11/12/2014

SGD to KRW (Korean Won) : Best place to change from my recent experience



Went on a trip to Korea last week. In terms of payment, Korean shops are generally well equipped with credit facilities and large sums of cash is not required.

For my trip, I carried SGD$300 for 4 days and it was sufficient to cover my food and shopping. I did a comparison with my friends exchange rates who changed their Won at various locations:

Comparison of exchange rates
Me ( I changed at The Arcade at Raffles Place) : 815 -817 Won / SGD.
Chinatown : 816 Won / SGD.
Neighbourhood: 815 Won / SGD.
Airport: 737 Won / SGD. ( Not sure if my friend made a mistake, but in any case as previously mentioned from my post on currency exchange tips, try not to change at the airport!)

I also swiped my card to buy my train pass. The bank charged me at a rate of 805.3 Won / SGD.

For where is the best place to change money in Singapore, read here

Tip: The price of convenience


In other words, if you have chosen credit payment, You will take a loss of ~1% due to the bank's inferior exchange rate to the money changers. Which means if you are expecting to spend about $1000 (Korean shopping is a fantastic experience, especially the facial masks, but that's another story!), that will translate to a loss of about $10. For the convenience of not lugging too much cash in the wallet, $10 might be a reasonable price to pay.

Travelling somewhere? Remember to check out my post for travel tips for the young adult! Hope this was useful for you!