VND Vietnamese Dong
Buy and sell Vietnamese Dong in Sydney
Vietnamese dong in cash, handed across the counter at Suite 202A on Level 2 of 60 York Street, NSW 2000. We price it live both ways, take 0% commission, and trade every weekday between 9:30am and 5pm.
How to get your dong
Check the rate, ride up to Level 2, collect dong.
Check today's VND exchange rate
The calculator at the top runs both ways: the dong an amount of A$ turns into, and the A$ waiting for dong that comes back with you.
Visit our store
Find us at Suite 202A, Level 2, 60 York Street, NSW 2000, minutes from Wynyard; a call to (02) 8014 4222 beforehand has the dong counted before you get here.
Get your cash
Notes go across the counter in a count you can follow, paid immediately, and unspent dong comes back to the same window later.
Key information about the Vietnamese dong
The polymer notes, the vanished coins, and the two blues to keep apart.
The dong is Vietnam's currency, issued by the State Bank of Vietnam and written with the crossed d symbol after the figure. It was reissued in 1978 and again in 1985 after reunification. Its old subunits, the hao and the xu, have been meaningless for decades, so the dong is a whole-number currency.
Nine denominations circulate. The 1,000, 2,000 and 5,000 dong notes are still paper; everything from 10,000 to 500,000 dong is polymer, and all of them carry Ho Chi Minh's portrait. The 500,000 is the ceiling, worth under A$30. Where travellers come unstuck is the blue 20,000, which resembles the blue 500,000.
Dong is one among the 22 currencies dealt on Level 2 at York Street. Anyone buying Vietnamese dong in Sydney should bring photo ID, or ring ahead so the notes are counted out before arrival. Come home with dong to spare and the same counter takes it at the sell-back rate shown above.
Vietnamese Dong details
- Currency
- Vietnamese Dong
- Code
- VND
- Symbol
- ₫
- Subunit
- 10 hao or 100 xu, both long obsolete
- Central bank
- State Bank of Vietnam
Vietnamese Dong in use
- Banknotes
- 1,000, 2,000 and 5,000 dong on paper; 10,000, 20,000, 50,000, 100,000, 200,000 and 500,000 dong on polymer (the old 200 and 500 dong notes have all but vanished)
- Coins
- None in daily use. The 200, 500, 1,000, 2,000 and 5,000 dong coins issued in 2003 are still legal tender on paper, but they stopped circulating years ago and have not been minted since
- Used in
- Vietnam
- Also used
- Nowhere else. The dong is not a freely convertible currency, so outside Vietnam it turns up at far fewer counters than a major currency does
Polymer dong shrugs off rain and river spray but creases badly, and fresh notes cling to each other so two can leave a wallet as one. Riffle the stack before you pay a driver.
Today's dong exchange rate in Sydney
Both tables below run off one AUD to VND figure, the one our counter is quoting at this minute: how many dong one Australian dollar buys, and what a dong fetches coming back the other way.
Buying dong in Sydney
A$1 = ₫17,261
A$ in, Vietnamese dong out.
- Commission is set at 0%, so the quoted rate covers everything and nothing is added afterwards
- Settle in cash; card payments are not on offer at the counter for the moment
- Small dong is what Vietnam runs on, so ask for a stack of 20,000s and 50,000s rather than all 500,000s
Selling dong back in Sydney
₫10,000 = A$0.55
Dong notes in, A$ out.
- The A$ come out of the till the moment the two counts match
- Only clean, unripped dong goes back into the drawer; badly torn, taped or stained notes may be declined
- Polymer dong that has been folded hard or left against something hot can be refused, so carry it flat
Dong quotes here follow the market minute by minute. The stamp beside the calculator dates both tables on this page, and the rate spoken and agreed at the counter, at the moment the notes move, is the one that binds.
What things cost in Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi figures. Hoi An and Da Nang sit close behind, resort islands cost more, and Tet lifts everything for a fortnight.
Vietnam travel money tips
The dong runs to a lot of zeros - here is how not to lose your place among them.
Count the zeros, not the colour
Vietnam prices things in tens and hundreds of thousands, and two of the polymer notes make that harder than it needs to be: the 20,000 and the 500,000 are both blue, and locals mix them up too. The 10,000 and the 200,000 share a brownish cast as well. Say the price aloud before you pay, keep the big notes in a separate pocket, and read the digits rather than the shade.
Things to see in Vietnam
Limestone bays, lantern-lit old towns, terraced hills and a food culture worth the flight - and small dong notes buy the boat seat and the bowl.
Why exchange dong with us
Dong for the flight over and dong sold back when you land - a registered CBD counter pricing both halves live.
0% commission, no fees on top
Dong trades at 0% commission here. No margin is folded into the AUD to VND rate you accept and no charge follows it, so the dong total on the calculator is the dong total counted into your hand.
Live, timestamped counter rates
Both dong rates here come off our own board, moving with the market and carrying the minute they were struck - one for the notes you buy, one for the notes we take back.
Registered, reviewed, guaranteed
AUSTRAC registered, with ABN 18 675 798 302 on the paperwork, a Google score from 59 public reviews, and a Best Price Guarantee set down in writing.
Rated on Google by 59 customers
Every one of these was left on our Google profile by someone who came up to Level 2. We cannot edit them or take them down.
"Nice attention, customer service and good rate"
"Great people. Great rates. Great location. Sunil is the best."
"Thanks sunil. Great service and great rates"
"Pretty good rates, the place is clean and comfortable to wait in."
See what customers across Sydney say about our rates and service.
Read them all on Googlearrow_forwardCommon questions about dong
Still stuck? (02) 8014 4222 reaches the counter on any trading day.
It sits on the calculator heading this page, carrying the live rate both ways: dong per Australian dollar for a purchase and Australian dollars per dong for a sell-back. Dong quotes chase the market all through trading hours, and whichever figure the counter confirms as the notes change hands is the one that governs the deal.
Suite 202A on Level 2 of 60 York Street, NSW 2000, in the middle of the Sydney CBD and four minutes' walk from Wynyard station. The counter works Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 5pm, walk-ins are welcome, and photo identification is required. Call (02) 8014 4222 first if you want the dong counted and held before you arrive.
Scroll to the conversion table and it is worked out at the counter's live rate, along with the other amounts people ask for. The table and the calculator share one rate and move together during the day, so read it as a guide and let the counter's confirmed figure decide.
No, in either direction. The rate is the whole arrangement, with no service fee, handling charge or hidden margin loaded on afterwards. Multiply your Australian dollars by the buying rate and that is the dong you receive; divide by the buy-back rate and that is the A$ you get when you sell.
Vietnam is a busy route out of Sydney, so dong sits among the more active of the 22 currencies at the counter and most weekdays you can simply come up. If you want several million dong, or a particular spread of 50,000 and 100,000 notes, call (02) 8014 4222 ahead and it will be checked and held.
Mostly 20,000, 50,000 and 100,000, which is what street food, coffee, taxis and market stalls are set up to change. A few 500,000 notes suit hotels and tours, but they are awkward at a pho stall. Keep the blue 20,000 and the blue 500,000 in different pockets so a hurried payment cannot go wrong.
Yes. Bring the leftovers to the same counter and they are priced off the sell-back rate in the calculator, with Australian dollars paid once the count is settled. Notes have to be resaleable, so a note that is ripped, taped, inked over or water-marked may be turned down. Polymer dong that has been creased hard is worth checking too.
Only partly. Hotels, malls and mid-range restaurants take cards, but street stalls, markets, most taxis and small guesthouses want notes. Vietnam's own QR system runs on domestic bank accounts, so visitors generally cannot use it. ATM withdrawals also carry an operator fee of roughly 22,000 to 55,000 dong at most banks, plus whatever your Australian bank adds.
Current photo identification: your passport is the simplest, and an Australian driver licence works too. Money changing falls under Australia's AML/CTF law, this counter holds AUSTRAC registration, and some transactions require the customer to be identified, no matter which way the dong is going.
Need a different currency?
Dong is one of the 22 currencies on our board - the full rate board lists what each one is doing today, in both directions.
