The short answer is both. The longer answer: Cash is still king in Thailand and for sure in Pattaya, you can pay everywhere with cash and for sure not everywhere with card. If you need to exchange money in Pattaya, bring as large notes as possible. Larger notes usually give a slightly better rate. TT currency exchange can be found everywhere in Pattaya (the yellow booths). Ask for a better rate when you have larger denomination notes to exchange, they sometimes do. There are a lot of ATM machines in Pattaya, countless to be honest! That's for a reason they charge you: -A fee for withdrawal (sometimes up to or slightly over 200 baht) -There is a minimal exchange rate charge. -There is a charge by your home country bank often as well. So by using an ATM you get screwed 3 times, maybe even 4 times: Another difference between western and asian ATM's is that ATM's here usually dispense cash first, then card second! This is opposite to many Western ATMs. Not a big problem if you are sober, but it can be a big problem when you drank some diet coke beer. So try to avoid ATM's if you have a regular bank card. If you do use them and need to choose between "conversion or non conversion" usually the non conversion option is slightly cheaper. Payment by credit card only works in larger stores, like Terminal21 or a bit larger restaurants. The small bars/restaurants all work by cash. Line is a chat app, popular in Asia, that also has a payment possibility. If you get Line Payments to work, you can pay as a local. It depends the store if they accept line payments. Another option that can be cheaper is a "Revolut" debit card. Revolut issues cards that sometimes (depending on the subscription and amount) give free withdrawals. If you are on a shoestring and you need to exchange money at Suvernabhumi airport, the cheapest booths can be found all the way down to the lower ground level, towards the Airport Express platform. Use the exchanges there, you will get a slightly better rate than the exchanges in the main terminal area. For those of you that think: "there is a solution for all these problems, bitcoin payments over the lightning network". That is true, but bitcoin payments for goods and services are illegal in Thailand unfortunately. At Villa Oranje you can use cash and credit card payments for the rooms and bar. Not a problem!