Hi all. I'm about to head off to VienTianne tonight. I'm wondering what the ATM situation is like as I haven't been there since 2004 when there was just one ATM. What are the chances there's a BKK bank ATM in the city ? As for exchange rates, should I bring in lots of dollars as I'll get a better exchange rate here for baht than in Lao going baht-> dollars ?

Anybody have a favorite hotel or guesthouse that runs about 500 baht/night they wanna let me know about ? It's much appreciated.

Thanks.

RTD

Did 2 nights in Vientiane short while ago - ATM cards !!! would not accept my SCB card, but would show me balance ( very multi multi millions !!!, but in kip)

For me the best area for 500 -700 baht is the mixlay area - plenty bars & eating places

Baht or Dollars work fine just about everywhere in vientiane.

Most businesses like restaurants will give you a print out for the price in 3 currencies.

Keep an eye on small vendors who may try to give you a less favorable exchange rate.

I was one week ago, if you have a ATM elecronic VISA account card fm any Thai Bank you can take money in many ATM machine, along the boulevard (Mekong River ) have 5 - 6, seldom domestic bank don't accept foreign cards. So no worry 37 Bath about 10'000 Kip but charge betqeen 12' to 15'000 Kip per transfer so better take 1 million = 3715 THB each time.

All atm's accept credit cards, (lao development bank, and ecl), maestro cards are accepted by anz, all three mentioned banks have several atm's throughout the city, the situation has been vastly improved from say 5 years ago. I prefer to pay for everything in Kip, it turns out to be a tad cheaper this way. Of course for the Lao visa, you can't pay in Kip. Paying for that visa in Tbh will mean you are very likely to pay about 500 baht more for the visa as opposed to paying in USD.