Best place to exchange money & Cash vs. credit card?
 

In order to avoid sizable credit card fees is it better to pay with cash where possible? Also, does the airport in Beijing offer decent exchange rates and if not where would be a good place to exchange US$ to RMB? Does anyone know what the limit of US cash you can bring into China? I seem to remember it was only $400 pp.

China has about $900 billion dollars in her pockets so you can definitely bring in more than $400. You will have to declare if you are going to bring in more than a certain sum but I cannot remember.

For me I would pay with credit cards at hotels and major restaurant unless they insist on the extra credit card surcharge or fee. ATMs are a good source to get the RMB imo.

A little use of the search box, above, will find extensive and more detailed answers to these questions.

> In order to avoid sizable credit card fees is it better to pay with cash where possible?

Yes. And you will not find foreign credit cards as widely accepted as you might expect anyway. Plus, in terms of shopping, places that do accept them are generally speaking places you shouldn't shop, as they are tourist-targeting and charging higher prices--sometime several multiples higher.

> Also, does the airport in Beijing offer decent exchange rates and if not where would be a good place to exchange US$ to RMB?

There are minor variations with a couple of private exchange counters at Beijing airport and which you should avoid in favour of the bank-run exchange counters, of which there are several with either none or very tiny differences in rate (and which are the same rates as at all their other branches). Your best policy, however, is to use an ATM card. Use the box to find detailed discussions of this.

> Does anyone know what the limit of US cash you can bring into China? I seem to remember it was only $400 pp.

I don't think China has ever objected to you bringing as much hard currency as you like, but it has required you to declare it over a certain amount. That was US$7000 last year, and may be more by now. No one, however, is going to check to see if your pockets are stuffed with more. However, the presence of plenty of ATMs (again, see other threads) make bringing large wedges of cash quite unnecessary, and although banks and card issuers are starting to take larger chunks in many cases, the exchange rate is typically better than the tourist rate anyway. Again, see other threads on checking with your card issuer for ATM locations and charges made.

Peter N-H

PeterN_H: I know you're the resident expert on the Asia forums and I have benefited greatly from your postings but I take a little offense to your "A little use of the search box" comment. I have been a "Fodorite" for many years and have used the forums extensively for 3 trips to Africa, & also to Costa Rica, Alaska, Canada, the Caribbean and numerous US trips. I KNOW how to the use the search box. I searched the Asia forum for "exchange rates" "credit card fees" and "best place to exchange money". I came up with nothing at all helpful. Now maybe I didn't search the words you would have searched and I apologize for my ineptness but I am not lazy. Even though I am leaving for China in 2 days and I'm a little crunched for time, I still did a search before I posted. Sorry if it wasn't good enough.

If you insist on taking as a personal slight the simple helpful and factually true observation that more detail on these money topics can be found elsewhere on the forum I fear you're in for a trying time.

But here, to help you yet further, are some examples I found quite easily on cash/credit card/ATMs:

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...edit-cards.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...s-in-china.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...n-in-china.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...r-in-china.cfm

I hope those help.