money money money

stinelie

Hi, Im leaving for Delhi next monday and ive come to the point where i start worrying about the more practical stuff, such as money. I will be staying and working in South Delhi for a month, living with locals and working with them. Should i carry travelchecks, cash or is a visacard enough.. Im thinking about safety accessability and such... Any good ideas?

Stine

ananda2193

I think all 3 are a good idea. I always travel with a little cash and the rest in travelers checks. Their easy to cash in India, and if their stolen you can replace them. I imagine there's an American Express or Visa office in Delhi.

Darmabum

Though I didn't take a Visa/debit card with me this year, I agree with Ananda. A card seems to offer another option for you. If I remember right the American Express office in Delhi is on the inner ring of Connaught Circle, in Wenger House, right above a very nice bakery/pastry shop.

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brave_heart

i guess credit card and travellers checks are better options then cash

stinelie

Now it seems like i won't have the time to get a bank to order travelchecks for me so i guess i'm stuck with my one visa card and cash...

brave_heart

india is a very cash friendly country ... visa should still b your first option though

Laerke

Hey Stine, you'll be fine with a creditcard and cash! That what I had on both my trips to India.
Ha en kjæmpe great tur (spelling...?... )

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PortieOwner

I'm normally there for a 2-week vacation. I'll take a little bit of cash, I suppose I bring $200 (and only use a little of it at the duty-free). I bring another $200-400 in traveller's checks but again only use $40 or so (most banks and some tourist destinations will cash them). I have also used my ATM/debit card and it worked fine. The ATM card is by far the most convenient. ATMs are everywhere in the cities and it takes 30 seconds to get your money out and you typically get a very good "interbank" exchange rate that way. You can also use credit cards to charge things, and again you will usually get a pretty good exchange rate.

Part of the reason I use so little cash is my family there pays for a lot of things.

Portie

snowcrab

ATM's are great except if someone steals your card or it breaks. That happened to me. Had to get someone to send me money through Western union for the rest of the trip and ended up having to carry around positive bricks of rupees. Those Western Union transaction charges are so high you don't want to be shipping small amounts at a time.

Now I have two ATM cards from two different banks and can transfer money between these accounts online, so if loose one this trip I will have a backup. I never carry all my important documents in one place so I don't risk everything at once. A credit card that you could pay online from your bank account would also work as backup.

Travelors Checks and cash are at the mercy of local money changers currency exchange rates which may not be very good especially off the beaten track. One place I was in they were only offering 32 ruppees per CAD $ when the international exchange rate was over 38 rs per $.

challengechappers

hi- probably a silly question but will there be numerous atms for cirrus/maestro card in both darjeeling and varanasi?

PortieOwner

I have not been to either place but just google "darjeeling ATM" and you should get some hits.

Casey

Between us, we had 3 debit cards and none of them worked in India. They were okay in Thailand, but for some reason, not India. I used my credit card for advances both times I was in India. There are moneychanges everywhere, and many stores will do it for you. I don't recall seeing any ATMs in Darjeerling, but by that time I had given up trying and just went with the Visa.

jeninparadise

in the city, you should be able to find atms that will work (but probably not in small towns or villages)...thats what we used mostly in the last trip. but travelers checks and cash are good just in case...