Travel to Chengdu - Currency and Credit Card
Chengdu is one of the biggest cities in China and like the rest of China the only currency that is accepted is Chinese Yuan. You will need to prepare Chinese money while traveling in Chengdu.
Can I use my Credit Card while Traveling in Chengdu?
At some hotels, restaurants and shops the usual international credit card is accepted but more often when you go out of the city or using smaller hotels. Restaurants, shops they cannot take your international credit card. It is useful and wise to have some cash with you all the time.
However if you have digital wallet on Alipay or Wechat, it is even more convenient to pay by these apps on your phone because every shop has this set up ready to take payment.
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How accepted is Cash in China?
Nowadays everyone uses digital payment in China by either wechat pay or Alipay. But cash is still accepted anywhere this is regulated by Chinese law. So as a foreign traveler if you don't have Alipay or Wechat you can still make payment using cash. Although it will be less convenient for you while traveling because some business owners don't keep cash anymore and may take long time to give you changes. Using Alipay or Wechat will dramatically make your travel super convenient, for example, all restaurants take orders on phone (wechat or alipay scan qr code on the table then check menu then place order then make payment after you finish eating); E-bikes are also activated by Alipay or Wechat as well as some other public transportation are also booked, paid on Alipay or Wechat mini apps or by scanning. We strongly suggest you to have a look into this before you travel to China and have Alipay or Wechat on your phone. For making payment we recommend Alipay over Wechat.
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Where do I exchange my Money into Chinese yuan?
There are 2 places where you can exchange your money into Chinese Yuan.
The first place is at the airport by international arrival. It is 20 meters right to your exit of International Arrival Gate. Their service charge is not cheap. 100USD you get 552CNY (using the exchange rate of 1USD=6.7CNY). There is no limit of how much cash you want to exchange. It takes about 10 minutes. They will need your passport to do it.
The other option is to do this in the bank. Bank of China is recommended to do this for you because other banks don't have interenational money exchange as often as Bank of China does. The banks work from 9am to 5pm every day and their excahnge rate is better than the airport. Banks don't work on weekends. Please note that you need to bring your passport with you and there may be long queues.
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Are ATMs safe to use?
Yes they are. But make sure the ATMs from the banks have the signs of the kinds of cards you own. Often we recommend you to use banks who deal with international business such as Bank of China, Construction Bank, ICBC, etc. Try to type in the correct pin number and if you are not certain about a bank do not use it. At some small places there is risk of your card being taken by the machine and it takes days to get it back.