Your first trip abroad

Make your first trip an easy one

For a first trip, pick a country where your passport is visa-free, or where the visa is a quick online form. You learn how airports, money and bookings work without the stress of an embassy application. Save Europe, the UK or the US for your second or third trip.

Good first trips for South Africans:

• Short and easy: Mauritius, Zanzibar, or a road trip to Namibia or Botswana with no flight at all.
• Further, still visa-free: Thailand and Malaysia.
• Try to avoid: December and school holidays for a first trip. Flights and rooms cost more, and airports are at their busiest.

Trip ideas by budget and season · See where your passport can go on the map

Get your passport

You need your own passport, and so does every child, even a baby.

• Where: at a Home Affairs office. Some bank branches can take your application too: check the eHomeAffairs website.
• Cost: R600 for a standard adult passport (32 pages) and R1,200 for a 48-page maxi passport. These are the fees Home Affairs set in November 2022, so check its website for the current fee before you go.
• How long: allow at least a month, and more in busy seasons. Don’t book anything you can’t change until the passport is in your hand.
• Is yours good enough? Most countries want it valid for at least 6 months after you leave them, with 2 blank pages. If yours expires within a year, renew it before you book.
• Travelling with children: take each child’s unabridged birth certificate, and a consent affidavit from any parent who isn’t travelling. The before-you-fly checklist has the details.

Check what your passport needs

Every country decides what each passport needs. Use the trip checker: pick your passport and the country, and you’ll see one of these:

• Visa-free Just go, with your return ticket and bookings.
• Visa on arrival You buy it when you land. Bring the fee, often in US dollars.
• e-Visa You apply online first. Print the approval.
• Embassy visa You apply with documents and give fingerprints. Allow 4 to 8 weeks.

Two things first-timers miss:

• Copycat sites. Apply only on the official site we link on each guide. Look-alike sites in search ads charge double.
• Transit. If you change planes in another country, check whether your passport needs a transit visa there, even if you never leave the airport.

Visa types, explained simply

Set a budget, then save for it

Add it all up before you book: flights, accommodation, food and transport, visa costs, insurance and any jabs. Our budget calculator does it in rand.

Then work backwards. Divide the total by the months until you go: a R15,000 trip in 10 months is R1,500 a month. Add about 10% for surprises, like a taxi when the train isn’t running.

Book your flights

• Search wide, then book direct. Compare prices on a flight search site, then check the airline’s own site. The price is often the same, and changes are easier when you booked with the airline.
• Check what’s included. A cheap fare may have no checked bag. Add the bag before you compare.
• Your name exactly as it is in your passport. A spelling mistake can cost you the ticket.
• Give connections time. On international routes, aim for at least 2 hours between flights.
• Skip “self-transfer” tickets on your first trip. They’re two separate bookings. If the first flight is late, the second airline won’t wait or rebook you, and you may need a visa just to collect and re-check your bag.
• Need an embassy visa? Book a fare you can change or cancel, or wait until the visa is in your passport.

When: 2 to 4 months ahead is a good rule of thumb for international flights. Book earlier for December and school holidays.

Book where you’ll stay

• Free cancellation wherever you can, so you can change your plans.
• At least your first night booked before you fly. Immigration officers and arrival cards ask for the address.
• Location over a small saving. Near transport, in an area with good recent reviews. Read reviews from the last few months, not the last few years.
• Plan your first ride. Book a transfer or know how you’ll get from the airport, especially if you land late at night.

Buy travel insurance

• Buy it on the day you book flights, so your cancellation cover starts straight away.
• What matters most: medical cover and emergency evacuation. Then cancellation, delays and lost bags.
• Check your bank card first. Many South African bank cards include basic travel insurance when you buy the flights with the card. Check the limits: it may be too low for a visa (Schengen needs at least €30,000 of medical cover), or leave out things you need.
• Tell the insurer about medical conditions, or a claim can be refused.
• Going to Tanzania or Zanzibar? They have their own compulsory insurance. See the Tanzania guide.

Sort out your money

• Tell your bank you’re travelling, and take two cards, packed in different bags.
• A travel card from your bank lets you load foreign currency before you go, at a rate you can see.
• Pay in the local currency. When a card machine abroad asks whether to pay in rand or the local currency, choose the local currency. Paying in rand usually costs more.
• A little cash for day one. Some countries want clean US dollar notes printed after 2009 for a visa on arrival.
• You don’t need permission for holiday spending. It falls under the Reserve Bank’s yearly allowance for adults, which rose to R2 million in April 2026. Your bank handles it.

Get data for your phone

• An eSIM is the easiest option. Buy it before you go, install it at home on Wi-Fi, and switch it on when you land. Your phone must support eSIM and not be locked to one network.
• Roaming on your South African number is simple but can be very expensive. Switch it off unless you’ve bought a roaming bundle.
• Before you leave: download offline maps and your bookings. WhatsApp calls work on any Wi-Fi.

Health and jabs

• Visit a travel clinic 4 to 6 weeks before if you’re going somewhere with malaria, or that needs jabs.
• Yellow fever: if you visit or transit a yellow fever risk country, get the jab at least 10 days before you fly and keep the yellow card with your passport. South Africa can ask for it when you come home.
• Medicine goes in your hand luggage, in its original packaging, with a copy of the script.

Airport day, step by step

1. Do your SARS traveller declaration. Since 1 July 2026, everyone entering or leaving South Africa must declare online, no more than 24 hours before departure: on the SARS website or the SATMS app, or by scanning the QR code at the airport. Children need their own declaration, which a parent can fill in. SARS doesn’t mention a fee, so be wary of any site that charges you.
2. Check in online when it opens (usually 24 to 48 hours before) and save your boarding pass on your phone.
3. Arrive 3 hours before an international flight.
4. Drop your bag at the airline counter. Keep your passport, visa, bookings, medicine and valuables in your hand luggage.
5. Passport control, then security. Liquids go in containers of 100ml or less, in a clear bag. Take out your laptop if you’re asked to.
6. Find your gate on the screens. Be there when boarding starts, usually 45 minutes to an hour before take-off.
7. When you land: follow the signs to immigration. Have your return ticket, your first night’s address and proof of money ready. Then collect your bag and walk through customs.

Need help getting around the airport? Airlines offer special assistance, such as a wheelchair or help with boarding, if you ask when you book or at least 48 hours before you fly.

Coming home

• Declare again. Do your SARS declaration within 24 hours before your flight home.
• What you can bring back free: goods worth up to R5,000 per person (R25,000 from Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia or Eswatini), plus 2 litres of wine and 1 litre of spirits. The allowance is once every 30 days, and not for trips shorter than 48 hours. Declare anything over it: you pay only on the amount above the allowance.
• Yellow fever card in your hand if you’ve been to a risk country.

If something goes wrong

• Register your trip on DIRCO’s Travel Smart before you go, so the government can reach you in a crisis.
• Save the 24-hour South African emergency line: +27 12 351 1000 (ask for consular services), plus the address of the nearest South African embassy.
• Lost or stolen passport: report it to the local police, then contact the nearest South African embassy or consulate. They can help you replace it; Home Affairs fees apply.
• What the embassy can’t do: pay hotel or medical bills, give legal advice or get you out of detention. That’s what insurance is for.
• Save your insurer’s emergency number and policy number on your phone and on paper.
• Keep photos of your passport, visa and bookings in your email or the cloud, so you can reach them from any phone.
• Flight cancelled or badly delayed? Go to the airline desk and contact the airline online at the same time. Ask what they’ll cover: meals, a hotel, the next flight.

Spot a travel scam

• Look-alike visa sites that charge double. Use only the official site we link.
• Holiday deals on social media or WhatsApp that are far cheaper than anywhere else, rush you, or want an EFT to a personal account. Pay by card where you can, so your bank can help you get the money back.
• Travel agents: check that they belong to ASATA, the Association of Southern African Travel Agents, before you pay.
• Agents who promise you’ll get a visa: nobody can promise that. Only the embassy decides.

Flying words, explained

Direct flight

One flight number. It may land on the way, but you stay on the same plane. A non-stop flight doesn’t land at all.

Connection (layover)

The time between two flights when you change planes.

Stopover

A longer break on the way, usually more than 24 hours, in a city you can visit.

Transit

Passing through an airport without entering the country. Some passports need a transit visa even for this.

Self-transfer

Two separate tickets you join yourself. Nobody rebooks you if you miss the second flight.

Carry-on (cabin bag)

The bag you take on the plane. Check the size and weight limit for your fare.

Checked bag

The bag you hand in at check-in and collect when you land.

Booking reference

A six-character code for your booking, sometimes called a PNR. You use it to check in and manage your trip.

Boarding pass

The pass that gets you on the plane, on paper or on your phone.

Immigration

Passport control: officers check your passport and visa and decide whether to let you in.

Customs

Where officers check what you’re bringing into the country.

Do you need a visa kit?

Not for a first trip. Everything on this page is free.

Our visa kits are only for visas you must get before you fly, like Schengen, the UK, the US, Canada and Australia. They add templates you fill in: a cover letter, an employer letter, a sample itinerary that matches your bookings, and a refusal checklist. If your first trip is visa-free or an e-Visa, you won’t need one.

Rather not do it yourself? I can plan your trip for you: flights, places to stay, transfers and visa steps in one plan, and you book with the links.

Sources and checks

• officialMinister Aaron Motsoaledi approves new fees for passports and travel documents · South African Government · published 9 Oct 2022
• officialFAQs for the required online traveller declarations from 1 July 2026 · South African Revenue Service · no date shown
• officialDuties and taxes for travellers · South African Revenue Service · published 13 Dec 2024
• secondarySARS clarifies traveller declaration rules · Tourism Update · published 7 Aug 2026
• secondarySARB finalises Budget-linked exchange control reforms (allowance raised to R2 million) · Moonstone · published 16 Apr 2026
• officialConsular services · Department of International Relations and Cooperation · no date shown
• officialOver 6 400 South Africans in the Middle East register on Travel Smart · SAnews (South African Government News Agency) · published 5 Mar 2026
• officialApplying for a Schengen visa · European Commission · no date shown
• officialApply for a Standard Visitor visa · GOV.UK · no date shown
• officialGlobal visa wait times (updated 17 Sept 2026) · U.S. Department of State · published 17 Sep 2026
• officialYellow fever vaccination requirements for South Africa · South African Tourism · no date shown
• secondaryMandatory travel insurance in mainland Tanzania from 1 October 2026 · VisasNews · published 1 Oct 2026

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