South Africans: This is You Can Travel to, WITHOUT a Visa

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Experiencing different beaches, being ensconced in different languages and cultures, tasting different cuisines, and more popular in recent years, taking epic photographs at globally iconic locations to upload onto social media – whatever your motivation, we all wish to travel, at least at some point in our lives.

Our planet is big. Living your entire life without getting to see all of its beauty is a tragedy. I would encourage you to try your level best to travel, and ultimately, travel abroad, at least once in your life.

Then comes the daunting reality that we have all learned to live with, often not even realizing that it does not ALWAYS have to be this way. Visas are a bore. They can put quite a damper on your prospects of travelling.

With the average cost of a visa ranging from $96 to $320, this process can significantly affect your travel budget. More than this, and those who have read several of my blog posts know how I feel about time, it can take anything from one to four weeks (or more) to successfully apply for and receive your visa. Wow! That’s a long time. The fact that the wait is measured in weeks a source of great frustration for me. So much can happen in a matter of weeks.

Luckily, there are several great destinations you can travel to, WITHOUT a visa. I have compiled a list of nearly 100 that you can travel to TODAY.

Travelling in Our Own Continent, Africa

The biggest thing to consider when looking into the prospect of travelling without a visa is the purpose of your visit to the country in question. If your reasons for travelling there are purely for vacation purposes, you have nothing to worry about. If your reasons may include anything more than your vacation, however subtle, it may to a good idea to look into this country’s policy regarding this kind of visit.

Some countries, such as Ghana, will allow you to apply for a visa online. This is not as great as travelling without a visa, but it’s something.

There are also some countries that will allow you to enter even if you don’t arrive visa in hand, affording you the opportunity to apply for one upon your arrival. I will start off by listing these countries in alphabetical order:

• Cape Verde (off Northwest Coast of Africa)
• Comoros (East Africa)
• Egypt (North East Africa; links Africa to the Middle East)
• Ethiopia (East Africa)
• Madagascar (island, off Northeast coast of Africa)
• Tanzania (East Africa)
• Tunisia (North Africa)
• Uganda (East Africa)

The SADC (South African Development Community) region will generally welcome your “visaless” self with open arms. Some other countries will afford you the same hospitality. Here are some countries (again, in alphabetical order) to which you can travel entirely without a visa:

• Benin (West Africa)
• Botswana (Southern Africa)
• Gabon (Central Africa)
• Kenya (East Africa)
• Lesotho (Southern Africa)
• Malawi (Southeastern Africa)
• Mauritius (Indian Ocean Island)
• Mozambique (Southern Africa)
• Namibia (Southern Africa)
• Rwanda (East Africa)
• Saint Helena (Island in the Atlantic Ocean; West of Angola)
• Senegal (West Coast, Africa)
• The Seychelles (Archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, off East Africa)
• Swaziland (now eSwathini) (Southern Africa)
• Zambia (East Africa)
• Zimbabwe (Southern Africa)

Let’s see which other continents will have you. This list is ordered in terms of the density of regions that you are welcome to visit without a visa.

Travelling to South & Central America

Sometimes there is a novelty that can be derived from actually leaving your continent. South and Central America are generally ready to welcome you. The great news is that over quite a large territory you are able to do this and gain entrance to a country just as easily as you would to, say, Lesotho.

Just like the SADC, just about all of South and Central America are ready to welcome you with open arms, 33 countries to be a bit more precise. For good measure, I will list these countries, again in alphabetical order:

• Antigua
• Argentina
• Bahamas
• Barbados
• Barbuda
• Belize
• Brazil
• British Virgin Islands
• Cayman Islands
• Chile
• Colombia
• Costa Rica
• Dominica
• Ecuador
• El Salvador
• Falkland Islands
• Grenada
• Guatemala
• Guyana
• Haiti
• Honduras
• Jamaica
• Montserrat
• Nicaragua
• Panama
• Paraguay
• Peru
• Saint Lucia
• Saint Vincent
• Grenadines
• Turks and Caicos Islands
• Uruguay
• Venezuela

Some of the countries (five of them) in this territory are NOT as willing to afford us this opportunity. Sorry, if you want to visit these counties, start by applying for your visa:

• Cuba
• French Guiana
• Mexico
• Puerto Rico
• Suriname

Travelling to Oceania

Oceania is the name given to the group of islands spread all over most of the Pacific Ocean. Oceania is a geographic area encompassing:

• Australasia
• Melanesia
• Micronesia, and
• Polynesia

Boasting ten regions for you to visit, visa free, this is the next most South African friendly zone that you can visit when you get the chance. If you love the feeling of being on an island, you can check out:

• Cook Islands
• Fiji
• Federated states of Micronesia
• Nauru
• New Zealand
• Niue
• Palau
• Samoa
• Tuvalu
• Vanuatu

Travelling to Asia

Next, at 8 countries, we have Asia.

Asia, earth’s largest and most populated continent has a lot to offer. Many parts of Asia are also quite affordable to travel to.

Asia also has ten countries that will allow you to apply for a visa upon your appearance. These countries are:

• Armenia
• Bangladesh
• Bahrain
• Cambodia
• Indonesia
• Laos
• Nepal
• Sri Lanka
• South Korea
• Timor-Leste

Without having to apply for a visa, you may visit:

• Georgia (at the intersection of Europe and Asia)
• Hong Kong
• Macau
• Malaysia
• Maldives
• Philippines
• Singapore
• Thailand

Travelling to the Middle East

Our neighbors, the Middle East, have not welcomed us as much as South and Central America have.

This being said, you can apply for a visa when you arrive in these two countries:

• Oman
• Turkey

You may also travel freely, without a visa, to these three countries:

• Israel
• Jordan
• Palestine

Travelling to the Rest of the World

The rest of the world requires you to apply for a visa before you give them a visit.

This being said, 97 is a whopping number of countries for you to be able to visit without a visa. You can be grateful to your leaders that this has been made possible on your behalf.

Which country will you choose to visit first?