starry-starry can always compare the rates online. for

• midvalley https://cashchanger.co/malaysia/mc/max-mone...ey-megamall/520
  
  
  
• wise https://wise.com/my/pricing/hold-fees?sourc...SGD&track=false
  
  
  

even if wise is expensive, might still be better than having leftover cash after your trip. bcos if you don't intend to go to that country again, you have to go midvalley to change back to ringgit

u can spend TWD in wise, but you cannot hold TWD cash balance in wise. that page is to show what currencies u can hold as immediate cash in your wise acct

i also can recommend you GX bank debit card, there's 1% rebate for international purchases

Yes. Rates are comparable plus cash back. Best to bring both because for some unknown reason, it can stop working suddenly and then work again.

Competitive? Not always. There were times cash exchange at certain shops win Wise rates. I guess it's more of an easy win if compared to local credit cards, which charge like 2%(?) for every overseas transaction, on top of shitty exchange rate, so there I'd say Wise is a decent replacement.

Old fashioned way is always a good alternative because cash is king:
- some places may not support digital/card payment
- you may not have (stable) internet access
- you may lose access to your account (connection/theft, touch wood)
But of course, too much cash on hand also induces anxiety so best is to diversify and put your money in several "pockets".

Never been to Taiwan yet but I make it my personal rule of thumb to have both when travelling to any country, and try not to have too much cash. As Medufsaid , excess in Wise is easily convertible/transferrable for reuse, but cash would mean going back to the shop.

Like others has suggested. For overseas, bring both Wise and GX, Generally speaking, both beat normal credit cards hands down.

I do bring cash but minimal amount as backup, just in case. Normally USD because is the most convenient anywhere around the world. It is amazing how widely accepted are USD in South America.

If you have apple pay or google pay working (NFC phone needed, I think), you can add Wise debit card to them. I did just that in Nov 2024 in TW and had no issue paying wherever that ApplePay/Google Pay was accepted.

GX is a Debit Card. Wise is a Credit Card. Both works fine paying for stuff oversea. Rates are both quite similar. But GX has 1% cash back so that is my 1st choice.

Wise will auto-convert which ever account having money and offering better foreign currency rate.

GX still offer about 2% daily interest on your balance.

Wanna share my recent exp at Shanghai. Entire trip used Alipay linked with Wise card. Everything was smooth and I was so surprised being totally cashless.

It cost RM 10 to get a physical WISE card. And I normally keep it in my draw unused. But when going overseas, I put money into it for use overseas.

There is another use. Supposedly I want to to to Japan in June but the Japanese Yen is super cheap now in Jan. And I fear that by June the Japanese Yen will go up. So what I can do is, I can put my money in WISE in Jan, convert it right away to Yen for use in June.

If you don't want to pay the RM10 then there is another way to use it. You can keep it in your Google Wallet and use wave on overseas terminals. 

Recently my digital WISE got hacked somewhere in some part of the world, made a complain on their apps and money back into my account exactly an hour later. That is comforting.

So just withdraw around 7200-7300 NTD one time per month. or 3600 x2 in a month. after that get charged extra fees. withdraw in the ATMs (mostly Cathay United bank, green yellow color ATM) inside MRT will be the safest not to get extra charge. ATMs inside 7-11 have extra charges. When ask to whether to convert or delay the conversion, choose delay the conversion inside the ATM menu. Other option, use GX. But I had a few times not able to withdraw esp on the weekend or around their maintenance time.

Money changers are difficult to find in Taiwan (away from the airport). And if you take out cash using Wise card from the ATM, you will have to factor in the cost of transaction (from the local bank), the conversion from from Wise is not that high.

When you go to money changer, you are to pay the rate what they 'sell'.

This is the rate at 2025-02-12 10:56 AM taken from https://www.exchangerate.my/maxmoney/midvalley-megamall:

13.3750

so you will be paying RM133.75 for every TWD1,000.00

If Wise rate is higher than RM133.75 for the same time, then money changer is a better choice.

Edit:

However, I noticed the mid market rate is actually higher than 13.3750
https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/conver...From=TWD&To=MYR

so there is a chance, the rate may be revised at the money changer any time.

starry-starry we still recommend cards as mentioned before

It's always good to have both, just in case.
Like what the other members has suggested, unless you are planning to go back Taiwan again, the small change like coins are not acceptable at money changers. So there is a chance that you save RM2 for using money changer but losing it at the coins you bring back (Taiwan currency has coins of amount 1, 5, 10, 50, which is equivalent to approx. RM0.13, RM0.68, RM1.37, RM6.80 respectively).

If you are traveling with a group, suggest to pool cash to pay, reduce chances of accumulating coins individually.

Personally, I would prefer least cash possible and use card for most expenses wherever possible.

one more tip for taiwan. if got too many coins lying around and you have the easycard, you can reload the easycard in the mrt stations.  and when you are at the airport flying back, use the easycard to pay for some stuff in airport to buy souvenirs, drinks etc.