Trip Planning
The TakeYourBackpack guidebooks are your all-in-one travel companion, featuring the best cities, national parks, hikes, beaches, and unique sites, along with essential tips on when to go, how to get around, exchanging money, and even local phrases to get you started — everything you need for a smooth, unforgettable backpacking adventure.
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Planning a backpacking route through Eswatini can be tricky — you need to balance must-see places, travel times, budget, and how long to stay in each destination. Our free personalized Eswatini itinerary planner creates a route based on your travel style, trip duration, and interests, so you can spend less time researching and more time exploring.
Personal tip: I normally search on good rating for atmosphere (for meeting people) and location (for easy exploring). Cleanliness as a bonus.
Travel Essentials
No vaccinations are legally required to enter Eswatini, except a yellow fever certificate if you arrive from a country with yellow fever risk. Make sure your routine vaccines are up to date, including measles, tetanus and diphtheria. Hepatitis A and typhoid are recommended for most travelers, and hepatitis B and rabies are worth considering for long stays or rural travel. Malaria is present in the low-lying east (the Lowveld, including Hlane and Mlawula), mainly from November to May, so ask a travel clinic about antimalarials. Eswatini has one of the world’s highest HIV rates, so take precautions with sex and any medical procedures.
vaccination requirementsWhen I first started traveling, I often spent part of my first day in a new country hunting for a local SIM card. While this can still be slightly cheaper, it also takes time and planning.
These days, it's much simpler to install an eSIM before leaving home. Once you arrive in Eswatini, you can activate it immediately and have mobile data from the moment you land — which is especially useful for ordering transport or navigating away from busy airports.
There are many providers nowadays, and price differences are usually small. I personally go with
Holafly, as it offers excellent network coverage throughout the country and strong global coverage, so you can manage multiple countries from a single app.
HolaFly eSimCulture & Customs
Respect for the monarchy runs deep in Eswatini, so do not criticize the King or the royal family in public, and stand when the national anthem plays. Always ask before photographing people. At royal ceremonies such as Umhlanga and Incwala, photography rules are strict and you may need a permit. Dress modestly outside lodges and reserves, with women ideally covering knees and shoulders in rural areas and at cultural events. Give and receive things with your right hand or both hands, and show visible respect to elders. Do not haggle aggressively at craft markets, and do not make large public displays of affection, which applies doubly to same-sex couples in this conservative society.
Trying traditional food is always a great way to experience the culture. Here are some must-try dishes for Eswatini.
- Sishwala: A stiff maize-meal porridge, eaten by hand and served with a meat or vegetable stew. It is the everyday staple of Eswatini and the base of most home-cooked meals.
- Umncweba: Dried, salted strips of beef, similar to South African biltong. It is a traditional way of preserving meat and a favorite road snack sold at markets and petrol stations.
- Sitfubi: Fresh milk cooked with maize meal into a smooth, mild porridge. It is a comfort food tied to the country’s deep cattle culture.
- Emasi: Thick soured milk, often eaten with crumbled maize porridge or sorghum. Cattle are a measure of wealth here, and dairy dishes like this one carry real cultural weight.
- Umbidvo wetinhlumaya: Pumpkin leaves cooked with ground peanuts. It is a classic rural side dish and one of the best vegetarian options in local cooking.
- Incwancwa: A sour, fermented maize porridge with a tangy flavor. It is a traditional breakfast and is often made in large batches for family gatherings.
- Tinkhobe: Whole maize kernels, boiled and sometimes salted. This simple, filling snack is closely linked to harvest time.
Tap water in Mbabane, Manzini and other towns in Eswatini is treated, and many urban locals drink it, though supply interruptions and older pipes can affect quality. Travelers with sensitive stomachs are better off filtering it or buying bottled water, which costs about E10 to 15 (under US$1) for 1.5 liters. In rural areas, where water often comes from untreated boreholes or rivers, always filter, purify or stick to bottled water.
The main language in Eswatini is
Siswati. Backpacking is way more rewarding if you know a bit of the local language, so I'd suggest brushing up on the basics just in case your Siswati skills have become a bit rusty.
Want to understand locals better?The complete Travel Guide for Eswatini includes 52 essential words and phrases — greetings, thank-yous, ordering food, transport, numbers, and common local expressions you'll actually hear.
Get your local basic phrases 👉
Get the Travel Guide - is an official language of Eswatini alongside siSwati. You can get by easily in English in Mbabane, Manzini, the Ezulwini Valley and any lodge or backpackers, and younger, school-educated Swazis tend to speak it fluently. In rural villages and on the kombi network, older people may speak only siSwati, so a few words help a lot. “Sawubona” (hello) and “ngiyabonga” (thank you) earn real smiles, and an offline translation app with Zulu covers much of the gap, since the two languages are closely related.
Money & Payments
The local currency of Eswatini is SZL (E).
ATMs are easy to find in Eswatini’s towns, including Mbabane, Manzini, the Ezulwini Valley, Malkerns, Piggs Peak and Big Bend, with Standard Bank, FNB and Nedbank the most common. Expect a local fee of roughly E30 to 70 (US$2 to 4) per withdrawal, on top of whatever your home bank charges. The lilangeni is pegged 1:1 to the South African rand, and rand is accepted everywhere, but emalangeni are not accepted in South Africa, so spend or swap them before you leave. Cards work in supermarkets, malls, larger restaurants and most lodges, while kombis, markets, roadside stalls and small shops are cash only. US dollars and euros can be exchanged at banks in Mbabane and Manzini, but if you are coming from South Africa, it is simpler to bring rand. Avoid changing money with people on the street.
Tipping in Eswatini is appreciated rather than expected, and around 10% in sit-down restaurants is standard if service is not already included. Safari and hiking guides usually get about E50 to 150 (US$3 to 8) per person per day, and petrol station attendants and car guards appreciate E5 to 10. Kombi fares are not tipped, but rounding up for a private taxi driver is a kind gesture.
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Over the years, I've learned the importance of packing minimally. It's so much easier to jump on the back of a truck or squeeze yourself into the last spot of a minibus without that supersized backpack. If you're headed to a warm destination, leave your winter jacket at home; for colder regions, opt for thin thermal underlayers. Instead of packing your entire wardrobe, bring just three sets of clothes, as laundry facilities are available everywhere..jpg)
Hi, I’m Johan (Netherlands 🇳🇱), the creator of TakeYourBackpack. Over the past 3 decades, I’ve backpacked through 90+ countries across six continents, gaining extensive experience with independent travel, long-term trips, and overland routes.v2.webp){kind=logo}
