Is it better to bring US dollars or Indonesian rupiah to Bali?

It is recommended to exchange US dollars at home and exchange US dollars for Indonesian rupiah at a local safe exchange point in Bali. This is more cost-effective than exchanging RMB for Indonesian rupiah in the country. The exchange rate is also good. When exchanging U.S. dollars in China, just exchange them for ones with a face value of 100 yuan. It is best to use U.S. dollar banknotes issued after 2006, which are relatively new and do not have very obvious creases and corners. If convenient, you can also exchange a few $1 bills for change.

Under normal circumstances, we arrive in Bali in the early morning. After you arrive in Bali, the hotel you stay at on the day has a pick-up service, and breakfast is usually included, so you don’t need to spend IDR until you go out for fun the next day. If you want to tip the airport pick-up service staff and room cleaning staff, you can first use US$1 in change that you can exchange domestically.

Before going out to play, you can ask the chartered car driver to take you to a safe exchange point, or you can take a taxi and ask the taxi driver to take you there. There are many exchange points. When exchanging Indonesian rupiah, you don’t need to change too much at one time, just enough, because the exchange rate is always changing. Unless the exchange rate is particularly good that day, you can exchange more. Based on my personal experience, I find it very convenient to directly exchange US dollars for Indonesian rupiah. We just went last month. The first exchange was in Kuta for US$500, and the second time in Seminyak was US$200, which was enough for seven days of food, drink, fun and shopping.

If you don’t want to bring U.S. dollars with you and find it troublesome to find an exchange point to exchange money, you can also apply for a Hua Xia Bank card. You can withdraw Indonesian rupiah directly from BCA ATMs, and it is the first overseas withdrawal every day. No handling fee. But no matter what, it is very inconvenient to exchange RMB for Indonesian Rupiah locally, and few places will accept RMB, and the exchange rate is very uneconomical.