China & Hong Kong currency question

[gillys]

Hi. We're off to china & Hong Kong soon. Can I use Chinese yuen in HK or does it have to be their dollars ?
Going for 12 days in total & plan to do the usual tourist things. Unsure how much spending to take. Accommodation & travel all paid for. Was planning to take some cash & try to put a lot of stuff on credit card, but some occasions cash will be needed so wanted to be sure to take enough.

You need to use Hong Kong dollars in HK. Many places there will not accept Chinese currency.

You need HK dollars although cards widely accepted ( including Apple Pay and contactless). Cash only in taxis and they won’t change anything bigger than a $100 note. Uber works well though if you don’t have cash or there aren’t any taxis. Some shops do accept CNY but on a 1:1 basis to HK$ so terrible fx rate.

You need RMB in China, your card will work in atm, HK is $ again catdsvwork in all the banks
Apple Pay works in HK too

Top tips for Hong Kong taxis, tunnel tolls are added on the metered fare and take something from the hotel with its address on in Chinese (on things like leaflets, room key envelopes etc) as its not uncommon for cab drivers not to speak English.

We were in China in the summer - a lot of places didn’t accept any form of card payment (they all use WePay) so you’ll need to get cash out when you’re there.

We took no currency with us, just withdrew at atms using a card with no charge for cash withdrawals. Lots of atms in both China and HK and it worked very well. And as others you can't use Chinese currency in HK.

Hong Kong dollars and use the HSBC ATMs as you will get a better rate.