Cost of Living in Asmara
Where this figure comes from. No cost survey covers Asmara, so the $800 a month above is our own estimate rather than a measurement. On 330 of our 921 city guides the figure is built from a published Numbeo basket, a one-bedroom rent in the centre plus one person's monthly costs without rent, converted to USD; this city is not one of them. Treat it as a starting point and check current rental listings before you budget against it. How we source everything.
Budget around $800 a month, though as in Turkmenistan the figure needs a caveat: Eritrea has a closed economy, a fixed official exchange rate and strict currency controls, and what things cost depends heavily on which rate applies. A one-bedroom runs roughly $200 to $400 at official rates. Local produce and bread are cheap. Imported goods are expensive and often simply unavailable, which is the more relevant constraint. Eating out is inexpensive and the Italian legacy means genuinely good coffee and pasta alongside Eritrean food. Cash is essential and declaring foreign currency on arrival is compulsory.
Where to Work in Asmara
Connectivity is the worst in Africa and among the worst anywhere. Eritrea has the lowest internet penetration in the world, no meaningful mobile data for most of its history, and dial-up-era speeds in the internet cafes that serve as most people's access. Fibre exists in a very limited form. Power cuts are frequent. There is no coworking and no realistic way to run a remote job from here. The time zone is three hours ahead of GMT, which is academic given the connection. Anyone needing to reach clients should plan on doing so before arriving and after leaving, because the connection here cannot be relied on for anything time-sensitive.
Getting Around Asmara
Asmara is walkable and genuinely pleasant to walk, which is unusual for an African capital: the centre is compact, the streets are ordered on the Italian plan, and the altitude keeps it cool. Buses and shared taxis are very cheap. The Eritrean Railway to Massawa, built by the Italians and rebuilt by hand with original locomotives, runs occasional excursions down the escarpment. Asmara International Airport has limited connections, mainly to Cairo, Dubai and Addis Ababa since the 2018 rapprochement with Ethiopia. Anyone travelling beyond the capital should apply for the internal permit several days ahead, since it names specific destinations and is checked at posts on every road.
Sorting transport? Book an airport transfer, or compare car rental on Auto Europe and QEEQ.
Visas for Asmara
Eritrea requires a visa of every nationality, applied for in advance at an embassy, with an invitation or a booking and a process that is slow and frequently refused. There is no visa on arrival and no e-visa. Travel outside Asmara requires a separate internal travel permit, applied for in the capital and issued for specific destinations, and this is enforced at checkpoints. There is no remote work visa. Photography is restricted and military and government buildings must not be photographed at all. Anyone applying should also expect to be asked for a detailed itinerary, and should understand that refusal without reason is common and carries no route of appeal.
Best Time to Visit Asmara
September to March is the best window, dry and mild at around twenty two degrees thanks to the altitude of about 2,300 metres, which makes Asmara far more comfortable than its latitude suggests. The main rains fall from June to August and are heavy but short. Nights are cool year round and a jacket is needed. The coast at Massawa is a different climate entirely and is brutally hot for most of the year, so the descent from the highlands is best made in the cooler months. Anyone visiting the Dahlak archipelago off Massawa should aim for the cooler months, since the Red Sea coast is among the hottest inhabited places on earth in summer.
Pros and Cons of Asmara
The case for Asmara is unique and worth stating carefully: the city is an intact Italian modernist and Art Deco capital, built in the 1930s and barely altered since, and it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2017 for exactly that. The Fiat Tagliero service station, shaped like an aeroplane, and the Cinema Impero are among the finest buildings of their period anywhere. The case against is the state: Eritrea has indefinite national service, extensive restrictions on movement and expression, and effectively no internet. The city's evening passeggiata along Harnet Avenue is also a genuine daily ritual, and it is the clearest surviving trace of the Italian period in ordinary life.
Who Asmara Is For
Asmara suits architects and anyone drawn to twentieth century modernism, for whom the city is close to unmatched, along with travellers who want somewhere genuinely unvisited and are prepared for the constraints. It suits people with family connections. It does not suit remote workers in any sense, because the internet cannot support the work, and it does not suit anyone who would find internal travel permits, checkpoints and photography restrictions difficult to accept. It also suits cyclists, since Eritrea is the most cycling-obsessed country in Africa, the Tour of Eritrea is a national event, and the sport is another Italian inheritance.
Photo: Martin Schibbye / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
