Destination guide
Last updated: August 22, 2026Mozambique has more than two thousand kilometres of Indian Ocean coast, and its entry rules changed in a way most guides have not caught up with. The top of this page is verified against official Mozambican and Portuguese sources, and anything we could not read is named as such.
Travel essentials
READ THIS BEFORE BOOKING. Almost everything written about this says Mozambique is visa-free for Portuguese citizens. It is half true, and the missing half is the half that stops you boarding: on an ordinary passport you need no visa, but you do need an ETA — an Electronic Travel Authorisation — APPROVED before you reach the airport. The National Migration Service portal says you must have it with you both at boarding and on arrival, and the Portuguese foreign ministry sets the deadline: at least 48 hours before travel. The visa exemption proper covers only diplomatic and service passports. Verified on 22 August 2026 against evisa.gov.mz and the Portuguese consular portal.
| Passport | Entry rule | Max stay |
|---|---|---|
| Portugal — ordinary passport | ETA REQUIRED. No visa, but an Electronic Travel Authorisation applied for at evisa.gov.mz and approved before boarding — the Portuguese ministry states a minimum of 48 hours ahead. Print the PDF: it is asked for at check-in and again at the border | up to 30 days, tourism or business |
| Portugal — diplomatic or service passport | EXEMPT from a visa, with no ETA. This is the real exemption everyone refers to — and it never covered the ordinary passport | up to 90 days |
| Angola · Cabo Verde · São Tomé and Príncipe · South Africa (ordinary passport) | EXEMPT, and with no ETA — they enter on the passport alone. They sit in the National Migration Service's own exemption table under "all types of passport" | up to 30 days |
| Brazil · Guinea-Bissau (ordinary passport) | NEED A VISA. They are on neither the exemption nor the ETA table for ordinary passports — only diplomatic and service passports are exempt. If you travel as a family on different Lusophone passports, do not assume one process: five Portuguese-speaking passports, three different rules | — |
| 📘 Passport validity | Never less than 6 months beyond your planned date of departure from Mozambique — counted from departure, not entry, which is stricter than it sounds | — |
⚠️ Border rules change without notice. Always confirm with the official source (consulate, immigration, travel.state.gov, gov.uk, Portal das Comunidades) before travelling.
Health
A yellow fever vaccination certificate is required from travellers arriving from one of the 43 countries listed as at risk — and that list includes Brazil, Angola, Guinea-Bissau and São Tomé and Príncipe. Flying directly from Europe falls outside the requirement; connecting through one of those countries does not. Without a certificate, vaccination on entry costs about EUR 40. Malaria and cholera appear mainly in the hot, humid season between November and March: bottled or boiled water, and avoid raw vegetables, raw seafood and informal market food in those months. Book a travel medicine consultation before you reserve anything — malaria prophylaxis is a clinical decision, not a border rule.
Passport
Never less than 6 months beyond your planned date of departure from Mozambique. Note how it is counted: from the date of DEPARTURE, not entry, so a long trip can demand more validity than you expect. Take free pages for stamps too.
To confirm (not published as fact):
- What the ETA costs: the official portal charges the fee at application but publishes no amount anywhere we can read. Figures circulate on commercial visa sites; we do not repeat them, because no authority confirms them. You will see the amount on the portal before you pay.
- Ethiopian and Nigerian passports cannot even use the electronic portal — the official page directs them to the nearest embassy, as it does Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Somalia. If you travel on one of these documents, start at the embassy and allow more time.
- Biometric SIM registration (fingerprint and facial recognition) is described by news sources as being in force under Decree 12/2023, but the regulation page on the regulator's own site is filed as revoked legislation. We confirmed that registration exists and is required; we do not publish the biometric specifics until we have read the decree in force.
- Coins in circulation: two pages of the same national tourism authority give different lists of coin denominations. The notes agree, and those are what we publish; on coins we would rather write nothing than write the wrong figure.
Arrival & Safety
Airport
The airports with the most international connections are Maputo, Nampula and Pemba. Maputo International — Mavalane, code MPM — is the largest and sits about three kilometres from the city centre; most Mozambican airports are less than twenty kilometres from the city they serve, connected by taxi or bus. There are ATMs and a bureau de change at the airport, and changing money there is what the tourism authority itself recommends as trustworthy. One note not to read in isolation: Pemba is one of the three international gateways and is also the point beyond which the Portuguese foreign ministry advises against travelling north. Landing at Pemba and continuing north are two different decisions.
Getting in
DRIVING IS ON THE LEFT. A Portuguese licence is valid for 185 days; beyond that it must be converted. Road accident rates are high and the condition of the vehicle matters — the Portuguese foreign ministry is explicit about it. In the rainy season the official advice hardens: four-wheel drive, daylight travel only, and convoys of at least two vehicles. By air, every domestic flight is under three hours, which for a country with more than two thousand kilometres of coast is often the sensible call.
Safety
Mozambique has no single national safety level, and anyone who gives you one is simplifying dangerously. CABO DELGADO, in the far north, is the serious case: the Portuguese foreign ministry records attacks attributed to an Islamist insurgency in the districts of Mocímboa da Praia, Macomia, Palma, Nangade, Quissanga, Ibo and Meluco, advises against travel north of Pemba, and warns that driving National Highway N.º 1 between Namapa and Pemba requires contacting the authorities beforehand and may require a police convoy. Elsewhere the risk is crime — robbery, theft and kidnappings: avoid isolated areas after dark and do not display valuables. The public unrest that followed the 2024-2025 elections has been subsiding. Notice who tells you what: the country's own tourism portal opens with "Mozambique is a safe destination", has been frozen since November 2021, and does not mention Cabo Delgado once. It took a foreign ministry to name the seven districts.
⚠️ Border rules change without notice. Always confirm with the official source (consulate, immigration, travel.state.gov, gov.uk, Portal das Comunidades) before travelling.
Money
The currency is the metical (MZN, written MT), with notes of 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000. Cards from the known networks are accepted in a good share of establishments and there are ATMs at the airport and across central Maputo. South African rand, US dollars and sometimes euros pass in some places, but check before relying on it. Change money at banks or trusted bureaux. Two things that save surprises: the Bank of Mozambique launched METIX, the national instant payment system, in March 2026, and you will see it referenced in shops; and the mobile wallets everyone uses — M-Pesa, mKesh, e-Mola — are resident products, so do not build your trip around them.
Connectivity
Three mobile operators cover the country: Tmcel (the state operator), Vodacom Moçambique and Movitel. The regulator is INCM, which has regulated Mozambican communications since 1992. Coverage is solid in the cities; along the coast and inland it thins out.
Take your passport with you to buy a SIM — a credit card is not enough. Subscriber registration against an identity document is required and enforced: INCM issues every subscriber a NUTEL, the Unique Telecommunications Number, and unregistered cards risk being blocked. There is no anonymous SIM from a kiosk here.
Outside the cities coverage is patchy; prepare offline maps before you leave Maputo, especially heading inland or north.