VND
Vietnamese Dong
200
200
VND banknote
200 VND banknote · Rice harvest and tractor
Vietnam
travel money guide
Money in Vietnam
Meet the dong before the first bowl of pho, market bargain or ride across town. Vietnam is easy to pay in once cash, cards and QR codes each get the job they can actually do.
CurrencyVietnamese dong
Banknotes200-500,000 dong
CoinsNot used
TippingOptional
Best setupCard + VND cash
The quick answer
Should you carry cash in Vietnam?
Let a low-fee card cover hotels and larger purchases, keep about 500,000-1,000,000 dong in useful notes, and treat a visible QR code as an invitation to check compatibility rather than a promise that every foreign wallet will work.
Cash still carries street food, markets and many small businesses. Cards are comfortable at hotels, malls and larger restaurants, while VietQR is deeply woven into domestic payments but does not automatically accept every visitor app. Vietnam has no coins in normal use, so the whole travel wallet is built from banknotes.
Read the zeroes in groupsSeparate 10,000, 100,000 and 500,000 before paying; colour helps, but the full numeral settles the value.
Give small notes the street jobs20,000, 50,000 and 100,000 dong notes are easier at stalls, cafes and local transport than one 500,000 note.
Test QR before relying on itVietQR can be everywhere while your particular foreign bank or wallet remains outside the participating network.
Meet the VND
Paper money
Vietnamese dong notes make their many zeroes surprisingly learnable: warm paper values lead into a colourful polymer ladder from 10,000 to 500,000 dong.
VND
Vietnamese Dong
500
500
VND banknote
500 VND banknote · Hai Phong harbour
VND
Vietnamese Dong
1,000
1,000
VND banknote
1,000 VND banknote · Elephant and timber
VND
Vietnamese Dong
2,000
2,000
VND banknote
2,000 VND banknote · Textile mill
VND
Vietnamese Dong
5,000
5,000
VND banknote
5,000 VND banknote · Tri An hydroelectric dam
VND
Vietnamese Dong
10,000
10,000
VND banknote
10,000 VND banknote · Bach Ho offshore oil field
VND
Vietnamese Dong
20,000
20,000
VND banknote
20,000 VND banknote · Japanese Covered Bridge in Hoi An
VND
Vietnamese Dong
50,000
50,000
VND banknote
50,000 VND banknote · Phu Văn Lâu & Nghênh Lương Đình, Huế
VND
Vietnamese Dong
100,000
100,000
VND banknote
100,000 VND banknote · Temple of Literature
VND
Vietnamese Dong
200,000
200,000
VND banknote
200,000 VND banknote · Ha Long Bay
VND
Vietnamese Dong
500,000
500,000
VND banknote
500,000 VND banknote · Kim Lien childhood homestead
Vietnam's notes move from harvests, ports and industry into a polymer journey through oil fields, Hoi An, Hue, Hanoi, Ha Long Bay and the Kim Lien homestead. The low paper values remain legal tender, although travellers are much more likely to handle the larger notes. Cash by Country artwork is an original, simplified interpretation and is not legal tender.
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Go deeper
Vietnam travel money guides
Vietnam's money becomes much simpler when each payment layer has a boundary: banknotes for street-level life, cards for formal businesses and QR only when both ends of the payment speak the same system.
Eleven notes, no coin pocket
Vietnamese Dong Banknotes
Learn the paper and polymer values, recognize their reverse-side landmarks and avoid confusing the two very different blue notes.
Meet the Vietnamese dong A local QR network is not a universal wallet
VietQR for Visitors
Understand what the familiar QR signs mean, where cross-border links exist and why cash and cards still belong beside the phone.
Decode the QR counter Cards in the city, dong at the edges
Cash, Cards and ATMs in Vietnam
Choose the right payment layer, withdraw useful denominations and keep ATM conversion offers from choosing the exchange rate for you.
Build the everyday wallet Small notes make the best market manners
Street Food, Markets and Small Cash
Pay smoothly at stalls, agree a price before the handover and keep the 500,000 dong note away from a tiny breakfast bill.
Pack the street pocket Kindness, not a compulsory percentage
Tipping and Restaurant Bills in Vietnam
Know when a tip feels natural, when the bill is already complete and how to leave a direct thank-you without importing a fixed rule.
Read the Vietnam bill Enough cash for the route, not the whole holiday
How Much Cash Should You Carry?
Build a practical first-day reserve, refill in stages and understand when a very large amount of cash must be declared.
Size the dong reserve
Source desk
The Vietnam source desk
Sources include the State Bank of Vietnam, Vietnam's official tourism site, the Government legal-document portal and NAPAS.