Eritrea Travel Guide

Visa requirements

Largely isolated from the rest of the world, obtaining an Eritrean visa is a difficult, painstaking, and expensive affair. When you apply for an Eritrean visa, you must do it at an Eritrean diplomatic mission located in your home country, i.e. a country you are a citizen of. If your home country does not have an Eritrean embassy or consulate, you must go to an Eritrean diplomatic mission that is accredited to your home country.

The currency is the Eritrean nakfa, denoted by the symbol "Nkf" or "ናቕፋ" (ISO currency code: ERN). It is pegged to the US dollar. The official exchange rates are shown above. The black market rate was reported in 2025 to be Nkf 50-58 to US$1.

While it may be tempting to explore all that Eritrea has to offer, you must obtain a travel permit from the Eritrean government if you wish to travel outside Asmara, the capital city. It can take 24 hours or more to obtain a travel permit, so plan your trip well ahead in advance.

The main languages of the country are Tigrinya, Arabic, and English. Tigrinya is the lingua franca of Eritrea, and shares a lot in common with Amharic, the official language and lingua franca of neighbouring Ethiopia. If you know some Amharic, picking up Tigrinya should be easy. Although you can get far with English, learning a few phrases in Tigrinya would go a long way and would most certainly endear you to the locals.

Watch out for bicycle riders, vehicle drivers and pedestrians. People don’t look when crossing streets and bike riding accidents are common. Eritrea is generally safe though and you can walk about at night and anywhere in the cities and not worry about crime. There are sometimes children that aggressively beg and throw rocks but usually leave you alone if you are stern with them. Homosexuality is illegal and can get up to 3 years in prison or even death.

Do not drink the tap water and even check bottled water to make sure the cap is sealed. Be very careful what you eat. Many people get sick here. There is a Jordanian UN hospital that will treat foreigners. Local hospitals have inadequate facilities. Be healthy if you come here. Avoid uncooked food and unbottled drinks.

To circumvent heavy censorship, use the free, open-source TOR Project. This workaround may become steadily less effective as the repressive regime gets aid and advice from China.

Eritreans are polite, hospitable and soft-spoken but, due to the language barrier, may keep their distance from foreigners. If approached by an English speaker, try to maintain an innocent topic of conversation and use universal common sense. Avoid displaying disdain, arrogance or harsh criticism towards the country, culture, religion or politics of the country, although most will be tolerant of your "mistakes" as you are a passing foreigner. You are in a police state, don't forget it!