Visa and Mastercard work in Thai hotels, malls, chain restaurants and most attractions, and you can tap a contactless card on Bangkok's MRT. When a terminal or ATM offers to charge you in your home currency, choose Thai baht. Visitors from China, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong can now also pay many shops by scanning the Thai QR code with their own app.
Cash still matters in Thailand. Street food stalls, markets, motorbike taxis, small guesthouses and many national park gates take baht only. But the card has become the easy option for anything larger, and for many Asian visitors the phone has taken over from both.
This page is about paying in shops, hotels and on transport. How to take cash out cheaply is covered in our guides to using ATMs wisely and exchanging money for the best rates, and we do not repeat them here.
Paying in Thailand, October 2026
- Cards widely accepted
- Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay, JCB in hotels, malls, larger restaurants and attractions
- Cash needed for
- Street food, markets, small vendors, rural areas, many park gates
- Contactless on transport
- MRT Blue and Purple lines (Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay); not confirmed on the BTS Skytrain
- QR from home apps
- Alipay, WeChat Pay, UnionPay (China); PayNow (Singapore); DuitNow (Malaysia); FPS (Hong Kong) and others
- ATM fee, foreign card
- 250 baht (Visa, UnionPay), 350 baht (Mastercard) at KBank and SCB
- Currency conversion offer
- Decline it; pay in Thai baht
Where cards work and where they do not
The Thai government's information page for international visitors, published for the 2026 IMF and World Bank meetings in Bangkok, says most international cards, including Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay and JCB, are accepted at hotels, shopping malls, restaurants and tourist attractions. The same page is equally clear that cash "is still essential" for small vendors, local markets, street food stalls and rural areas.
In practice that splits a day neatly. Breakfast at a stall, a songthaew (the shared pickup trucks used as local buses) and a market lunch are cash. The hotel bill, a mall dinner, a dive course and a domestic flight are card. Convenience stores sit in between, so keep small notes for the till even if you plan to pay by card or QR. Our article on why 7-Eleven matters in Thailand shows how much daily life runs through those shops.
The government page names Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay and JCB; if you rely on another network, check acceptance with your hotel before you arrive. Carry at least two cards from different networks, kept in different places, so that one blocked or lost card does not leave you without money.
Card surcharges: ask before you pay
Some Thai merchants add a surcharge when you pay by card, more often smaller businesses than malls or chains. We found no Bank of Thailand rule that sets or bans such surcharges, so treat it as a price you can ask about. Before you hand over the card, ask whether the price includes a card fee. If it does, compare it with paying cash from an ATM, remembering that each withdrawal costs 250 to 350 baht.
For a large payment, such as a week's accommodation or a liveaboard dive trip, a bank transfer or QR payment may avoid the surcharge entirely. Get a written receipt either way.
Dynamic currency conversion: always choose baht
Dynamic currency conversion (DCC) is the offer, on a card terminal or ATM screen, to charge you in your home currency instead of baht. It looks helpful because you see the final amount in dollars, euros, ringgit or yuan. The catch is that the exchange rate is set by the terminal's operator, not by your card network, and it is usually worse.
On an ATM, the choice often appears as "with conversion" or "without conversion"; choose without conversion, which means the withdrawal is charged in baht. On a card terminal in a shop or hotel, the staff may ask "your currency or baht?"; say baht. If the receipt shows your home currency and a rate, the conversion has already happened and you can ask for the payment to be voided and redone in baht. There is no Thai law on DCC that we could find; this is simply how to keep the exchange rate in your own bank's hands.
Read the ATM screen after you type the amount, before you press anything. The conversion offer appears at that point, and pressing the highlighted button out of habit is an easy way to accept it by mistake. The option you want charges your account in Thai baht; the fee of 250 or 350 baht is charged either way.
Contactless on Bangkok's trains
On the MRT Blue Line and Purple Line, operator BEM accepts contactless credit and debit cards from any issuer under Visa, Mastercard or UnionPay. You tap the card on the contactless symbol at the entry gate and again at the exit, and the fare is charged to the card. One card per person per tap: two travelers need two cards. BEM's own contactless payment page explains the system.
Do not assume the same works on the BTS Skytrain. The BTS ticket page lists only single-journey cards, the One-Day Pass and Rabbit cards, and its ticket machines take coins, notes and QR payment. Our guide to the BTS and MRT explains the two systems, and our page on paying for Bangkok's trains goes into tickets and cards in detail.
Ride-hailing apps such as Grab let you add a foreign card and pay inside the app, which avoids handling cash with drivers; see our guide on how to use Grab.
Alipay, WeChat Pay and paying by QR
Thailand's everyday payment method is the Thai QR code, linked to the national PromptPay system. Almost every shop, stall and taxi has one. Tourists without a Thai bank account could not use it for years, but that has changed for many Asian visitors.
Since 30 October 2025, according to the Bank of Thailand, users of Alipay, WeChat Pay and UnionPay apps from China can scan Thai QR codes issued by Bangkok Bank, Krungthai Bank, Kasikornbank, Siam Commercial Bank, ICBC (Thai) and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Co-operatives. Krungsri, Government Savings Bank, HSBC and TMBThanachart were announced to follow. The government's visitor payment page also lists cross-border QR links with Singapore (PayNow), Malaysia (DuitNow), Hong Kong (FPS), Japan, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos.
In practice: open your home banking or wallet app, scan the merchant's Thai QR code, check the amount in baht, and confirm. Not every merchant is on a participating bank, so if the scan fails, pay another way. Neither source states the exchange rate or fees your home app applies, so check that with your provider before relying on it for large sums.
Travelers from Singapore and Malaysia can often pay with PayNow or DuitNow. If your banking app supports cross-border QR, a Thai QR code at a market stall can work like it does at home. Try it on a small purchase first, and keep some baht as a fallback.
Visitors from other countries have a separate option. TAGTHAi Easy Pay, an e-wallet backed by the Tourism Authority of Thailand with payment infrastructure from Kasikornbank, is designed for international visitors: you top it up with baht and then pay by scanning Thai QR codes nationwide. The TAT announcement of 1 September 2026 does not state the top-up fees or exchange rate. Our list of the best travel apps for Thailand covers other apps worth installing.
Cards at ATMs: the fees in one table
The ATM itself is covered in our separate guides, but the fees decide which card to bring. These are the published foreign-card charges at two of the largest banks.
| Card | KBank (from 25 Aug 2026) | SCB (from 1 Sep 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Visa | ฿250 | ฿250 |
| Mastercard | ฿350 | ฿350 |
| UnionPay | ฿250 | ฿250 |
| JCB | not listed by us | ฿250 |
| APN (Asian Payment Network) cards | not listed by us | ฿50 |
Two details from SCB's tariff are worth knowing. Cards on the Asian Payment Network pay only 50 baht at SCB machines, so ask your bank whether your debit card is an APN card. And a cash advance over the counter at an SCB branch with a foreign Visa or Mastercard costs 180 baht, while foreign debit cards cannot be used to withdraw cash at branches at all. Our tips on saving on ATM fees discuss other strategies.
Before you travel: a short card checklist
- Tell your bank you are traveling, or check that your app allows foreign use.
- Check your card's foreign transaction fee and its own ATM fee.
- Make sure at least one card has contactless and a PIN you remember; some terminals still ask for it.
- Carry two cards on different networks, kept separately.
- If you shop seriously, keep receipts: VAT refunds can be paid to a credit card. See our guide to the VAT refund for tourists.
For how cards and cash fit into the cost of a day, see what a day in Thailand costs.
Frequently asked questions
Should I pay in my home currency or Thai baht?
Choose Thai baht. When a terminal or ATM offers your home currency, it uses its own exchange rate, which is usually worse than your card network's. On ATMs, pick "without conversion"; at a shop, say "baht", and ask for a redo if the receipt shows your currency.
Can I use Alipay or WeChat Pay in Thailand?
Yes, at many merchants. Since 30 October 2025 Alipay, WeChat Pay and UnionPay users can scan Thai QR codes issued by participating Thai banks, according to the Bank of Thailand. If a shop's QR comes from a non-participating bank, the scan will fail and you need cash or a card.
Can I tap my credit card on the Bangkok Skytrain?
Contactless Visa, Mastercard and UnionPay cards work on the MRT Blue and Purple lines. The BTS Skytrain's official ticket page lists only its own single-journey tickets, day passes and Rabbit cards, so plan to buy a ticket there.
Do Thai shops charge extra for card payments?
Some do, more often smaller businesses than malls and chains. We found no Bank of Thailand rule on card surcharges, so ask before paying whether the price includes a card fee, and compare it with cash or a QR payment.
Sources
- Bank of Thailand – Launch of the cross-border QR payment linkage between Thailand and China (checked October 2026)
- Royal Thai Government, 2026 Annual Meetings – Payment methods available for international visitors (checked October 2026)
- Bangkok Expressway and Metro (BEM) – EMV contactless on the MRT (checked October 2026)
- BTS Skytrain – Ticket types (checked October 2026)
- Kasikornbank – Service fees from 25 August 2026 (checked October 2026)
- Siam Commercial Bank – Card and electronic service fees (checked October 2026)
- Tourism Authority of Thailand – TAGTHAi expands tourist spending through Easy Pay (checked October 2026)