Asmara, an Italian art deco time capsule frozen at 2,300 metres, and the Red Sea with the Dahlak archipelago: Eritrea is one of the most closed and least visited destinations on the planet, for patient and curious travellers.
Eritrea is a small country in the Horn of Africa, facing the Red Sea, that almost nobody visits. Its big draw is a fascinating contradiction: the capital, Asmara, is a 1930s Italian city frozen in time, with art deco cinemas, marble cafés, modernist villas and a small-town calm at 2,300 metres, while just a few hours away lies a scorching coast of coral islands and Ottoman ports.
It's also one of the hardest destinations in the world to travel around. The regime is closed and controls movement: to get in you need a visa arranged in advance, and to leave Asmara for almost anywhere you have to apply for internal permits that aren't always granted. No improvising: you travel with fixed dates, your papers in order and, in practice, with a local operator. In return, those who make it find a country that's safe day to day, with friendly people and the feeling of being somewhere tourism hasn't reached.
This guide is the foundation for planning your trip: how to get in and move around with permits, when to go to avoid the coastal heat, what cash budget to bring and what to see, from the art deco heart of Asmara and the Debre Bizen monastery to Massawa, the Dahlak archipelago and the Aksumite archaeological sites of the south such as Qohaito and Metera.
The currency is the Eritrean nakfa (ERN), pegged by the government at a fixed official rate of about 15 ERN to the dollar (verified July 2026). A much pricier parallel market runs on the street, but for tourists the practical and legal option is to change money at the bank on arrival. Eritrea runs almost 100% on cash: international cards don't work anywhere and there are no reliable ATMs, so you need to bring in all the dollars or euros you plan to spend, in banknotes. When you land you'll be asked to declare how much foreign currency you're carrying and have it recorded; keep your exchange receipts. Tipping isn't mandatory, but rounding up a little is appreciated in restaurants and with guides and drivers.
Full converter for ERN →There are no direct flights from Latin America: you reach Asmara International Airport (ASM) with a connection through a hub that serves the route, typically Turkish Airlines via Istanbul, EgyptAir via Cairo or FlyDubai via Dubai (the options change often). A visa is MANDATORY and must be arranged BEFORE you travel: there's no visa on arrival unless an authorised local agency arranges a letter of invitation for you. Land borders are closed to foreigners. Inside the country, leaving Asmara for almost any destination also requires an internal travel permit, issued at the Ministry of Tourism; without that paper you won't get through checkpoints or be allowed to check in anywhere. The simplest approach is to travel with a local operator providing a car and driver, who will also handle permits and accommodation.
The best time to visit Eritrea is the cool, dry season, roughly from November to February, when the Asmara highlands have pleasant days and cool nights. Thanks to the altitude (about 2,300 metres), the capital is mild almost all year round, but nights can be cold, so bring a warm layer even though you're in Africa.
The big difference is on the coast. Massawa, the Dahlak islands and the lowlands are extremely hot, with summers above 40 °C and stifling humidity between June and September. If your plan includes the Red Sea, avoid those months and aim for the northern winter. The main rains in the highlands fall between June and September and can make roads to remote sites difficult.
The foundation of Eritrean food is injera, a flat, spongy, slightly sour bread made from teff flour, which serves as both plate and cutlery: you tear it by hand and use it to scoop up the stews. The star dish is zigni, a meat stew in an intense red berbere sauce (a blend of hot spices), and there are many vegetarian versions with lentils and vegetables, ideal for example during Orthodox fasts. Everything is usually shared from a single platter.
The other great legacy is Italian: in Asmara it's completely normal to eat pasta, lasagne and pizza, and to have a proper cappuccino or macchiato for less than a dollar in cafés that seem to belong to another era. Don't miss taking part in a coffee ceremony, with freshly roasted beans and three rounds served unhurriedly. The local Asmara beer and drinks like sowa (a homemade sorghum beer) or fermented honey round out the table. Eating is cheap: a local lunch costs just a few dollars.
Day to day, Eritrea is one of the safest countries in Africa: petty crime is very low and it's normal to walk around Asmara at ease, even at night. The flip side is political: it's a tightly controlled regime, with a strong state presence, restrictions on movement and entire areas closed to tourism (border and military zones). The practical rule is simple: don't improvise, stick to your internal travel permits, don't photograph military installations, bridges, the airport or government buildings, and follow your guide's instructions. Connectivity is poor and you'll often be without internet.
Health-wise, it's best to carry the international yellow fever certificate if you're arriving from a country at risk (several in Latin America are), and to be up to date on vaccines such as hepatitis A, typhoid, tetanus and MMR; hepatitis B and rabies depend on your trip. There's a malaria risk in the lowlands and on the coast (Massawa, Dahlak), but not in Asmara because of the altitude: ask a travel medicine doctor about prophylaxis and use repellent. Always drink bottled water. Medical infrastructure is very limited, especially outside the capital, so travel insurance with evacuation cover is essential. Bring your medication from home. Emergency services are basic and unreliable.
Eritrea is cheap day to day but expensive to organise, and everything is paid in cash (dollars or euros that you change into nakfa). A budget traveller in Asmara can get by on about 30-45 USD a day, including a simple hotel (10-30 USD), local meals for a few dollars and city transport; a mid-range level with a better hotel (60-80 USD) and the odd tour comes to around 80-120 USD a day. A macchiato costs less than 1 USD and a local lunch between 3 and 8 USD (verified July 2026).
The real cost lies in permits and logistics outside the capital. The visa is around 70 USD and each internal travel permit costs about 10 USD per destination. Since getting around independently is increasingly difficult, in practice people hire a car with a driver, which can cost in the region of 150 USD a day, and boat trips to the Dahlak archipelago are priced separately. Bring plenty of spare cash: if you run short, there's no ATM to bail you out.
Eritrea is a mosaic of nine ethnic groups, with a fairly balanced coexistence between Orthodox Christians and Muslims. The most widely used languages are Tigrinya and Arabic; there's no single official language. English is used in education and many older people understand Italian because of the colonial past, so with basic English you'll manage in Asmara, though it helps to have some phrases written down and plenty of patience. Spanish isn't spoken. Society is calm, respectful and unhurried: punctuality is flexible and personal relationships matter a lot.
Dress fairly modestly, especially when visiting churches, monasteries and mosques, and always ask permission before photographing people; never photograph soldiers or government buildings. Plugs are European-style (types C, L and sometimes G) at 230V, so bring an adapter. Connectivity is among the worst in the world: slow, expensive and often cut-off internet, with limited access to social media, which is why many travellers use a VPN and download offline maps before leaving. Getting a local SIM as a tourist is a hassle: assume you'll be fairly disconnected and enjoy it as part of the experience.
Few countries carry a history as long and as fraught as Eritrea's. This narrow strip of the Horn of Africa, looking out over the Red Sea, was one of the great crossroads of the ancient world: through its port of Adulis flowed the trade of the Kingdom of Aksum, one of the first Christian states on the planet, which dealt in ivory, gold and slaves with Rome, Egypt, Arabia and India. Later came Islam, the Ottomans and the Egyptians along its coasts; and in the 19th century it was Italy that, starting from the tiny port of Assab, pieced together the colony it christened in 1890 with the Latin name of the Red Sea —Mare Erythraeum— and turned Asmara into an astonishing art deco city 2.300 metres above sea level, the "piccola Roma" of Africa.
But Eritrea's story is, above all, that of an independence won at an enormous cost. Annexed to Ethiopia in the mid-20th century against the will of much of its people, it fought one of Africa's longest liberation wars —thirty years, from 1961 to 1991— until it finally became a sovereign nation in 1993. This is the full history of Eritrea: from the stelae of D'mt and the ruins of Aksum to modernist Asmara, from the dream of independence to the harsh reality of a closed, militarised state. A country of austere beauty and of a dignity forged in resistance, still searching for the freedom it fought so hard to win.
Read the full history of Eritrea →Pick a region and open each destination to see what to do, prices and how to get there.
These are the sources we cite most across this country's guides, with how many times each appears. Hard data —tickets, opening hours, requirements, transport— comes from the official source and carries the date we checked it. Restaurant and hotel picks come from guides and reviews, and we say so on each page.
