Dealing with Taiwan Dollars and a Bit of Confusion at the Airport Exchange

Going to Taiwan for a short trip recently. It wasn’t a long vacation or anything, just a quick 3 nights, 4 days. I thought I had everything figured out, but money stuff always trips me up a little. Especially when it comes to foreign currency exchange. This time, it was the Taiwan dollar, or New Taiwan Dollar (NTD).

So, before I left, I did the usual thing. I looked up how much money to bring for a 3-person family for 4 days. Lots of blogs and forums give advice, and they usually say to use cards as much as possible, but also to have some cash. The advice about how much cash for Taiwan was all over the place. Some said 5000 NTD, others 10000 NTD per person. I have an EasyCard, which is supposed to cover most transport and some shops, so I figured I’d put money on that. The question was, how much cash should I actually exchange beforehand?

I ended up exchanging some US dollars at my local bank in Korea. It’s always a bit of a hassle, and I wasn’t sure if I was getting a good rate. The bank guy looked at me like I was asking for something complicated. He gave me NTD. I think I got maybe 10,000 NTD in total, which felt like a lot to carry, but also maybe not enough.

When I got to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, I saw the exchange counters. They looked really official, with big signs showing rates. I had this thought in the back of my head, maybe I should just exchange more dollars here? But then I remembered reading that airport exchange rates are usually not the best. So, I decided to stick with what I had. I used the EasyCard for the bus to the city, which was super convenient.

My initial thought was to exchange USD to NTD at the airport. But after getting some NTD in Korea, I felt a bit more secure. I still had a small amount of US dollars with me, just in case. I remember seeing a sign for a bank within the airport arrivals hall, and it had exchange rates listed. It looked like they would exchange USD to NTD, but also NTD back to USD. I wasn’t planning on exchanging back, but it was interesting to see. The rates weren’t amazing, but probably better than what I might have gotten at a random street money changer, which I was told to avoid anyway.

For a 3-night, 4-day trip for 3 people, relying mostly on the EasyCard for transport and some food, I found I didn’t need as much cash as I initially thought. We mostly used the EasyCard for the MRT, buses, and even at convenience stores like 7-Eleven. We only used cash for a few street snacks and some small souvenir shops that didn’t take cards. I think I ended up spending maybe 3,000-4,000 NTD in cash on top of what was loaded onto the EasyCards. The EasyCard itself had about 2,000 NTD loaded onto it, spread across three cards, which was plenty for us.

The whole exchange process is always a bit of a gamble. You’re trying to guess the right amount, the right time, and the right place. My bank gave me a decent enough rate, I think, but it was just a small amount. If I needed more, I would have probably looked for an ATM at a local bank in Taipei, which usually gives a better rate than exchange bureaus. But for this short trip, the amount I exchanged beforehand was manageable.