The official currency is the Vietnamese Dông (VND). Currency can be exchanged at banks, bureaux de change and larger hotels, though only US dollars are easily exchanged outside of major cities. Visa and MasterCard are becoming more widely acceptable, particularly in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and all major tourist centres. US currency is accepted by many hotels in tourist centres and is useful as a back-up, but notes must be relatively new and unmarked. Between four and nine million Dông can be withdrawn from ATMs at a time, and most banks will have useful leaflets listing ATM locations throughout the country. Dông is not easy to find outside of Vietnam and can be difficult to exchange, so change money on arrival and use up leftover cash before departing Vietnam.
