Happy Rich Exchange at Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang: what to change
Article updated: 2026-09-28
Best rate USD · Bangkok: 33.65 — Superrich Thailand — Headquarter Rajdamri 1 · Oct 24, 19:45 → Details
Before you exchange:Kiwitaxi ↗Welcome Pickups ↗Tiqets ↗
Happy Rich Exchange is the chain you meet on the way from the plane to the train. It has no city branches in our data. Its three counters sit on the walkways that link Bangkok’s two airports to their rail stations, and they open early and close late because that is when arrivals need them.
That makes it the answer to a specific question: you have landed, you have no baht, and the arrivals hall is offering the worst rates in the country. Is the rail-link counter any better, and how much should you change there before you get into the city? The figures below are from 2026-09-24; the site’s boards refresh every few minutes, so check the brand page on the day.
The three counters
Suvarnabhumi Airport Rail Link station. Unit RC04 on the B floor, at the Airport Rail Link station under the terminal. Open 05:00–24:00, seven days. This is the busiest of the three and the one most readers will use. Superrich Thailand also has a counter on the same B floor.
Don Mueang Red Line station walkway. On the elevated walkway between the terminal and the Don Mueang SRT Red Line station. Open 05:00–22:00, seven days.
Happy Rich Point, Don Mueang. Take the walkway towards the Amari hotel, then the stairs or ramp down towards Don Mueang railway station. Open 06:00–18:00, closed on Sunday. Smaller, shorter hours, and the one to skip if the walkway counter is open.
The chain quotes 36 currencies, including the Gulf currencies, the rouble and Scottish notes as a separate line, which is wider than most city shops.
How the rates compared with the city
On 2026-09-24 the site tracked 86 shops in Bangkok. Happy Rich’s best counter, the Suvarnabhumi one, sat near the bottom of that list on every major currency:
| Currency | Happy Rich best | Bangkok best | Rank | Mid-market |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD | 33.24 | 33.34 | 72 of 86 | 33.3669 |
| GBP | 43.95 | 44.10 | 72 of 86 | 44.2231 |
| EUR | 37.75 | 37.95 | 80 of 86 | 38.0305 |
| JPY | 0.2095 | 0.211 | 46 of 86 | 0.2110 |
| SGD | 25.85 | 26.00 | 81 of 86 | 26.0818 |
| KRW | 0.0241 | 0.0243 | 26 of 86 | 0.0244 |
Rank 72 sounds bad. The money says otherwise. The gap between Happy Rich and the best shop in the city was 0.10 baht per dollar, which is 0.3%, or about 100 baht on US$1,000. Against the mid-market rate, Happy Rich was 0.38% under. That is roughly the same distance from mid-market as a good city shop is from the best one on a busy day.
The Don Mueang walkway counter was a little behind Suvarnabhumi: its US dollar tiers that day were 33.12 for US$100 and US$50 notes, 33.02 for US$10 and 20, 32.92 for US$5 and 32.57 for US$1 and 2. The small-note penalty is the thing to watch: US$1 notes fetched 1.7% less than hundreds.
How it compares with the arrivals hall
The counters in the arrivals concourse are bank kiosks, and the site does not track their boards, so we cannot put a number on them for a given day. The order of magnitude, from the site’s airport pages, is 2–4% under mid-market. Happy Rich on the rail link was 0.38% under on 2026-09-24. On US$500, the difference between 0.4% and 3% is about 430 baht, which is the taxi into town.
Interestingly, the Superrich Thailand counter on the same B floor bought US dollars at 33.22 that day, two satang below Happy Rich. The two counters are a few metres apart, so glance at both boards before choosing. Either is a great deal better than going upstairs.
The comparison for both airports is on the site: Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang, each set against the city’s best.
How much to change on arrival
Enough for the first day and no more. The reason is not that Happy Rich is expensive, it is that the city’s top shops still pay 0.3% more, and there is no point converting a fortnight’s cash at the airport when you will pass a better counter tomorrow.
A realistic first-day list from Suvarnabhumi: the Airport Rail Link into town is about 45 baht per person, a metered taxi adds a 50-baht airport surcharge to the meter, and a first evening of street food and a convenience store is a few hundred baht. Two thousand baht covers a couple comfortably; change US$100 and you have 3,324 baht at the rate above. If you have booked a transfer online, the cash you need on landing drops to almost nothing.
Bring US$100 notes for this. The tiers above show what a stack of twenties costs you.
Which counter, which time
- Landing at Suvarnabhumi between 05:00 and midnight: the B floor counter, on the way to the train. If you are taking a taxi from the ground floor, it is still a short lift ride down and back.
- Landing at Don Mueang before 22:00: the walkway counter towards the Red Line. It is on the route to the train and to the Amari-side taxi rank.
- Landing after those hours: an ATM, taking one withdrawal of a sensible size, since the fee is a flat 220 baht. See landing after midnight.
When you do not need to change anything here
- You have a transfer booked and a card that works. The hotel takes the card, the driver is prepaid, and tomorrow’s exchange happens in town. You can walk past every counter in the building.
- You are carrying leftover baht from a previous trip. A thousand baht is a day’s small spending.
- You have arranged a pickup at the hotel end. Most of the first-day cash above is transport.
- Your amount is tiny. For 500 baht of change, the difference between Happy Rich and the city’s best shop is about 1.5 baht.
The live board for the Suvarnabhumi counter, with today’s hours, is on its shop page, and the city comparison is on the Bangkok page.