Suvarnabhumi airport exchange rates: how much you really lose
Article updated: 2026-10-15
Best rate USD · Bangkok: 33.50 — Grand Superrich (Soi Ratchadamri 1, Pratunam) · Nov 6, 15:25 → Details
The first money decision of a Thailand trip is made while you are tired and carrying luggage, which is exactly why airport counters can charge what they do. The good news is that at Suvarnabhumi the question has a measurable answer, because two of the counters inside the airport publish their rates and can be compared with the city board for board.
Three different rates inside one airport
Arrival hall (floor 2). The bank booths you meet as you exit customs. Most convenient, and by reputation the worst rate in the building. They do not publish their rates online, so the site does not track them and no figure is given here for them. Treat them as a convenience for a small amount and nothing more.
Floor B, by the Airport Rail Link. Two tracked counters from the city chains sit on the rail-link level: Superrich Thailand’s airport branch and Happy Rich Exchange at the Airport Rail Link station. Their rates are published, and on 15 October 2026 the better of the two was buying US dollars at 33.41 against a best Bangkok city rate of 33.51. If you are taking the train anyway, you walk past them; the detour costs nothing.
The city. Pratunam, Ratchadamri and Silom have the best boards in the country, but hauling luggage there on arrival day is not realistic, and the head office that set the city’s best rate closes at 18:00 on weekdays and does not open on Sunday.
Floor B against the city, currency by currency
| Currency | Best tracked airport rate (floor B) | Best Bangkok city rate | City better by |
|---|---|---|---|
| US dollar | 33.41 | 33.51 | 0.10 |
| Euro | 37.40 | 37.50 | 0.10 |
| Pound | 44.30 | 44.40 | 0.10 |
| Swiss franc | 40.05 | 40.15 | 0.10 |
| Yen | 0.2110 | 0.2115 | 0.0005 |
| Yuan | 5.01 | 5.02 | 0.01 |
| Won | 0.0252 | 0.0253 | 0.0001 |
Rates as of 15 October 2026. The pattern is the same on every line: the rail-link counters sit a few tenths of a per cent behind the city’s best board, not a few per cent. On dollars the gap is 0.10 baht, which is 100 baht on US$1,000, about 0.3%. On euros and pounds it is also 0.10 baht per unit, 100 baht on 1,000 of either. On yen it is 50 baht on 100,000 yen.
Put differently, the floor-B counters on 15 October were paying more for dollars than most of Bangkok’s 86 tracked counters: the lowest city rate that day was 33.15, well below the airport’s 33.41. “Airport rates are terrible” is true of the booths you are funnelled past in the arrival hall. It is not true of the counters one floor down.
The practical rule
Change 3,000 to 5,000 baht in the arrival hall if you need cash before you reach the train level. That covers a taxi, a meal and a 7-Eleven run. Change the rest at floor B if you take the train, or in the city the next day.
Suppose you intend to change US$1,000 for the trip. Doing all of it on floor B rather than in Pratunam costs you 100 baht at the 15 October rates. That is about the price of the train ticket into town, and it buys you the convenience of arriving with the trip’s cash already in hand. Doing it at an arrival-hall booth instead costs an unknown amount more, because those boards are not tracked, which is itself a reason not to use them for anything large.
Hours at the airport counters
The Happy Rich counter at the Airport Rail Link station opens 05:00 to 24:00, seven days a week, which makes it the longest-opening tracked counter in Bangkok and the answer to a late arrival. It is covered in detail in the Happy Rich airport guide. If your flight lands after midnight, the station counter will be closed and landing after midnight sets out the alternatives.
Don Mueang
Thailand’s low-cost carrier airport follows the same pattern, with one difference: both of its tracked counters are on the walkway rather than in the arrival hall. Happy Rich has a counter on the walkway to the Don Mueang Red Line station, open 05:00 to 22:00 every day, and a second Happy Rich Point on the walkway towards the railway station, open 06:00 to 18:00 and closed on Sunday. The Red Line counter is the one to use late or on a Sunday. Be aware that on 15 October the smaller walkway counter quoted the lowest yuan and rouble rates in Bangkok, 4.94 and 0.29 against city bests of 5.02 and 0.35, so for those currencies in particular, change only what you need. The two airports are compared in Don Mueang vs Suvarnabhumi, and the terminal details are on the Don Mueang airport page.
The ATM alternative
Thai ATMs charge foreign cards a flat 220 baht per withdrawal, on top of whatever your own bank adds. Because it is a flat fee, small withdrawals are punishing: 220 baht on a 5,000-baht withdrawal is 4.4%, but only 0.7% on 30,000. Set against the floor-B counters, which cost about 0.3% more than the city on 15 October, an ATM withdrawal of taxi money is the more expensive way to start the trip.
Always decline the machine’s offer to “charge in your home currency”; that is dynamic currency conversion and it adds 3–8%. Thai ATM fees and dynamic currency conversion have the detail.
Check the city rate before you land
If you know what the city is paying today, you can judge the airport board in a second instead of guessing. The Bangkok page shows the live board of every tracked counter with the mid-market rate alongside, and the Suvarnabhumi airport page shows the two floor-B counters on their own. Each counter has its own page too, for instance Superrich Thailand at Suvarnabhumi and Happy Rich at the Airport Rail Link station. Getting from the terminal into town is covered in airport to city centre.
Before you exchange:Kiwitaxi ↗Airalo eSIM ↗Trip.com ↗