Best Places To Exchange Money in Bangkok

So you’re looking for the best rates and places to exchange money in Bangkok? You’re in the right place. After this article, you’ll know the best places to exchange money in Bangkok and which have the best rates, so you can avoid high fees when withdrawing. Put shortly, exchanging money at FOREX shops is the best way to save on fees in Thailand when getting baht, especially when ATMs in Thailand charge such high fees and give you pretty poor exchange rates.

Best Shops To Exchange Money in Bangkok

Central Rama 9 is the best area to go to exchange money. Although it is a bit further out from the city, you can find every bank exchange here on floor 5. You will also find an OH! Rich here. Get the MRT blue line from Silom or Sukhumvit and it will take about 30 minutes to arrive here.

You can additionally go to MBK and find a similar floor with bank foreign exchanges. This is more convenient if you’re going on a day out, as MBK is a tourist attraction that most visit and is in close proximity to China Town.

However, you can find these exchanges all around the city, so I have created an interactive map, so you can go to the one which is closest to your hotel.

Colour code:

• Purple (lighter) – Bangkok Bank
• Purple (darker) – Siam Commercial Bank
• Yellow – Krungsri Bank
• Light Blue – Krungthai Bank
• Green – OH! Rich

Please zoom in on the map to see all colours as some banks are located in the same place. Additionally you can use the layers to find the bank you’d like to go to.

Bangkok Bank – Best Foreign Exchange Rates

Bangkok Bank offers the next best exchange rate at about 45.67 baht to a £GBP, and 35.77 to a $USD. This is the highest rate you’ll find in the whole of Bangkok when exchanging money. No foreign exchange shop can offer you better than this, but it’s less convenient to find a Bangkok Bank than it is a private company foreign exchange. However, the ATM withdrawal isn’t as good as SCB (see below).

You can check the official foreign exchange rates here.

Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) – Best ATM Withdrawal

You can find bank exchanges in some malls. Central Rama 9 is a good place to go to find bank exchanges. SCB offers the best rate possible out of all of the banks and Foreign Exchanges. When I last went in 2024, they were offering 45.44 baht per £GBP, and 35.65 per $USD – that is a fantastic rate! Most private company exchanges (not banks) will offer around 44.5 – 44.9 baht to the GBP.

They also offer the best ATM exchange rate if you’re withdrawing baht. The last time I went it was at least 2-3 baht more per £GBP than all of the other banks, offering 44.95 baht to GBP. However, the maximum withdrawal is 10,000 baht, so if you want to withdraw a larger amount, you’ll be better off using one of the other banks, because, despite a worse conversion rate, you’ll only have to pay the 220 baht fee once.

This 220 baht fee is only applicable on ATM withdrawals.

You can check the official foreign exchange rates here.

Krungsri Bank (Best Exchange for Brits 🇬🇧)

Krungsri Bank offers the best exchange rate for British people. At 46.37 baht to £GBP you are getting at least 2 baht more per pound here vs the other bank exchanges. However, be careful with the buying rates when changing money back to your home currency as Krungsri is one of the lowest buying rates out of all the banks.

In this case you’ll want to shop around when you are exchanging money to return home, to see the best rates for purchasing your home currency.

Last time I went to Krungsri they were also selling 35.77 baht to the $USD, which is a fantastic rate for Americans too.

You can check the official rates on the day here.

Krungthai Bank

Krungthai is one of the poorer bank exchanges, offering 45.45 baht per £GBP and 35.6 baht per $USD. This is almost 1-2 baht less per £ or $ when compared to Krungsri or Bangkok Bank. We would avoid exchanging money here unless it is convenient for you to do so.

You can check the official rates on the day here.

Best Place to Visit To Exchange Money

One of the best malls you will find here with an OH! Rich, and every bank you can think of is in the Central Rama 9 area. Here you’ll find a mall just outside the MRT station (it should take you right inside). The shops are on the 5th floor, but you need to have cash to exchange money, or you’ll have to withdraw using your card from one of the ATMs there. If you do this, the best ATM to withdraw from with the best exchange rate is Siam Commercial Bank. However, if you’re withdrawing over 10,000 baht, it’s better to use Krungthai or Bangkok bank.

If you don’t want to go too far out, just go to any popular station like Sukhumvit, Silom, or anywhere else. You will find an exchange, but it might not provide the best rates.

What Not To Do When Exchanging Money in Bangkok & Thailand

The best one out of these three choices is exchanging money at the airport. If you need to, exchange using the foreign exchange from the airport.

Don’t Exchange At Airport

Therefore, the best thing to do is get a small amount (maybe 1000 baht), to get a taxi or use the airport rail link to get out of the airport and to a place where you can find a shop to get a Thai SIM card, and exchange money.

This is the best way to save money on both a SIM card and an exchange at the airport. By doing this you’ll also save money on your taxi, as they don’t add extra charges for coming from the airport.

Don’t Exchange At Home

Most of the exchanges at home will charge extra to exchange foreign currency. Rates you can get at home are somewhere between 42.5 baht to £GBP, or 32.5 baht to $USD. This is the same as in the airport, so if you’re going to exchange money, it’s probably best to do it in the airport over this.

I exchanged it at home for convenience but ended up paying a £15 premium (around $20 USD) to exchange it for Thai baht. If I’d have exchanged here in Thailand, that would have been an extra 700-900 baht. That’s at least a night in a cheaper hotel or a couple nights in a Hostel!

Don’t Use The ATMs Unless Needed

ATMs in Thailand charge a fee of 150 – 220 baht per withdrawal. Additionally, most ATMs have maximum withdrawals of 10,000 to 30,000 baht. The highest withdrawal limit is Krugthai Bank. You’ll want to use this over the other ATMs if you want to save money on fees. The rates of conversion are usually slightly better than the airport exchange, but depending on the amount you’re withdrawing, the fee can make it more expensive than the foreign exchange.

Don’t Exchange Home Currency To Something More Universal (Unless Necessary)

If you think you need to change to USD or a more popular currency, you probably don’t. Here in Thailand, they exchange most currencies as it’s one of the most popular destinations for tourists in the world.

wehatethecold

I’m Harry – and I was tired of the same old “10 best places I’ve never been but I’m writing about for some reason” blog posts. So… I’m a young traveller on a mission to travel the world and share my true, unfiltered experience, including all the gristly details. From packing my life into one bag for a year, to traveling Vietnam by motorbike, to sorting out Visas for specific countries – I’ve done it all, am doing it all and only give my advice on things I have done – not regurgitated cr*p from another source *cough* most publications *cough*. So bear with us! This project will take some time to grow, and will take a fair bit of money. But I’m determined to make it the single best source of information about traveling on the internet.