Question Best way to get Indonesian rupiah cash?

[chillyinCanada]

If you are in Singapore at an exchange, your USD first get converted to Singapore dollars, at a cost, then converted again to Rupiah. You pay two exchange rates.

I understand whete you're coming from but not according to my bro in law, who regularly travels the world for business.

Be that as it may, I need the units, ergo, needs must.

I prefer to bring from home but that's not always possible for obvious reasons.

 

[tursiops]

I understand whete you're coming from but not according to my bro in law, who regularly travels the world for business.

Be that as it may, I need the units, ergo, needs must.

I prefer to bring from home but that's not always possible for obvious reasons.

I think the best-practice, according to all the travel advisors and sites, is to get your foreign currency from a local ATM or bank in the country of that currency. It is more convenient to bring it from home, of course, if you can get it at home, but you pay more on the exchange rate for doing that.

Also, you want to make sure you are using a foreign ATM such that the home bank account from which you are withdrawing has no foreign exchange fees and reimburses out-of-network ATM fees.

Finally, when charging something on foreign travel, if you are given the choice of local currency or (say)USD, use the local currency to avoid exploitative currency exchange rates and extra fees.

 

[living4experiences]

Save yourself the worry and hassle abroad and get it at home and take it with you.

 

[Centrals]

Money exchanger in Jakarta Airport gives good rate but arrival time is important.

But for small amount then I won't worry too much.

 

[FishCity]

Does Travelex or the like still exist at US airports? We got ours there. Nice clean bills. Wasn't fussed about exchange rate issues. Better than getting my card skimmed, eaten by a machine and trying to retrieve it, or having the bank freeze it no matter how many times I tell them about travel.

 

[Blackcrusader]

No it doesn't because I'm not exchanging Singapore dollars. I'm exchanging USD.

I was able to withdraw 2.5 million three times in one visiti at ATMs in Bali Indonesia. Some ATM are marked 1.5 million only. AFAIK you can withdraw up to your daily limit from your banks atm card. Also when I was in Lombok as well.

I've never had my card scammed or taken by an ATM yet anywhere in the world.

 

[Madacub]

Salty, if you don't need too much IDR, and if convenient, just get it from your bank at home. But if you need a good bit of IDR, use their ATMs. I have never had a problem in 10+ years of using ATMs in Indonesia.

drrich2, the ATMs are easy to use and will give you IDR currency, not USD. But that will still count against your daily limit, converted to USD. (There may be some specialized ATMs that provide USD, but I don't recall sseeing any).

 

[Kimela]

The ATM that screwed me was easy to use. You withdraw in IDR, so you need to know the exchange rate to stay below your bank’s daily ATM limits. The local bank’s customer service was another matter. Never got any cash, no refund, nobody spoke English……

Did the screen display English, so you had a fair shot at 'getting it right'? I'm thinking it might be a benefit to use my Charles Schwab, that covers the fees and you can opt to use the Charles Schwab conversion rather than the local conversion?

 

[CJS]

When I travel to Indonesia, I always just use the money changer at the airport. Rates are only slightly worse than on the street.

 

[Centrals]

When I travel to Indonesia, I always just use the money changer at the airport. Rates are only slightly worse than on the street.

My personal experience only.
Jakarta airport is far far better than their counter-parts in Denpasar.
It is absolutely a rip off to change money at Denpasar airport. Change enough to pay for the taxi.