How to exchange currency and withdraw cash in Hanoi, Vietnam (which foreign cards work at ATMs)?

From messages by 3 participants in 2 sources · Last activity: 85 days ago

TL;DR

Best exchange rates are at gold/jewelry shops (tiệm vàng), not banks or malls; Russian MIR cards don't work at Hanoi ATMs, so bring cash or a UnionPay card; you can open a local VND account with just a foreign passport at banks like Vietcombank.

What the community said

You can open a local bank account in Vietnam with just a foreign passport — banks like Vietcombank or VPBank issue a VND card that's handy for local payments and transfers.

Vietcombank / VPBank

As an alternative to opening a local account, virtual cards like Wise or Revolut, topped up from abroad, are accepted in many places around Hanoi.

Wise / Revolut

Russian MIR cards don't work at Hanoi ATMs — they've been unsupported by local banks since 2022.

MIR cards not accepted

A working option is UnionPay cards issued by Russian banks — they're accepted at ATMs of major banks like Vietcombank, BIDV, and Agribank.

UnionPay cards

The best currency exchange rate in Hanoi isn't at banks or malls — it's at gold/jewelry shops (tiệm vàng); many are concentrated on Ha Trung street in the Old Quarter.

Ha Trung street, jewelry shops

You can also exchange currency at shopping malls, but the rate is noticeably worse than at jewelry shops — fine only for small amounts.

Malls — worse rate