Travel to Eritrea

Flying to Eritrea

Airlines operating flights to Eritrea include Egyptair (www.egyptair.com), flydubai (www.flydubai.com), Qatar Airways (www.qatarairways.com) and Turkish Airlines (www.turkishairlines.com).

Prices fluctuate throughout the year, peaking during the summer holidays when Eritreans from overseas return in their droves, and around the Christmas holidays when the foreign community in Eritrea perform a similar exodus in the opposite direction. 

Airport Guides

Flight times

From London - 10 hours (including stopover); New York - 19 hours (including stopover).

Departure tax

None.

Travelling to Eritrea by Rail

Driving to Eritrea

The only main road route into Eritrea is from Sudan, which links Khartoum with Tesseney via Kassala, but this is closed to foreigners. The road from Djibouti is invariably closed and impractical, as it enters the southern tip of the country, from which it is a 1,000km (620-mile) journey to Asmara.

Driving note

The southern border with Ethiopia has been closed since the war in 1998 and, despite a ceasefire in 2000, will remain closed for the foreseeable future.

Getting to Eritrea by boat

Eritrea has two ports: Assab, in the far south of the country, which is open only to commercial and military vessels and the main port, Massawa, the largest deep-water port in the Red Sea. Massawa is primarily a commercial port, but it does occasionally attract cruise ships or passenger vessels passing along the Red Sea. Massawa also serves as the departure point for the beautiful Dahlak Archipelago.

Water note

No scheduled passenger ships pass through Massawa. It is advisable therefore to check well in advance if you plan to travel into or out of Massawa by boat. Contact either a local travel agent or Eritrean Shipping Lines, who have an office in Asmara (tel: +291 120 402) and Massawa (tel: +291 552 475).