I am travelling to laos next month, I was wondering with $aus 1.05 to 1 $us what would be better currency to take, or is the laos kip at a fixed rate to $us or what about thai baht, does kip fluctuate against the baht ?

thankyou for your assistance

regards songhklasid

Best money? Depends on where you're going. Kip is always acceptable. U.S. $$$, usually so, but not out in the bush. Thai baht, only in the main cities, which would normally be on the border, altho there are traders in Phonsavanh who could exchange baht to kip, and the Craters Restaurant takes baht, and several other currencies.

There is some fluctuation between the baht and the kip but not a lot. You can track it here: http://www.bol.gov.la/english/index1.php

Mac

Kip is always acceptable.

Mac

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Last time I visited Vientiene the Taxi drivers would only accept Baht and didn't want to take Kip, so having some baht is always handy

Unless you're buying something very very expensive, its really not a consideration. The swing against the THB is about 10kip per Baht. Meaning that unless you are buying a home or planning to stay a long time, you're not really going to feel any difference using any of the currencies listed. Personally, I do my best the stick with Thai Baht. Its a currency I know, and have a good feeling for buying power. Once you cross the border, you will have people throwing different currency numbers at you, purposely trying to confuse you. A Tuk-tuk ride will be offered for $10, 200B, 50,000 kip.... etc. Best to stick with one currency and go with it.

BTW, the 50K is the cheapest above, and looking at it written out makes it seem simple, but in rapid fire, not so much.

I'm just back from my 10th trip to Laos. If you only go to big cities, USD, THB and Kip are all equally acceptable. In some border areas you'll be able to use CNY and VND too. If you go off the beaten path you'll only be able to use Kip and even if someone does accept THB or USD you won't get a good rate. And in my experience, no matter what currency you use, you will always get change in kip. Other than banks, I've never seen anyplace that accepted AUD.

If you're looking to get the best exchange rates, use your ATM card and make all your purchases in Kip.

If you're looking to get the best exchange rates, use your ATM card and make all your purchases in Kip.

No! ATM / home bank exchange rates are terrible. Best to bring USD or Baht and exchange at the local banks, the spread is about 0.5% for note conversion, see for example:

http://www.bcel.com.la/en/ExchangeRate.aspx

You buy 1 US Dollar: 8024 Lao Kip

You sell 1 US Dollar: 8063 Lao Kip

Interbank rates (you'll get worse than this at ATMs), for some reason, are much worse:

http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic?user=printable&exch=USD&value=1&expr=LAK&date_fmt=us&margin_fixed=0&date=04/15/11〈=en

You buy 1 US Dollar : 8,137.75 Lao Kip

You sell 1 US Dollar : 7,959.76 Lao Kip

If u really want to economise u'll need baht, kip and dollars. If the main price is quoted in one of the three currencies, then it will 95% of the time be cheaper to pay in this currency.