Cost of Living in Bissau
Where this figure comes from. No cost survey covers Bissau, so the $850 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 $850 a month, which makes Bissau one of the cheapest capitals in West Africa. A one-bedroom runs roughly $200 to $400. Market produce is very cheap and the country grows good cashew, rice and fruit, with cashew nuts making up most of its exports. Fish and seafood from the estuary and the Bijagos are inexpensive and excellent. Imported goods carry a markup and the supermarkets are limited. Eating out is cheap, with Portuguese-influenced Guinean cooking and grilled fish the mainstays. The CFA franc is pegged to the euro, which removes currency risk.
Where to Work in Bissau
Connectivity is weak. Guinea-Bissau has limited submarine cable capacity and fibre reaches only parts of Bissau, with mobile data from MTN and Orange the usual answer at prices that are high relative to income. Power cuts are frequent and prolonged, and generators are standard in anything serious. There is no coworking. Anyone with call-heavy work should treat this as a genuine constraint. The time zone is GMT with no daylight saving, which makes European work straightforward and is one of the few unambiguous practical advantages here. Anyone working here should budget for a generator or an inverter, since the public supply is intermittent enough that a working day cannot be planned around it.
Getting Around Bissau
Shared taxis, painted blue and white and shared with whoever is going the same way, cover Bissau for a low fixed fare and are the normal way to move. The old colonial centre around the Praca dos Herois Nacionais is walkable. Roads outside the capital vary sharply and several are impassable in the rains. Osvaldo Vieira International Airport is about eight kilometres from the centre with connections to Lisbon, Dakar and Casablanca. Boats to the Bijagos archipelago leave from the port and the schedules are approximate. Anyone heading to the Bijagos should allow days rather than hours, since the pirogues and the ferry both depend on tides and on having enough passengers to sail.
Sorting transport? Book an airport transfer, or compare car rental on Auto Europe and QEEQ.
Visas for Bissau
Guinea-Bissau requires a visa of most nationalities. An e-visa system operates and is the usual route, with visas issued for thirty to ninety days, and visa on arrival has been available at the airport for those who apply online first. A yellow fever certificate is required. There is no remote work visa. Extensions are applied for in Bissau. The country has had repeated coups and attempted coups since independence, so the current political situation is worth checking before any plan. Anyone applying for the e-visa should print the approval and carry it, since the airport process still runs on paper and the online record is not always accessible there.
Best Time to Visit Bissau
November to May is the dry season and the practical window, warm at around thirty degrees with lower humidity, and it is also the best time for the Bijagos. June to October is the wet season and Guinea-Bissau is genuinely wet, with roads outside the capital deteriorating badly and some becoming impassable. Carnival in February is the biggest event in the calendar and is a serious one, with masks and drumming from across the country converging on Bissau for several days. Anyone visiting the Bijagos should aim for the dry months, since the islands' accommodation is limited and several of the lodges close entirely during the rains.
Pros and Cons of Bissau
The case for Guinea-Bissau is the Bijagos, an archipelago of eighty eight islands that is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, matrilineal in its social organisation, home to saltwater hippos and nesting turtles, and visited by almost nobody. Bissau itself has a decayed Portuguese colonial core that is genuinely atmospheric. Costs are very low. The case against is instability, weak infrastructure, unreliable power, limited medical care, and the country's long-standing role as a transit point in the cocaine trade, which shapes its politics. The country also has one of the highest cashew dependencies in the world, so the annual price of a single crop moves the whole economy and the mood with it.
Who Bissau Is For
Guinea-Bissau suits travellers heading for the Bijagos, conservation and development workers, and Portuguese speakers, since Portuguese and Crioulo are the working languages and English is very rare. It suits birdwatchers and anyone drawn to matrilineal societies, which the Bijagos genuinely are. It does not suit anyone needing reliable infrastructure, anyone on a fixed schedule, or anyone uncomfortable in a country where the political situation can change quickly. It also suits anyone drawn to turtle nesting, since Poilao in the Bijagos hosts one of the largest green turtle rookeries in the Atlantic and is a sacred island.
Photo: Original: Colleen Taugher from Lewiston Idaho, USA Modifications: The original uploader was Cornischong at Luxembourgish Wikipedia. / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
