Changing baht into kip before or after entering Laos?

[HamonRye]

I have a load of baht and am on my way to Laos so will be in need of kip.

 

Kip is a soft currency relatively speaking right?

 

So i should change the baht inside Laos right?

 

Cheers

[Laddy123]

I was in savannaket 2 days ago. Everyone accepted baht. Came back with 170k kip. 

[Cryingdick]

Change small amounts of baht into Kip. You can pay in Baht in many places but will usually not get a great rate. I am not saying they rip you off but any slack will obviously be rounded up. Exchange at gold shops in the market not waiting in the line at the bank and the exchange rate is often better than the bank itself. It is so easy to exchange that you should just exchange a bit as you need it,

 

Baht and dollars are preferred for some things, things imported from Thailand tend to be  priced in Baht so there is no exchange fluctuation. As a tourist you are unlikely to need to buy a tractor or propane tank imported from Thailand that was bought using Baht. 

 

For small purchases Kip is always preferred. 

[Briggsy]

On 4/6/2019 at 4:31 PM, HamonRye said:

So i should change the baht inside Laos right?

Yes. No problem to do this. Excellent rates inside Laos.

[Cryingdick]

I forgot to add that another reason not to use Baht is it is a sign you are probably a first time visitor to Laos. It’s. It’s not that they will rip you off on the exchange rate really. We all can use calculators on our phones. However they will likely want a higher price to start if they know you aren’t Ware of local pricing.