Travelling soon and looking for best ATMs in Hong Kong that work well with foreign debit/credit cards and dont charge crazy fees. Any recos will be highly appreciated.
Traveling through Central, I had issues with some BOC ATMs enforcing dynamic currency conversion. Once I declined the conversion, the withdrawal worked without a fee. I also used Hang Seng Bank ones with 3,000 HKD withdrawal limit, no fee. But best was HSBC - zero fees to withdraw and 10,000 HKD limit though I never needed to withdraw 10,000 HKD at one go, I could use my card at a lot of places so I swiped where I could. But in general in Hong Kong is there are any fees, the ATMs always ask before confirming and all was transparent.
I used my Sparkasse Visa card at Bank of China ATMs during my stay in Mong Kok and never got charged any local ATM fees. I did get the conversion prompt but declined it and went with HKD - they work fine and show the fee upfront so I could decide. It was great to avoid any surprise charges and the withdrawal limit was up to HKD 2,500 per transaction. Standard Chartered also i used once - no fee and 4,000 HKD limit per transaction.
I stuck to Hang Seng ATMs inside malls and never got dinged with any additional ATM surcharge. These seem to be HSBC/Hang Seng machines that are known for being traveler‑friendly. The only fees came from my card provider, and I got good rates as long as I declined the ATM’s conversion prompt. HSBC has a 10,000 HKD per transaction limit and Hang Seng allows up to 5,000 in some of their machines. Citibank charged me a 15 HKD fee for a 6,000 HKD withdrawal.
Just returned from Hong Kong and used ATMs in Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui. Despite rejections at a few smaller independent machines, HSBC and Bank of China ATMs inside bank lobbies worked smoothly with my US cards. No hidden fees appeared on screen and everything felt safe and transparent . I realise that major banks in Hong Kong do not charge any fees for foreign cards and let you take out 2,500 to 10,000 HKD at one time.