Bazaruto Archipelago
Mozambique
Five islands of dune and reef in a marine national park, with the last dugongs on the East African coast
Photo by Hugh Brown on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Mozambique
May to November (the dry season, with clearer water and calmer crossings)
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 150mm in Feb
Where it is
22.00°S, 35.32°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Snorkel or dive Two Mile Reef on a calm day, when the visibility is what people come for
- Climb the dunes on Bazaruto island for the view of the channels at low tide
- Book a day on a dhow to Magaruque and snorkel straight off the beach
- Ask a dive operator about dugong trips, and accept that a sighting is far from certain
- Stay one or two nights on an island rather than only visiting by day, if the budget stretches
Bazaruto Archipelago travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Mozambique
ExpensiveThe island lodges are priced and paid in dollars, in advance, and include almost everything. In Vilanculos the dive and dhow operators quote in dollars or meticais; the market, chapas and local restaurants want meticais in cash. Rand are taken at a poor rate.
ATMs & cards
Vilanculos has branches of Millennium bim, BCI and Standard Bank on the main road. There is nothing on the islands, and no need for it if the lodge is prepaid.
Avoid these
- expecting any machine on the islands
Use these instead
- Millennium bim
- BCI
- Standard Bank (all in Vilanculos)
Draw in Vilanculos by day before any island trip. Lodge and dive bills are usually in dollars and by card.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Mozambique
Reasonably safeVilanculos is a calm small town and the islands are lodges with nobody else on them. The things to plan around are the sea and the road. Day boats vary a lot: look for life jackets and two engines before you board, and turn back with the weather. Police checkpoints on the EN1 expect the passport itself, not a copy. Do not drive between towns after dark. Malaria is present all year.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (9 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
- Vilanculos — the beachfront and the main road
- Benguerra Island
- Bazaruto Island
- Magaruque Island
Worth more attention
- Day boats without life jackets or a second engine, and crossings in a rising wind
- Vilanculos — the beach late at night, for bags and phones
- The tide at Vilanculos, which goes out a long way and leaves a walk across the flats; check when the boat is due back
- Police checkpoints on the EN1, where the passport itself is expected, not a copy
- Roads between towns after dark, which the UK advice says to avoid
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Mozambique visa rules
Travel authorisation requiredup to 30 daysabout $47 — a $37 fee plus 650 meticais processing
These passports no longer need a visa, but they do need an Electronic Travel Authorisation, applied for and paid for online at least five working days before travel. It cannot be paid at the border.
Other passports
e-Visa required
Applied for through the same portal, evisa.gov.mz, before travel.
How to get it: Apply at evisa.gov.mz at least five working days ahead and print both the approval and the payment confirmation, which immigration may ask to see on entry or exit. Children under 18 need an unabridged birth certificate, and a notarised consent letter if not travelling with both parents.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Mozambique
LimitedRequired to enter
- Yellow fever certificate if arriving from a country where yellow fever is present — and Mozambique also asks it of arrivals from Tanzania, Rwanda and São Tomé, which most lists do not
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Hepatitis A and typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
- Malaria prophylaxis — the risk is high throughout, Maputo and the beaches included
- Rabies for longer or rural stays
- Cholera for some itineraries
Getting treated
Maputo has private clinics that most visitors would recognise; the north is far weaker, and the islands have very little. Serious cases go to South Africa, by road from the south or by air from anywhere else. Evacuation cover is not optional.
Malaria on the coast as much as inland. Bilharzia in lakes and rivers, Lake Niassa included. An mpox clade I outbreak is ongoing — keep to the usual precautions and check the current advice. Dengue and cholera follow the rains.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
GoodPrawns, crab, calamari and line fish are the whole menu and do not disappoint. Vilanculos market has the cashews and the fruit; a seafood lunch cooked on the beach is what a day dhow trip includes.
Travel tipsGetting around
Limited- UberNot here
- BoltNot here
Yango runs in Maputo only. On the coast it is chapas — shared minibuses — or a transfer arranged by the lodge.
Time zone and your working day
Africa/Maputo — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
eSIM
A data eSIM for Mozambique, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:
Works here
Works here
Must-see
Travel tipsNearby day trips
Travel tipsSay a few words
Portuguese
- HelloOláo-LA
- PleasePor favorpor fa-VOR
- Thank youObrigado / Obrigadao-bree-GA-doo / -da
- Yes / NoSim / Nãoseeng / nowng
4 more phrases
- Excuse meDesculpedesh-KOOL-puh
- How much is it?Quanto custa?KWAN-too KOOSH-ta
- The bill, pleaseA conta, por favora KON-ta
- Cheers!Saúde!sa-OO-duh
Thank you changes with your own gender, not the listener’s: men say obrigado, women obrigada.
Travel tipsReligion
Christian, with a Muslim north
Roughly six in ten Christian, Catholic the largest church, and about a fifth Muslim, mostly in the north and along the coast, where the Ilha de Moçambique has mosques beside its Portuguese churches. Traditional belief and ancestor practice persist across both. Dress more modestly in the north and on the Ilha than in Maputo or the southern beach towns.
Travel tipsDo's and don'ts
Do
- Greet in Portuguese — bom dia, boa tarde — before asking anything
- Carry your passport, or a certified copy, at all times; police checks ask for identification
- Carry two warning triangles and reflective vests if you drive; police check, and fine on the spot if they are missing
- Stay polite and patient at a police stop, and ask for a written fine to pay at the station if one is demanded
- Dress modestly in the north and on the Ilha de Moçambique, where most people are Muslim
Don't
- Do not photograph police, soldiers, government buildings or the airport
- Do not drive on the beach — it is illegal, and the fines are real
- Do not buy shells, coral or turtle products; taking them out is illegal
- Do not drink alcohol on a public beach; it is illegal, however many bottles you see
- Do not swim alone off empty beaches, where the currents are strong and nobody is watching
Where to stay in Bazaruto Archipelago
No Holistay rentals in Bazaruto Archipelago yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Bazaruto Archipelago on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Vilanculos VNX
10 minfrom the airport· 2 km as the crow flies
10 min into Vilanculos.
Also worth pricing: Maputo MPM — more flights, then a domestic connection; the road is a long day.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
