mario / stock.adobe.comCountry Guide № 116 / 194 · Africa
Mozambique
Two and a half thousand kilometres of Indian Ocean coast, and reefs almost nobody dives.
“Two and a half thousand kilometres of Indian Ocean coast, and reefs almost nobody dives.”
Mozambique has one of the longest coastlines in Africa and some of the least-dived reefs in the Indian Ocean. Tofo has resident whale sharks and manta rays; the Bazaruto archipelago has dugongs and sandbank islands; the Quirimbas in the far north have the kind of empty coral islands that other countries would have covered in resorts. Inland, Gorongosa's restoration after the civil war is one of the great conservation stories.
The complication is the north. An Islamist insurgency in Cabo Delgado province has displaced hundreds of thousands of people since 2017 and most governments advise against all travel there, which includes the northern Quirimbas and the Pemba area at times. The southern and central coast - Maputo, Inhambane, Vilanculos, Bazaruto - is unaffected and is where nearly all visitors go, most of them driving up from South Africa.
Chapter 01
Highlights
Tofo and Praia do Barra
Whale sharks year-round with a peak from October to March, resident manta rays at Manta Reef, and a long beach town that has been the country's backpacker and diving centre for two decades.
Bazaruto Archipelago
Five islands of enormous dunes and sandbanks off Vilanculos, protected as a national park, with one of the last viable dugong populations in the western Indian Ocean.
Ilha de Moçambique
A UNESCO-listed stone-and-macuti town on a coral island, capital of Portuguese East Africa for four centuries, connected to the mainland by a three-kilometre single-lane bridge.
Gorongosa National Park
The Rift Valley park whose wildlife was almost entirely destroyed in the civil war and has been rebuilt over two decades - one of the most ambitious restoration projects anywhere.
Chapter 02
Entry requirements for Mozambique
Checking your passport…
up to 30 days · free entry
30 days on arrival
Before you fly
The detail
- Maximum stay
- up to 30 days
- Fee
- free entry
- Passport validity
- Most destinations want validity beyond your stay, and some want six months. Check yours against the return date.
- Onward travel
- Airlines may ask for a return or onward ticket at check-in.
- Health
- Malaria year-round nationwide and high-risk on the coast - prophylaxis is standard advice. Yellow fever certificate required from endemic countries. Cholera outbreaks follow floods. Medical facilities are limited outside Maputo; evacuation cover to South Africa is essential.
- Money
- The metical in cash for most things. South African rand is accepted near the border and US dollars at some lodges. ATMs in the cities and larger towns; cards work at hotels and dive centres but not much else. Carry cash for the coast.
Mozambique asks nothing of an American passport for a tourist trip of up to thirty days: no visa, no fee, no form filled in beforehand - the waiver introduced in 2023 covers the United States along with the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Japan, much of Europe and every SADC neighbour, and it is applied at the airports at Maputo, Beira, Nampula and Vilankulo and at the land posts. The e-visa portal and the visa counter both exist and neither of them is yours; if a site is selling you a Mozambican visa, it is selling you something a waived passport does not need. What the border does ask for is the ordinary set: a passport with six months of validity and blank pages, a return or onward ticket, and proof of where you are staying - the accommodation booking is asked for more often here than at most borders, so have the first night’s confirmation to hand rather than in an inbox you cannot reach. The waiver is a decree and decrees are revised; it has been amended since 2023, the length is thirty days per entry rather than an annual allowance, and an extension is a matter for the migration service inside the country rather than something granted at a post. Mozambique asks for a yellow fever certificate from anyone arriving from a country where the disease is a risk of transmission - the International Health Regulations list, which is wider than the handful of countries people think of as endemic - and the threshold that catches travellers is not the ticket but the layover: a transit of MORE THAN TWELVE HOURS in an airport of such a country brings the requirement with it, while a shorter connection does not. The certificate counts only from ten days after the injection, so it is a fortnight’s job rather than a week’s, and one that has been reissued or replaced should travel with the original. Read your own itinerary for the length of the stop before you decide you do not need one. Two things about arriving overland from South Africa, which is how a large share of visitors come. Ressano Garcia is slow - budget hours rather than minutes at a weekend or a holiday - and if you are driving, third-party insurance for Mozambique is bought at the border itself and is not optional, along with the reflective triangles and jacket the traffic police will ask to see. Neither has anything to do with your passport and both will cost you more time than immigration does.
Check another destination with this passport →
Entry details: Editorial synthesis - Mozambique tourist visa-waiver decree, Serviço Nacional de Migração entry procedure and the official e-visa portal (2025–2026) · compiled 18 Sept 2026
Who needs a visa for Mozambique
12 common passports| Passport | Requirement | Stay | Process |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Visa-free | up to 30 days | No process · €0 / $0 |
| United Kingdom | Visa-free | up to 30 days | No process · €0 / $0 |
| Germany | Visa-free | up to 30 days | Visa on arrival · €50 / $54 |
| India | e-Visa | - | e-Visa · €50 / $54 |
| China | Visa-free | up to 30 days | e-Visa · €50 / $54 |
| Brazil | Visa on arrival | - | e-Visa · €50 / $54 |
| Nigeria | Visa on arrival | - | e-Visa · €50 / $54 |
| Indonesia | Visa on arrival | - | e-Visa · €50 / $54 |
| Philippines | Visa on arrival | - | e-Visa · €50 / $54 |
| Vietnam | Visa on arrival | - | e-Visa · €50 / $54 |
| Egypt | Visa on arrival | - | e-Visa · €50 / $54 |
| Nepal | Visa on arrival | - | e-Visa · €50 / $54 |
Holding a passport that is not listed? The picker above answers for any of them. See where your passport takes you. Source: Passport Index, updated 14 Aug 2026.
Chapter 03
When to go
BestMay–Oct. AvoidDec–Mar.
Dry season opens - warm days, calm sea.
The band above each month is our editorial verdict - it weighs crowds, prices and access as well as weather. The line is average daily temperature, the bars are monthly rainfall. Select a month for the figures. Climate figures: ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo, 2005–2024 normals.
Chapter 04
What it costs
A day in Mozambique
Comfortable · sample day
≈ $86
Line items are real prices we track. The daily budget is an editorial estimate for this level, not their sum.
Where this sits among 244 countries we have costed
South African school holidays - December–January and Easter - fill the southern beaches and push rates up sharply. The rest of the year is quiet.
Updated Aug 2026 · Editorial synthesis - dive operator and lodge rate sampling (2025–2026) · confidence medium
Excludes international flights - they depend on where you fly from.
Chapter 05
Regions to know
5Maputo and the south
The capital's Portuguese architecture and seafood, Ponta do Ouro's dolphins and the Maputo Special Reserve's elephants.
Inhambane and Tofo
The dive coast - whale sharks, manta rays, dhow harbours and the country's most relaxed beach scene.
Vilanculos and Bazaruto
Sandbank islands, dugongs, dune snorkelling trips and the main jumping-off point for the archipelago.
Central Mozambique
Beira, the Gorongosa restoration project and the Zambezi valley towards Tete.
The north
Ilha de Moçambique, Nampula and the Quirimbas archipelago - extraordinary and, in Cabo Delgado, currently under an active travel advisory.
Chapter 06
Practical guide
Getting there
Maputo International has links to Johannesburg, Lisbon, Addis, Nairobi, Doha and Luanda. Vilanculos and Inhambane take domestic and regional flights. Overland from South Africa and Eswatini is the most common arrival for the southern beaches.
Getting around
LAM flies domestically but has a patchy reliability record. Chapa minibuses cover the country cheaply and slowly. The EN1 highway runs the length of the country and is variable - a 4x4 is needed for coastal access tracks. Dhow and speedboat transfers reach the islands.
Money & costs
The metical in cash for most things. South African rand is accepted near the border and US dollars at some lodges. ATMs in the cities and larger towns; cards work at hotels and dive centres but not much else. Carry cash for the coast.
Safety
Cabo Delgado carries an active conflict advisory. Elsewhere, petty theft in Maputo and Beira, and traffic police seeking informal payments on the EN1, are the everyday issues. Carry a certified copy of your passport rather than the original when out. Do not drive at night.
Health
Malaria year-round nationwide and high-risk on the coast - prophylaxis is standard advice. Yellow fever certificate required from endemic countries. Cholera outbreaks follow floods. Medical facilities are limited outside Maputo; evacuation cover to South Africa is essential.
SIM & internet
Vodacom, Tmcel and Movitel; SIMs need passport registration. 4G in cities and the main coastal towns; nothing on the islands or long stretches of the EN1.
Chapter 07
Driving
Left-hand traffic. Vehicles must carry two reflective triangles, a reflective vest and reflective tape front and rear - these are checked and fined for. Speed traps on the EN1 are constant and the fines are real.
Rules change - verify with an official source before you rent.
ExplWorld VerifiedNo verified partners here yet - all 6 country seats are open.
Become ExplWorld Verified →Chapter 08
Itineraries through this country
Chapter 09
From the Journal
Chapter 10
Before you go
MozambiqueChapter 11
Frequently asked questions
Is the north safe?
No. Cabo Delgado province has been the site of an armed insurgency since 2017, with attacks on towns and mass displacement. Governments advise against all travel to most of the province and against all but essential travel to neighbouring districts. The southern and central coast is unaffected - check the current advisory for exactly where the line falls before booking anything north of Nampula.
Can I drive up from South Africa?
Yes, and most visitors do. The Lebombo/Ressano Garcia border into Maputo and the Kosi Bay crossing to Ponta do Ouro are both busy. You need the vehicle registration papers, a letter of authority if the car is not yours or is financed, third-party insurance bought at the border, two reflective triangles and reflective tape front and rear. Police check for exactly those items.
When are the cyclones?
The rainy season runs November to April and cyclones make landfall most years, sometimes catastrophically - Idai in 2019 devastated Beira. The central coast is most exposed. Diving and beach travel are best from May to November, which is also the dry season.