Cheap flights to Asmara airport

Discover Asmara

Cheap Flights to Asmara Airport

Asmara is the capital of Eritrea, a tiny country in the Horn of Africa that has just emerged from years of war. Visitors arriving in Asmara never fail to notice and fall in love with a unique feeling in the atmosphere here, something often found in countries in this position. After years of having associated their city with war and fear, the ability to walk the streets again tends to feel surreal to locals. They cannot take their city for granted anymore; the gratitude and joy in the air in Asmara is palpable.

If you're planning a trip to Asmara, you're probably someone blessed with a sense of adventure; you need to explore places no one else has seen. If this is your aim coming to Asmara, you're on the right track.

Essential information about flying to Asmara

While the capital city of Asmara is itself free of war, the situation tends to be delicate over the rest of Eritrea. In general, tourists are allowed to travel no farther than 25 km out of the capital in any direction. It takes special permits to go further. If you're arriving from Canada, it's important that you pay attention to Canadian government advisories: Eritrea is considered unsafe, especially the border areas.

Canadian citizens require a visa to enter Eritrea. Applications can be completed online.

Since Asmara can get uncomfortably warm in summer, winter is considered the best time to travel. While Asmara is a budget destination, it's still a sensible idea to watch out for good deals on airfares and hotels, well in advance. Tools such as Skyscanner can be very helpful.

Asmara's tiny airport close to town is the country's only commercial link to the rest of the world. Several Middle Eastern airlines, Egypt Air, Fly Dubai, Turkish Airlines, Qatar Airways, among others, come here.

The airport offers a modest level of convenience. There is no Wi-Fi, but there are limited dining and duty-free options. If you plan to spend the night at the airport, there is comfortable seating or clean floors to spread out on. Hotels close to the airport might be a better idea, however, because they tend to be inexpensive.

There is a public bus service that runs between 6 am and 9 pm each day, and taxis charge about 500 Nakfa for the trip to town. Many tourists simply walk the 7 km to downtown Asmara.

What is there to do around Asmara?

Asmara is a small city, an ideal place to look around on bicycle. The Asmara City Cycle Tour rents bicycles out. It's easy to look around the city in half a day as part of a group.

People who visit Asmara love to take in the tank graveyard, a large junkyard littered with tons of rusting military equipment discarded after war. It serves as a poignant reminder of the cost of war. Tourists visit the Enda Mariam Orthodox Cathedral, the Emba Derho village, the pool hall and bowling alley, the opera house, the Medebar Market junk market, the central produce market, the Villa Roma Palace, and many other fun places.