. Hanoi-Hue-Hoi An-Saigon.
I was wondering how often I can expect to be able to use my Monzo to pay for goods? Our hotels and flights, the big stuff, are already paid for. Can we expect to mostly rely on cash for food and drinks etc?
spent more than 6 months travelling Vietnam. It’s a fast growing society with tech but still massively cash based for many restaurants. However you can use your card a lot in shops like the 7/11 type big chain shops and the nicer stores in the malls, even Apple Pay on my phone in Starbucks. I’d end up using my card wherever possible and having a chunk of cash in the places that only accept cash, which was often at restaurants. the good thing is if you go to the right ATMs it can be free to withdraw cash or if not free you can find ATMs that only charge £1 odd to withdraw. You can use Grab Taxi which is Asia’s equivalent of Uber, Grab Taxi actually bought Uber out in Asia, then everything is tracked and paid for without cash to avoid dodgy drivers taking you on long routes, plus Grab taxi is way cheaper than the usual white and green taxis.
Hey Dear
Vietnam in February sounds amazing The weather should be pretty comfortable cooler in the north and warm down south Are you planning to stick to one region or travel across the country?
Also just a heads up some areas can be tricky to get around especially if you are hopping between cities A few travelers I know found it helpful to arrange trusted local transport ahead of time For trips in other countries I seen services like VipRide4U Limousine come in handy for that kind of thing.What on your must see list while you are there?
The previous post was Jan 2023 so I would assume that they have been to Vietnam by now
Vietnam’s biggest bank holiday, equivalent to UK’s Christmas is Tết holiday, aka Lunar New Year (or Spring Festival as it’s called in China) tends to fall around mid Feb. E.g. this year, Lunar New Year’s day falls on 17th Feb.
The weather in Northern VN is not great during this time as it can get cold and humid. Mixed with the pollution and hectic pre-holiday mania, you might not have the best possible experience in VN tbh.
I like going there just after Mid-Autumn festival (around late Sept-Oct time) as the temperature drops to a pleasant level, unfortunately that’s when the typhoon season starts in Central and Southern region. I think to get the best weather out of all 3 regions you’d need to go around Nov-December time when winter in the North is still bearable and the typhoon season has ended in the southern half of the country.
Monzo works really well in VN, and after Covid, A2A rules the market. You will notice only foreigners fumble around with cash as locals are all doing instant bank transfers. I find TPBank ATMs and VTMs (virtual bank branches with instant video call support) are the best as they don’t charge fees and placed in well lit areas.
@AlanDoe Could this be merged into the Monzo in VN Wiki please?
I have been using an app, “Moreta Pay”, for almost my entire time in Vietnam that allows you to make QR code based transfers. Deposits are $1.50 flat fee via card, or free via bank and crypto
I’ve just got back from Hanoi (great place, highly recommend), every ATM I used charged a fee, cheapest was 66k highest was 99k.
I used Chase since Monzo nuked their free withdrawals over the measly £200 limit, no issues.
7/11 and Circle K took debit/credit card. Everywhere else was pretty much cash only.
Thanks for sharing. 
I’ll make note of that for my next SEA trip. 
Yes, people didn’t like it when the gov started taxing their gross earnings instead of net.