Eritrea

Only nationals of Uganda and Kenya and foreign citizens of Eritrean descent (holders of Eritrean ID cards) can enter Eritrea without a visa. All others must apply for a visa in advance before entering the country. The Eritrean Embassies in London, Stockholm and Washington DC as well as the mission to the UN in New York have websites where an application can be downloaded and printed out, saving you some time. However unless you are a national of USA, Sweden or the UK, this is not where you mail your application. Americans should mail their application to Washington DC (not New York as the mission there will only -at best- forward the application to DC), Swedes to Stockholm and Brits to London respectively. When you apply for a visa to Eritrea, you must do it at an Eritrean Embassy in - or acredited to - the country where you are a citizen and nowhere else. There are Eritrean Embassies in Europe: London, Paris, Brussels, The Hague, Berlin, Rome, Stockholm and Moscow. There are also consulates in Athens, Milan, Franfurt and Geneva. If you come from a European country without an Eritrea mission, you can contact the Eritrean Embassy in Brussels. Nationals of Central Asian countries are served by the Embassy in Moscow. Eritrean Embassies serving the Americas are in Washington DC and Ottawa. The consulate in Oakland, California is closed as of October 2007. All US and non-Canadian nationals of the Americas can contact the Eritrean Embassy in Washington DC for a visa. Embassies in Africa: Pretoria, Abuja, Nairobi, Kampala, Djibouti, Khartoum, Cairo and Tripoli. The Embassy in Abuja is ackredited to ECOWAS member states and affiliates. The Embassy in Nairobi is acredited to the East African Community and affiliates. The Embassy in Pretoria serves the SADC and affiliates. The Embassy in Tripoli serves Libya and Northern Africa. There is also an Eritrean consulate in Kassala, Sudan exclusively serving Sudanese nationals. Embassies in the Middle East: Riyadh, Sanaa, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Kuwait, Tel Aviv (Ramat Gan) and Damascus. Consulates in Jeddah and Dubai. Nationals of Lebanon, Jordan or Iraq can enquire with the Embassy in Damascus for a visa. Bahrainis are referred to the Embassy in Riyadh while nationals of Oman are served by the Embassy in Abu Dhabi. Eritrean Embassies in Asia and Oceania: Islamabad, New Delhi, Singapore and Beijing. Citizens of Iran and Adghanistan can contact the Embassy in Islamabad. Other South Asians are served by the Embassy in New Delhi whilst the Embassy in Singapore serves citizens of ASEAN member countries. Mongolians are referred to the Embassy in Beijing. Koreans are referred to the Embassy in Tokyo. The Eritrean Embassy in Canberra is also acredited to Oceania (New Zeeland and Pacific Islands). If you're living/staying in/close to a city with an Eritrean Embassy, and you're a citizen of that country, you can walk in, submit an application, pay the fees and receive a tourist visa within the next day or three working days. The consulates and missions will only be receiving applications and payments while communicating them on to the main embassy, the handling time may therefor be a few days longer than the walk-in service at an actual embassy. If you DON'T have an Eritrean Embassy nor any consulate in your country (see list above) check with your country's foreign office (state department, ministry of foreign affairs) which Eritrean Embassy applies to your country and contact them for an application. The Eritrean Embassies in London, Stockholm and USA as well as the mission to the UN in New York have websites where an application can be downloaded and printed out, saving you some time. However unless you're American, Swedish or British, this is not where you send your application (see above). For a tourist visa, you need to submit specific information about when and at what border post you will arrive and depart, so it is wise to have already made some plans (bought a ticket or so).

By plane

Eritrea's only international airport at present is in the capital Asmara. Lufthansa is the most reliable airline flying 3 times a week into Asmara from Frankfurt. Eritrean Airlines flies twice weekly to/from Frankfurt, Dubai and Djibouti and once weekly to/from Rome and Jeddah. Egyptair serves Asmara twice weekly from Cairo. Yemenia Air fly twice weekly from Sanaa. Saudi Arabian Airlines fly twice weekly from Jeddah/Riyadh. There is a 20eur, 20$us airport fee payable upon departure.

By train

There is no international railway connection to Eritrea.

By car

You can enter Eritrea driving from Djibouti and Sudan (Kassala border crossing) provided you have a valid certificate of ownership of the vehicle you're driving (no rentals) and all your (including your passengers') passports and visas in order as well as a customs declaration (if necessary). The roads on the borders are very poor so you should be driving a 4WD. The first gas-station entering Eritrea from Djibouti is about 30 Km away from the border in Assab and about the same distance from the Sudanese border in Tessenei. Diesel is more easily available than petrol.

By bus

There are Sudanese pickup taxis running from Kassala in Sudan to the Eritrean border (a half hour away) daily, and Eritrean taxis from the Eritrean border to Tessenei about an hour away (poor road). There are also Djiboutian taxis running from Obock in Djibouti to the border village of Moulhoule two hours away on a very poor road. The service is very irregulaly (a few times per week) and Moulhoule is where they're going even if they say 'Assab'. Eritrean taxis will take you from the Eritrean border to the port city of Assab, another hour away. You always have to walk across the borders. No public transport crosses borders. The bureaucracy of the border crossings can take hours so start in the morning or early afternoon from Kassala in Sudan or Obock in Djibouti as it is not possible to enter Eritrea after dusk (border post closes and there are no pickups there until the next morning and the nearest town is very far away).

By boat

Ports and harbors: Assab (Aseb), Massawa (Mits'iwa). Sadaka Shipping Lines and Eritrean Shipping Lines serve the route Massawa - Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They serve mainly muslim pilgrims and it is quite difficult for non-pilgrims to enter or transit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.