The Gambia

Currency budget The Gambia

Bring euros or sterling and change them at a bureau in Senegambia, Kotu or Serrekunda, where the rates are posted and better than the hotels’. Dalasi are hard to get outside the country and not worth taking home. Hotels and tour operators quote in pounds or euros; taxis, markets and bars are dalasi.

ATMs & cards

Trust Bank, Ecobank and GTBank have machines along the coast in Senegambia, Kairaba Avenue and Serrekunda, and they do not all take every foreign card, so carry a backup. They run out at weekends. Upcountry, plan on cash only.

Euros and sterling change easily at the bureaux in Senegambia. Upriver is cash only.

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 The Gambia

The Gambia is calm and easy, and the main nuisance is the one the UK FCDO names: "bumsters", young men on the beaches who offer to guide, befriend or sell. Most are after a little business. A friendly, firm "no thank you" said once works better than ignoring them or arguing; official guides carry an ID badge from the Gambia Tourism Board, so ask to see it. Do not take valuables to the beach. The Atlantic here has strong currents — swim where there is a lifeguard. The roads are potholed and badly lit after dark, and the Banjul–Barra ferry is the one piece of transport to think twice about.

Our own assessment, not a sourced index.

Entry & visa The Gambia visa rules

Health & emergencies all of The Gambia

Required to enter

• Yellow fever certificate if arriving from a country where yellow fever is present — including a transit of more than twelve hours in one

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

Domoda — groundnut stew — benachin, which is jollof under its Gambian name, and yassa. Grilled barracuda and ladyfish on the beach at Tanji when the boats land. Wonjo (hibiscus) and baobab juice, and attaya, the green tea poured in three rounds that gets sweeter as it goes.

Nightlife

The Senegambia strip is the country’s evening — bars, restaurants with live kora or reggae, and a couple of clubs, busiest in the winter season.

• Senegambia Strip — the bars, the live music and the clubs, all on one road
• Kotu — beach bars, and quieter

Closing: Late — the clubs on the strip go into the small hours at the weekend.

Getting around

• Taxi — green tourist taxis wait at the hotels with fixed fares on a board; the yellow-and-green town taxis are shared and far cheaper on set routes
• Bush taxi — the minibuses, or gele-gele, run along the coast road and upcountry, cheap and crowded
• Ferry — Banjul to Barra across the river mouth, which the UK FCDO says is often overcrowded and lacks safety equipment; the bridge at Farafenni is the alternative by road
• Boat — day trips on the creeks from Lamin Lodge and Denton Bridge, and up the river to Kunta Kinteh Island
• Airport: Banjul International (BJL) at Yundum, twenty-five minutes from Kololi

eSIM

A data eSIM for The Gambia, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:Works here Not here

Must-see

Nearby day trips

Say a few words

Wolof

• Hello (peace be with you)Salaam aleekumsa-LAAM a-LEH-koom
• How are you?Nanga def?NAN-ga def
• I am fineMaangi fi rekkMAAN-gi fee rek
• Thank youJërëjëfJEH-reh-jef

French is the official language and everyone in Dakar has it, but Wolof is what the city actually speaks, and two words of it change how you are treated. The greeting is not optional — Senegalese conversations begin with a round of asking after each other and getting to the point first reads as cold.

Religion

Sunni Muslim

Around 95% Muslim, largely in the Sufi tradition, with a small Christian minority, and the state is secular. Practice is relaxed and tolerant, and the resort strip runs on its own terms, but Friday prayers slow the afternoon, Ramadan changes daytime life outside the hotels, and Tobaski — Eid al-Adha — is the biggest holiday of the year.

Do's and don'ts

Do

• Greet first — salaam aleekum, and ask after the family; skipping it is rude
• Use the right hand for eating, giving and receiving
• Use the official guides, who carry identification, rather than whoever approaches you on the beach
• Turn down unwanted offers calmly and firmly, as many times as it takes; it is understood
• Dress modestly away from the beach and the hotel pool

Don't

• Do not sunbathe topless, or walk off the beach in swimwear; both give real offence
• Do not photograph State House, the airport, the military or the police
• Do not show public affection; same-sex relationships are criminalised and the law applies to visitors
• Do not drink alcohol openly in villages, or eat in public during the Ramadan fast
• Do not leave valuables on the sand while you swim