I was reading some of my site statistics and one of the Google search strings was: “where to buy baht in Toronto.” In short, DO NOT!
You will pay way over the top for the privilege; imagine how rare it is that Canada's Big Banks get requests for baht then imagine how much they will charge you!
ATMs are everywhere in Thailand. If you tripped over one, you would fall head first into another one. They are tucked away between stores along a street, in the lobbies of every building, in subway and Skytrain stations, big malls and tiny malls, in theatres, 7-11s and Family Marts, on and on.
There are regular ATMs and currency exchanges at the main Bangkok airport. I don’t know for sure whether the exchange rates are less advantageous there, but I’d change a little bit of currency and wait till you get downtown to change more. If you are arriving in the daytime, all you need is about 1,000 to 5,000 baht ($30-$150): public meter taxi 350 to 400 baht to get to a downtown hotel and maybe a few baht for water, cigarettes, drinks and whatever. Then you can go to a local exchange for bigger amounts.
Now, having said that, if you go to an ATM in Bangkok and draw on your Canadian account, you will pay 150 baht ($5 Cdn) on the Thai end for the privilege. Your bank back home will charge you an equally inflated fee of roughly $8-$10 and more, unless you’re a high roller and your bank waives such charges on international withdrawals. So with every ATM withdrawal, make it count.
Most Thai ATMs let you take out 20,000 ($680) maximum. But on the Canadian side, you’re usually limited to $500 (under 15,000 baht) per day. It is a security feature, of course, in case a traveller (or even someone at home) is forced to withdraw money in a robbery.
You will do a bit better if you bring your Canadian and U.S. travellers’ cheques because they trade at a more preferential rate and are exchangeable in any country. Even dollar bills get a pretty good rate at any of the hundreds of currency exchanges, almost all of them run by the big Thai banks. They’re usually open till 9 p.m., some later in heavy tourist districts.
And Canadian money is no problem. Any exchange will take them. The current exchange rate on the Canadian dollar is 30 baht. See currency exchange rates at Kasikorn Bank and Thai Military Bank.
Another thing you could do is what a Bangkok resident friend did. He got an instant credit card advance (a substantial one) at a currency exchange (in this case, Bangkok Bank), it cost him almost nothing; he went home online and immediately paid off the advance for a small charge.
Credit cards can be used at big stores, but I’d be wary of using them. I will use them for online airfares, hotels where I have stayed before, brand name department stores (Central, Robinson, Carrefour, Tesco Lotus, but you will pay a 3% surcharge on the total, VAT included), and some businesses that are likely to cater to big spending tourists.
But really, cash is king.
Always, always, have small denomination bills, such as 10 baht coins, 20 and 100 baht bills in your pocket for taxis, tickets and other small purchases. Since you’re going to look like a tourist -- and I can tell as well as the Thais -- some drivers and vendors will claim not to have change and you will be out 10 and 20 baht here and there. As well, the 7-11s and Family Marts are not as apt to want to change those 1,000 baht bills. It’s a lot of money in Thailand. As a resident myself, I horde 10s and 20s.
But bring baht to Thailand? No point.
