🇵🇬Papua New Guinea

How your entry route is decided

1. Check whether your passport still qualifies for visa on arrival. A limited list survives - Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore and most Pacific island states, plus diplomatic and official passports of selected countries. Everyone else, including the United States, Australia, India and every EU member state, must be authorised before departure. Even where visa on arrival technically exists, the ICA and the airlines have moved to a documents-before-boarding posture, so treat it as a fallback rather than a plan.
2. Pick the visa class. Eligible nationalities apply for an Easy Visitor Permit (EVP), issued for 30 or 60 days depending on nationality. Everyone else applies for Tourist (Own Itinerary), which allows 60 days.
3. Apply online. The only official channel is https://evisa.ica.gov.pg/. You will need a scan of the passport data page, a confirmed return or onward ticket, and a card to pay the lodgement fee - USD 50 for the standard classes. Commercial sites advertising PNG visas charge two to three times that for filing the same form.
4. Wait, then print. Easy Visitor Permits typically come back in 24 to 72 hours, tourist visas in 3 to 5 working days, and up to 10 working days at busy times. You are issued an Entry Permit which you show at check-in and again at immigration in Port Moresby.

Entry formalities that apply to everyone

• PNG Digital Arrival Card (PNGDAC): Mandatory for every traveller since 1 October 2025 - citizens, residents and visitors alike. It replaced the paper landing card, it is free, and you file it at https://pngdac.ica.gov.pg/. The form opens 72 hours before arrival; complete it inside that window and you get a confirmation email with a QR code to show at check-in and at the border. If you did not file it, there are Digital Arrival Kiosks in the terminal at Jacksons, but they queue badly when several flights land together.
• Passport validity: At least 6 months from the date of entry, checked strictly at immigration in Port Moresby.
• Onward ticket: A confirmable departure ticket is checked at the border, not just at the visa stage.
• Customs allowances: New goods to a value of PGK 1,000 for adults and PGK 500 for under-18s; 2.25 litres of alcohol; 200 to 250 cigarettes or 250 g of tobacco or 50 cigars; 1 litre of perfume. Currency and bearer instruments above PGK 20,000 must be declared in writing.
• No local registration: Visitors on a tourist permit do not report to a police station after arrival.

What actually matters in practice

• Do not assume visa on arrival covers you. Passengers from ineligible countries get stopped at check-in in Brisbane, Cairns, Manila or Singapore and never reach Port Moresby at all - the airline is liable for carrying them, so it will not take the risk.

• Apply at least two weeks out. The ICA portal has periods of downtime and there is no expedited channel.

• Carry paper printouts of the entry permit and the PNGDAC confirmation. Phone signal inside the terminal is unreliable, and officials will ask to see the documents.

• Cultural artefacts need an export permit. Older masks, carvings and ceremonial items are protected as national cultural property, and the airport at Port Moresby checks for the paperwork.
• Wildlife products are prohibited, including bird of paradise feathers - which appear on exactly the headdresses tourists are offered.
• The allowance is 250 cigarettes and 2 litres of alcohol per adult, plus a value cap on other goods.
• Cash above the declarable threshold must be reported, and the kina is difficult to change outside the country.
• Firearms and ammunition are strictly controlled, and there is no tolerance for a stray round in a bag.
• Fresh food and plant material are restricted, as they are across the Pacific.

Health, insurance and where to be treated

• Vaccinations: A yellow fever certificate is required if you are arriving from a country with a risk of transmission. Hepatitis A and B, typhoid, tetanus and polio are recommended; check with a travel clinic 6 to 8 weeks before departure.
• Malaria and dengue: Transmission is year-round below 1,800 m, which includes Port Moresby, Lae and the coast and islands. Take prophylaxis - Malarone or doxycycline are the usual choices - and use a repellent with a high DEET content, morning and evening especially. Dengue circulates in the same areas and there is no prophylaxis for it, so the repellent is doing double duty.
• Tap water: Not drinkable. Bottled or boiled only, and that includes ice and brushing your teeth outside a good hotel.
• Medical care: Pacific International Hospital (PIH) at 3 Mile in Port Moresby is the private facility used by foreign visitors, with an emergency department and intensive care. The public Port Moresby General Hospital is chronically short of supplies. Serious cases are stabilised locally and flown out.
• Insurance: Your policy must explicitly cover aeromedical evacuation to Australia - Cairns or Brisbane. In-country capability for major trauma or a cardiac event is limited, and an unplanned medical flight costs more than any holiday. This is the single most important thing to get right before you travel.

Where to stay for your first nights in Port Moresby

Judge a property on whether it runs its own airport transfer, before you judge the room. Prices are high for what you get by regional standards, because what you are paying for is a guarded compound, a generator and a vehicle that collects you.

• 7 Mile (the airport area): The right choice for a transit stop or a late arrival. Secured compounds adjacent to the airport - Airways Hotel, Gateway Hotel. PGK 450-1,000 a night.
• Waigani: The government and residential district, with modern guarded hotels such as The Stanley Hotel & Suites and the Vision City mall next door. PGK 600-1,200 a night.
• Downtown / Town (Ela Beach): The traditional business centre on the water, including the Grand Papua Hotel, in guarded complexes. PGK 500-1,100 a night.
• Where not to book: Boroko, Gordons, Badili, Koki and Gerehu see markedly more street crime.

Practicalities

• Check-in - a passport, plus usually a refundable cash deposit of PGK 200 to PGK 500 or a card pre-authorisation.
• No separate registration - foreign guests do not report to any authority.
• Confirm the airport pickup in writing at booking and again the day before you fly. The arrangement, not the room, is what matters on arrival.

What to buy as soon as you land

Buy a physical Digicel PNG SIM. It runs the most stable 4G/LTE network and reaches far more of the country than anything else, provincial towns where Vodafone has no presence included. International eSIM profiles either roam expensively or drop out entirely, so this is one of the few countries where the local card is clearly the right answer.

Getting connected before you leave the terminal is not a convenience question. You need a working phone to confirm your transfer and to stay in contact while you move across Port Moresby - that matters more here than the data allowance does.

Comparison table

Digicel prepaid prices as published by the operator; Vodafone Konekt as of March 2026.

Where exactly to buy

• Jacksons International Airport (POM): Digicel and Vodafone kiosks sit in the arrivals hall once you clear customs. The Digicel desk is the reliable one, but its hours track the international schedule loosely and travellers regularly find it shuttered on late-night arrivals. If you land after dark, assume you may not get a SIM until morning and make sure your transfer is already confirmed by email.
• Port Moresby: Official Digicel and Vodafone stores are in the Vision City Mega Mall at Waigani.
• Registration: SIM registration is compulsory under NICTA rules. The seller copies your passport, registers the card in your name and sets up the data profile; Digicel charges about PGK 10 for the registration itself. Manage plans afterwards through the MyDigicel app or the USSD codes *675# and *777#.

If you land after the kiosk shuts

Nothing above changes: Digicel is what you buy for the stay. But the airport desk keeps its own hours, and a late arrival can leave you with no way to reach your driver or your hotel until morning. A travel eSIM installed before you fly covers that one gap - Saily lists Papua New Guinea at USD 6.99 for 1 GB over 7 days, USD 16.99 for 3 GB and USD 26.99 for 5 GB over 30 days, read on 18 August 2026.

Buy it as a first-night bridge and nothing more. Per gigabyte a roaming profile here costs many times what the local card does - Digicel's PGK 100 plan carries 76 GB for a month, where the eSIM's largest 30-day plan carries 5 GB - and outside Port Moresby the local network is what actually reaches.

Short verdict

• More than a few days: the PGK 100 Digicel plan, 76 GB over 30 days.
• A short trip: the PGK 50 plan, 40 GB over 7 days.
• Do not optimise further. Both are ample, and having a working phone matters more here than the price of the data.
• Landing after dark: an eSIM for the first night, the Digicel card in the morning.

Sockets in Papua New Guinea are Type I at 240 V, 50 Hz - the Australian plug, two flat blades in a V with an earth below.

• Australian and New Zealand plugs fit straight in, and so do Chinese 10 A ones.
• European, British and American plugs need an adapter.
• 240 V is the top of the European band, harmless to a 230 V appliance; American 120 V-only equipment needs a converter.
• Supply outside Port Moresby and Lae is generator-based, and lodges often run power for a few hours in the evening only.
• Sockets usually have their own switch, as in Australia.
• Fiji and the Solomon Islands use the same plug, so a Pacific itinerary needs one adapter.

Local rules and cultural differences

• Photography: Photographing people, private houses or a ceremony without asking first is a real breach of etiquette, not a minor one. In many areas a fee is expected and that is a normal, open negotiation rather than a scam. Ask, agree, then take the picture.
• Betel nut (buai): Chewing areca nut with lime and spitting the red residue is banned in public buildings, on transport and in designated parts of Port Moresby, with fines. The red stains everywhere are what the ban is about.
• Drones: Need approval from CASA PNG. Flying near infrastructure without it gets the equipment confiscated.
• Dress: Outside the resorts, dress conservatively - shoulders and knees covered. This applies to men as well.
• Alcohol: Drinking in public places is illegal, and some provinces run their own prohibition rules.
• Wantok: Obligation to one's own language group runs deep in daily life and explains a lot about how things get arranged. It is worth knowing the word exists.

Everyday practicalities

• Power sockets: Type I, the Australian three-pin plug. 240 V, 50 Hz.
• Drinking water: Bottled or boiled, always.
• Time zone: UTC+10 across most of the country, with no daylight saving. Bougainville runs on UTC+11.
• Opening hours: Banks Monday to Thursday 08:30-15:00 and Friday 08:30-16:00; government offices 07:45-16:00; supermarkets daily 08:00-18:00. Very little stays open after dark.
• Wi-Fi: Free public Wi-Fi is essentially non-existent and hotel connections are slow. The 4G network is the most reliable internet you will have, which is another argument for the larger Digicel data plan.
• Language: English is an official language, alongside Tok Pisin and Hiri Motu. Tok Pisin is the everyday lingua franca and a few words of it go a long way.

Money and paying for things

The currency is the Papua New Guinean kina (PGK, symbol K), divided into 100 toea. In late August 2026 the indicative rate is about 1 USD ≈ 4.45 PGK and 1 EUR ≈ 5.20 PGK. Both have moved sharply since March - the euro figure by nearly a fifth - so use the converter above the prices rather than either number.

• ATM withdrawals: The network is dominated by Bank South Pacific (BSP), with Kina Bank and ANZ also present. A foreign card is charged a local fee of PGK 15 to PGK 20 per withdrawal, and the single-transaction limit is usually PGK 1,000 to PGK 2,000. Use machines inside bank branches, hotels or guarded shopping centres rather than street-facing units.
• The DCC trap (dynamic currency conversion): The machine will offer to bill you in your own currency. Decline it - choose "Continue in local currency" so the transaction settles in PGK and your own bank sets the rate.
• Cards versus cash: Visa and Mastercard work in international hotels, the large supermarkets and established restaurants, but merchants routinely add a 3% to 5% surcharge for card payment. American Express is rarely accepted. At markets and anywhere outside the main centres, cash is the only option, so draw enough before you leave a town.
• Changing money: Exchange counters at the airport and bank branches handle USD, AUD and EUR. There is no street exchange, official or otherwise.
• Tipping: Not part of the local culture and not expected.
• Declaring cash: Amounts above PGK 20,000 must be declared in writing on arrival.

• Ride-hailing does not exist here. Uber, Grab and Bolt do not operate in Papua New Guinea and there is no domestic equivalent. Every journey around town is arranged through a hotel reception or a private driver you have used before. Plan on that being how you move, and factor the cost into the trip.
• PMV minibuses: The informal Public Motor Vehicle network is how the country actually travels - no timetables, no marked stops, PGK 1 to 2 paid in cash to the conductor. It requires local knowledge to use safely and is not a sensible way for a first-time visitor to cross a city.
• Domestic flights: Because the road network does not connect the major centres, moving between provinces means flying - Air Niugini and PNG Air. Book well ahead, expect schedule changes, and do not plan a same-day connection onto an international departure.
• Offline maps matter. Download the map area in Google Maps or Maps.me before you arrive. Coverage outside the towns is patchy and you do not want to be navigating on a live connection.
• Apps worth installing:
• MyDigicel - manage your data plan and top up.
• My Vodafone PNG - the equivalent for Vodafone customers.
• Google Maps / Maps.me - with the offline area downloaded before departure.

• PNG eVisa portal - https://evisa.ica.gov.pg/evisa/ - The only official place to apply for a visa.
• PNGDAC - https://pngdac.ica.gov.pg/ - The mandatory digital arrival card, free to file.
• MyDigicel - https://www.digicelpacific.com/ - Manage a Digicel prepaid account and buy data plans.
• My Vodafone PNG - https://vodafone.com.pg/ - The same for Vodafone PNG.
• Air Niugini - https://www.airniugini.com.pg/ - The national carrier, and the main domestic network.
• Google Maps / Maps.me - Download offline maps before you travel.

Not a self-drive country. Vehicles come with drivers, and the reasons are security rather than paperwork.

• Official travel advice warns against driving alone, particularly at night and in Port Moresby, Lae and the Highlands. Carjacking is the specific risk named.
• Hire almost always comes with a driver through a hotel or tour operator, and that is the normal arrangement for residents too.
• There is no road link between Port Moresby and Lae or most of the country: internal flights are the transport network.
• Traffic drives on the left and the roads outside towns are unsealed and rough.
• The Highlands Highway is the one long route and it is driven in convoy and in daylight.

Safety and the most common risks

Urban Papua New Guinea has a serious violent-crime problem, driven by organised street gangs known locally as raskols, concentrated in Port Moresby, Lae and Mount Hagen. This is not the pickpocket-and-overcharging risk profile of most destinations - it should change how you plan, not just how alert you are.

• Official advice: Both the Australian Smartraveller service and the UK FCDO advise against walking the streets of Port Moresby and Lae after dark, and recommend that movement around the cities happens in locked vehicles with a known driver.
• Unofficial transport: Accepting a lift from someone soliciting outside the terminal has led to vehicles picking up additional passengers en route and the traveller being robbed. Only use a driver arranged through your accommodation.
• Markets: Bag-snatching and phone theft by organised groups at busy markets, Gordons Market in Port Moresby especially.
• Unofficial guides: People offering to escort you around a site or a town, then demanding payment afterwards. Arrange guiding through your accommodation or a tour operator.
• What reduces risk most: Not being out on foot after dark, not carrying a visible phone or bag on the street, keeping vehicle doors locked and windows up in traffic, and staying in guarded accommodation. Travellers on r/travel who have spent time in the country converge on the same advice.

Outside the cities the picture is very different and the country is rewarding - the highlands on an organised trek, the islands, the dive resorts. The risk is concentrated in the urban centres you have to pass through to get anywhere else.

Emergency numbers

• Police: 112
• Ambulance (St John): 111, or +675 7111 4000
• Fire: 110

Be realistic about what these can do. Emergency response is slow and patchy outside the main centres, and in Port Moresby the practical first call in an incident is your hotel's security desk, which has vehicles and radios and knows the area. Save that number alongside these when you check in.

Register your trip with your own embassy or high commission before you travel - Australia, the UK and the US all maintain missions in Port Moresby, and consular help is meaningfully easier to obtain if they already know you are in the country.

Your travel insurer's 24-hour assistance line belongs in the same list, because aeromedical evacuation to Australia is the mechanism behind any serious medical outcome here.