Ilha de Moçambique
Mozambique
A coral-stone town three kilometres long that was the capital of Portuguese East Africa for nearly four centuries
Photo by Claudia Salamone on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Mozambique
May to November (the dry season, before the cyclone season)
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 190mm in Mar
Where it is
15.03°S, 40.73°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Walk the Stone Town early, before the heat, and end at the fortress for the view to the open sea
- See the museum in the Palace of São Paulo, which has the furniture and the trade goods of the old capital
- Take a dhow to Cabaceira Pequena for a mainland beach that is clean to swim from, and Cabaceira Grande's old church nearby
- Swim off the mainland rather than the island's town beaches, which are working foreshore
- Watch the sunset from the bridge end of the island, when the dhows come in
Ilha de Moçambique travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Mozambique
Good valueAlmost everything is meticais in cash: guesthouses, the restaurants, dhow trips, the museum. A few of the better guesthouses take cards and some quote in dollars. Bring enough from Nampula, which has the banks and the bureaux.
ATMs & cards
Draw in Nampula before the drive. The island has had a machine or two, and they run dry or go offline, so they are a fallback rather than a plan.
Avoid these
- relying on the island's machines, which run dry
Use these instead
- Millennium bim
- BCI
- Standard Bank (all in Nampula)
Bring the whole stay in meticais from Nampula. Small notes help: change for a 1,000 note is not always there.
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 safeThe island itself is calm, and its people have long been used to visitors. The UK advises against all travel to the districts of Memba and Eráti in Nampula Province, and to most of Cabo Delgado further north, because of attacks by groups linked to Islamist extremism. The island is not in those districts and is not on any road to them: Memba, the closer, is around a hundred kilometres north beyond Nacala, and Eráti further inland. Read the current advice before travelling north of Nacala. Carry the passport itself at the checkpoints between Nampula and the coast, drive only by day, and expect the cyclone season to close the road and the bridge for a day or two at a time.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (8 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
- Stone Town — by day and in the evening
- Fortaleza de São Sebastião
- Cabaceira Pequena
Worth more attention
- The districts of Memba and Eráti, north of Nacala, and Cabo Delgado beyond them, where the UK advises against all travel
- The road from Nampula after dark, and the police checkpoints on it, where the passport itself is expected
- Swimming off the island's own beaches, which are working foreshore; swim on the mainland side
- The cyclone season, when storms reach this coast and can close the bridge and the road
- Malaria, which is present all year
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
GoodSwahili, Portuguese and Indian Ocean cooking in one place: grilled fish and squid, matapa de siri-siri (seaweed cooked with coconut), and crab and prawn curries. The restaurants are small and the menu is what came in on the boats, so ask what there is rather than reading the list.
Travel tipsGetting around
Car needed- 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 Ilha de Moçambique
No Holistay rentals in Ilha de Moçambique 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 Ilha de Moçambique 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 Nampula APL
3h 30mfrom the airport· 156 km as the crow flies
3h 30m by road via Monapo, then the bridge.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
