Explore Nigeria · Travel Essentials
Nigeria Travel Essentials: What You Actually Need to Know
Health, transport, money, connectivity, safety and timing — the practical layer, without the brochure language. Nigeria rewards travellers who prepare and punishes those who improvise, and the difference is mostly a few things done before you leave home.
On this page
Entry requirements — the short version
Three things, in this order
1. An approved e-Visa. Applied for online, approved by email in roughly 24–48 hours, printed and carried. ECOWAS citizens are exempt. Everybody else needs one before boarding.
2. A digital landing card, obtained online 72 hours before travel. Separate from the visa, and required for departure as well as arrival.
3. A yellow fever certificate. Mandatory for every traveller regardless of nationality, and valid only from ten days after vaccination.
Full visa guide, documents, costs and the mistakes that cost people their trip →
Health and vaccinations
The yellow fever certificate is the only one that is legally required. The others are the ones that will actually affect how your trip goes.
Yellow fever — mandatory
Required for entry, no exceptions by nationality or visa type. Vaccinate at least ten days before travel. Under current WHO guidance the certificate is valid for life, so check old records before paying for a repeat dose.
Malaria — take it seriously
Nigeria is a high-transmission country and the risk is year-round across the whole territory, not seasonal and not confined to rural areas. Start prophylaxis before departure as prescribed, use repellent containing DEET, and sleep under a net or in air conditioning. This is the health issue most likely to affect you.
Hepatitis A and typhoid
Both routinely recommended for travel to Nigeria. Arrange through a travel clinic several weeks ahead.
Prescription medication
Bring enough for your whole stay in original packaging with a doctor’s letter. Do not assume you can refill locally.
Water and food
Drink bottled or properly treated water, including for brushing teeth. Sachet water is ubiquitous and cheap but quality varies by producer. Street food in Nigeria is excellent; the usual rule applies — eat where it is busy and freshly cooked.
Insurance and evacuation
Comprehensive travel insurance including medical evacuation is strongly advised. Private hospitals in Lagos and Abuja are good; provision outside the major cities is thinner, and evacuation cover is what you are actually buying.
Safety, honestly
Most travel sites either wave this away or turn it into a horror film. Neither helps you.
Nigeria is not uniformly anything. It is a country of well over two hundred million people across thirty-six states, and the security picture varies enormously between them. Lagos, Abuja, Calabar, Enugu and Port Harcourt are not the north-east. Treating the whole country as one risk category is as useless as treating the whole of Europe as one.
What that means practically: check your own government’s current travel advisory by state, not by country, before you finalise an itinerary. Those advisories are updated frequently, they break the country down region by region, and they are the only source that will be current when you read this. Your insurance may also be void in areas your government advises against.
The everyday precautions, which are ordinary big-city sense: use registered taxis or ride-hailing apps rather than flagging cars down; avoid isolated areas after dark; do not display large amounts of cash, phones or jewellery; keep a photocopy of your passport and leave the original secured; and tell someone your movements. Guided travel with a reputable operator removes a great deal of the uncertainty, particularly on a first visit.
The honest summary: millions of people travel to and around Nigeria every year without incident, and the ones who get into difficulty are overwhelmingly those who improvised in places they did not understand.
Getting around
Arriving
The two main gateways are Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja. Both are busy and both reward having your transfer arranged in advance rather than negotiating on the pavement after a long flight.
Domestic flights
For any long distance, fly. Nigeria is a large country and domestic services connect Lagos and Abuja with Port Harcourt, Kano, Enugu and other centres. Schedules can shift, so build slack into connections and do not plan a tight same-day international transfer.
Rail
Two modern standard-gauge lines are worth knowing about: Abuja–Kaduna and Lagos–Ibadan. Both are a genuine alternative to those road journeys, and considerably more comfortable. Book ahead; they sell out.
Ride-hailing
Uber and Bolt operate widely in Lagos and Abuja and are the default recommendation for visitors. Fixed pricing, a record of the journey, no negotiation. Download and set them up before you arrive, while you still have reliable internet.
Road
Buses and shared taxis connect everywhere and are how most Nigerians travel. They are cheap and they are not comfortable. For intercity journeys, use the established coach operators rather than informal transport.
Lagos traffic is not an exaggeration. "Go-slow" is a permanent condition rather than a rush-hour phenomenon, and a journey of a few kilometres can take well over an hour. Plan two trips a day, not five. Do not schedule a meeting and a flight on the same afternoon. Nigerians build their days around this and so should you.
Money and payments
The currency is the Nigerian Naira (₦). Two things matter more than any exchange rate we could quote here, since it moves too fast for a travel page to be useful.
Cash still rules outside the formal economy. Markets, street food, small transport, tips, small shops — cash, in small denominations. Break large notes whenever you get the chance, because nobody will have change when you need it.
Cards work in the formal economy. Hotels, malls, restaurants and larger businesses in Lagos and Abuja take cards. Outside those settings, assume they do not.
ATMs are widely available in cities and are the usual way visitors get Naira. Withdrawal limits per transaction can be low relative to what you need, so expect multiple withdrawals and check what your own bank charges. Tell your bank you are travelling before you go — a card frozen for suspected fraud on your second day is a genuinely miserable way to start.
Nigeria has a sophisticated domestic transfer culture and many businesses will happily take a bank transfer, but that generally requires a Nigerian account. For visitors, cash plus card covers it.
Phones and connectivity
Get a local SIM. It is inexpensive, it takes minutes, and it transforms the trip — ride-hailing, maps and messaging all depend on it.
The main networks are MTN, Airtel and Glo, with MTN generally the broadest coverage. You will need your passport to register a SIM; registration is a legal requirement and reputable vendors will insist on it. Buy from an official outlet or airport kiosk rather than a street vendor, and have them activate and test it in front of you.
4G is good in the major cities and patchy outside them. Hotel and café wifi exists and varies. Power cuts affect connectivity as much as they affect everything else — carry a power bank, and if you work remotely, treat a charged phone as your backup internet rather than an afterthought.
Where to stay
The range runs from international-standard hotels in Lagos and Abuja through mid-range business hotels in every state capital to guesthouses and eco-lodges near the national parks. Booking platforms cover the upper end well and the lower end barely, so for anywhere outside the major cities expect to book directly by phone or through a local operator.
Two practical points. Book early around December — the diaspora return, festival season and the Christmas period together make the last six weeks of the year the busiest and most expensive time in the country. And ask about power and water: a hotel with a generator and its own borehole is a different experience from one without, and the difference is not always reflected in the price.
You will also need an accommodation booking as a supporting document for your e-Visa application, so the first few nights need arranging before you apply rather than after.
When to go
Manners that matter
Nigerians are, in our experience, among the most immediately welcoming people anywhere — and they notice effort.
Greet properly. Nigerians greet before they transact. Walking up to someone and stating your business without a greeting reads as rude. A few words of Yoruba, Hausa or Igbo will be received far more warmly than they deserve.
Respect seniority. Age and status are acknowledged openly in ways that visitors from flatter cultures find unfamiliar. Follow the lead of the room.
Dress modestly at religious sites and traditional ceremonies. This matters in the north particularly, but at any mosque, church or traditional event.
Ask before photographing people — every time, and accept a refusal without arguing. Never photograph military or police personnel, airports, government buildings or infrastructure. This is not a cultural nicety; it can get you detained.
Nigeria — guided experiences and transfers
Airport transfers from Lagos and Abuja, city tours and guided cultural experiences can be booked in advance with free cancellation up to 24 hours before most activities. For a first visit, having your arrival transfer and first day arranged before you land removes most of the friction — and your accommodation booking doubles as a supporting document for the e-Visa application.
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Connected reading
- Nigeria visa and entry requirements — the full guide
- Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory
- Northern Nigeria — where history meets the savannah
- Nigeria’s Middle Belt — the cultural crossroads
- Southern Nigeria — culture, commerce and adventure
- Culture and heritage
- Nature and wildlife
- Nigerian cuisine and beverages
- Nigerian Live Radio — listen while you plan
Verified: 23 August 2026.
Entry requirements reflect the Nigeria Visa Policy 2025 and the e-Visa system operational since 1 May 2025; see our dedicated visa page for sourcing. Health guidance follows standard travel medicine recommendations and the mandatory yellow fever requirement confirmed by Nigerian immigration authorities; it is general information and not a substitute for advice from a travel clinic or your own doctor. Airport, rail and network details as currently operating. We deliberately do not quote exchange rates, entry fees or ticket prices, which move too quickly for a travel page to state usefully — check current figures at the point of purchase. Security conditions vary significantly between Nigerian states and change without notice; consult your own government’s current travel advisory, which is broken down by state, before finalising any itinerary.