First: which Guinea is this?
Three countries share the name and people buy the wrong eSIM for them all the time. This page is about Guinea-Bissau only.
Guinea-Bissau — GW
Capital Bissau. Portuguese and Guinea-Bissau Creole. Dialling code +245. The Bijagos archipelago. This guide.
Guinea — GN
Capital Conakry. French-speaking. Dialling code +224. Bigger neighbour to the south-east. Guinea eSIM guide.
Equatorial Guinea — GQ
Capital Malabo. Spanish-speaking, on the Gulf of Guinea. Dialling code +240. We do not currently sell any eSIM that covers it.
Quick Facts About Guinea-Bissau
General Information
- • Capital: Bissau
- • Currency: West African CFA franc (XOF), pegged at 655.957 to the euro
- • Languages: Portuguese (official); Guinea-Bissau Creole is the everyday lingua franca
- • Population: about 2.1 million (2023 estimate)
- • Time zone: GMT (UTC+0) all year, no daylight saving
What our plans declare
- • Country plans: Orange only, MCC-MNC 632-03
- • Africa regional plans: MTN Areeba (632-02) instead
- • Largest plan: 10 GB / 30 days — no unlimited exists
- • Power: plug types C and F, 230 V, 50 Hz
- • Dialling code: +245
The network you actually get
Most Guinea-Bissau guides list all the operators in the country as if you could use any of them. You cannot. Which network your eSIM is allowed onto is fixed by the plan you bought, and in Guinea-Bissau the answer is different for a country plan and for a regional one. This is the single most useful thing on this page, so it comes first.
Country plan → Orange
MCC-MNC 632-03
- • Every one of our five Guinea-Bissau country packages declares this operator and no other
- • If your phone asks you to select a network manually, choose Orange
- • Selecting MTN or Guinetel on a country plan gives you signal bars and no data
Africa regional plan → MTN Areeba
Spacetel Guine-Bissau, MCC-MNC 632-02
- • The eSIMaccess Africa plan declares MTN Areeba at 3G in Guinea-Bissau
- • Airalo's “Hello Africa” plan declares MTN at 4G
- • Neither declares Orange here, so on a regional plan you select MTN
Guinetel is not an option. The state operator holds 632-01 and 632-07 and is a perfectly real network you will see in your phone's list. None of our plans has an agreement with it. If you pick it manually you will get nothing.
There is no eSIMfly Africa regional plan
Our own regional families are Europe, Europe Max, Central Asia, Asia, Oceania, North America, Latin America, Gulf Region and Balkans — Africa is not among them. The Africa regional plans on our site come from two partner catalogues: eSIMaccess, whose Africa plan lists 29 countries, and Airalo, whose Hello Africa plan lists 38. Guinea-Bissau is on both lists; the lists are not identical, so if you are routing through several countries, check each one rather than assuming “Africa” means the whole continent. Neighbouring Guinea (GN), for example, is on the Airalo list but not on the eSIMaccess one.
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How to Install Your Guinea-Bissau eSIM
Simple installation steps
- Check the country: Guinea-Bissau is GW, +245, capital Bissau
- Purchase: a country plan for a Guinea-Bissau-only trip, an Africa regional if you are crossing borders
- Install on Wi-Fi at home: scan the QR code before you fly — installing needs internet, activating does not
- Turn on data roaming for the eSIM line; a travel eSIM is technically roaming
- Land at Osvaldo Vieira International and let it register; if asked, pick Orange on a country plan or MTN on a regional
Before you leave Bissau: download offline maps for the whole route, your bookings, ferry and pirogue times, and anything you will need on the islands. Mains power is unreliable outside the centre of the capital, so a charged power bank is as important as the data allowance.
Coverage, honestly
Guinea-Bissau has one of the thinnest mobile footprints in West Africa. Plan the trip around being offline for stretches of it rather than around being reachable.
Expect service
- • Bissau and its immediate outskirts
- • Osvaldo Vieira International Airport
- • Bafata and Gabu, the main inland towns
- • Cacheu, Canchungo and the main north-west road
- • Bubaque town, the largest island settlement
Plan for none
- • Most of the Bijagos archipelago away from settlements
- • Orango and the other national park interiors
- • Mangrove channels and open-water boat crossings
- • Rural villages off the main roads
- • Border areas and the far east
On speed: our eSIMaccess Africa regional lists Guinea-Bissau at 3G and the Airalo regional at 4G; our country plans do not declare a technology. We are not publishing a megabits-per-second figure or a coverage percentage for Guinea-Bissau, because there is no source we would trust for either. Budget for maps, messaging and email working, and treat video calls as a bonus.
The Bijagos archipelago
The Bijagos are why most visitors come: roughly 88 islands and islets, of which only about twenty are populated year-round. The archipelago has been a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 1996 and a Ramsar wetland since 2014, and in 2025 it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as the Coastal and Marine Ecosystems of the Bijagos Archipelago (Omati Minho). Bubaque is the most populated island; Bolama, the old colonial capital, is the administrative centre.
It is also, by the archipelago's own standard description, a place where a lack of infrastructure and communication links is what has held its tourism back. That is the honest framing for connectivity too. Do not buy a data plan expecting island-wide service.
What people go for
- • Orango National Park and its saltwater-tolerant hippos
- • Migratory shorebirds across the tidal flats — a major wintering site
- • Sea turtle nesting on the Joao Vieira–Poilao islands
- • Sport fishing and the Bijago matrilineal cultural sites
Connectivity reality check
- • Assume no signal the moment you leave a settlement
- • Agree a return time with someone ashore before each boat trip
- • Download tide tables, charts and bookings in Bissau
- • For genuinely remote trips, satellite messaging is the only reliable link
How much data you actually need
Bijagos birder or diver
Bissau in, boat out, days on the tidal flats and islands
Worth knowing:
- •Most of the trip is out of coverage, so the allowance mainly buys Bissau days
- •Download offline maps, tide tables and bird references before leaving the capital
- •Agree a return time ashore before every crossing
- •Turn photo backup to Wi-Fi-only; you will shoot a lot
Photographer or filmmaker
Uploads dominate everything else on a trip like this
Worth knowing:
- •10 GB / 30 days is our ceiling for Guinea-Bissau — there is no larger plan and no unlimited
- •Upload full-resolution work on lodge or hotel Wi-Fi, not on the eSIM
- •Expect to shoot offline for days and upload in batches from Bissau
- •Disable automatic video backup before you land
NGO or development worker
Field visits inland and to the islands, reporting back from Bissau
Worth knowing:
- •The 30-day validity matters more than the size for a posting of this length
- •Voice calls over data are far cheaper on your allowance than video
- •For a stay beyond a month, a local Orange line and a +245 number is worth the paperwork
- •Keep the eSIM as the backup that works the day the office connection does not
Multi-country West Africa route
Guinea-Bissau combined with Senegal, Cape Verde or onward
Worth knowing:
- •A Guinea-Bissau country plan stops at the border — it does not roam
- •An Africa regional plan crosses it, but registers on MTN Areeba here rather than Orange
- •Check every country on your route appears on that regional plan’s list; the two Africa lists differ
- •For two countries, stacked country plans are often cheaper per gigabyte than one regional
Sizing a Guinea-Bissau plan
What the catalogue allows
- • Sizes run from 1 GB / 7 days to 10 GB / 30 days
- • Nothing above 10 GB and nothing unlimited exists
- • All of it on a single network: Orange, 632-03
- • An Africa regional plan is the only multi-country option
What eats the allowance
- • Automatic photo and video backup, by a wide margin
- • Video calls; voice-only stretches a plan a long way
- • Re-downloading maps you could have cached in Bissau
- • App and OS updates — pin those to Wi-Fi before you fly
Buy the size that matches the trip, install it at home, and plan the island days as offline days.
Compare All Guinea-Bissau PlansSafety and entry rules
UK FCDO travel advice, last updated 10 December 2025:
“Guinea-Bissau suffers from political instability. In the event of any political unrest follow the advice of local authorities and monitor local media for information.”
The same advice tells visitors to stay alert to local developments, avoid demonstrations and large public gatherings, and avoid sensitive areas such as military installations and government buildings. That last point is practical as well as legal: do not photograph soldiers, barracks, the presidential palace or the fortress in Bissau.
Political context
Guinea-Bissau has experienced repeated military takeovers since independence — successful coups in 1980, 2003 and 2012, and most recently on 26 November 2025, after which a transitional military-led government took office. Conditions can change at short notice. Register with your embassy where that service exists, check your own government's current advisory before booking and again before flying, and keep enough data on your plan to receive an alert and rebook a flight.
Entry requirements
The FCDO states that British nationals must have a visa to visit Guinea-Bissau, and notes there is no Guinea-Bissau embassy in London — applications go via Paris or an embassy in a neighbouring country. Requirements differ by nationality and change without much notice, so check your own foreign ministry rather than any travel guide, this one included. Yellow fever vaccination and malaria prophylaxis are standard medical advice for the region; talk to a travel clinic well before departure.
Practical travel tips
Connectivity
- • Coverage is concentrated in Bissau and the main towns
- • Download every map, booking and document before you leave the capital
- • Mains power is unreliable; carry a large power bank
- • Our largest Guinea-Bissau plan is 10 GB / 30 days — size the trip to that
- • Turn off automatic photo and video backup before you land
On the ground
- • Largely a cash economy; card acceptance and ATMs are scarce
- • Currency is the West African CFA franc (XOF), pegged to the euro
- • Portuguese helps; Creole helps more; French gets you surprisingly far
- • Island transport runs on boats and word of mouth, not timetables you can look up
- • Travel insurance covering medical evacuation is essential, not optional
Troubleshooting Guide
eSIM shows signal but no data
- 1. Check data roaming is ON for the eSIM line — this is the single most common cause
- 2. Confirm the eSIM, not your home SIM, is set as the mobile data line
- 3. Toggle airplane mode for 30 seconds
- 4. If you had to pick a network by hand, check you picked the right one: Orange on a country plan, MTN on an Africa regional
It registered on the wrong network
- • Go to Settings → Mobile Data → Network Selection and turn Automatic off
- • Country plan: choose Orange (632-03). Africa regional: choose MTN / Areeba (632-02)
- • Never choose Guinetel — no plan of ours works on it
- • Turn Automatic back on once it is connected, so it can re-register after a signal gap
No signal outside the towns
- • This is normal here, not a fault with your eSIM
- • The network footprint is small and the islands are largely uncovered
- • Move to open ground or higher ground and give it a minute to re-register
- • Plan offline periods deliberately rather than discovering them
Emergency numbers in Guinea-Bissau
Published numbers
- 📞 General emergency: 112
- 🚓 Police: 117
- 🔥 Fire: 118
- 🚑 Ambulance: 119
What actually helps
- • Your hotel, lodge or tour operator, who will know who to call
- • Your embassy — often the nearest one is in Dakar, not Bissau
- • Your insurer's 24-hour assistance line, saved offline
- • Medical evacuation cover: serious cases are treated abroad
Save these before you fly, along with your insurer's number and your embassy's, as offline contacts. Emergency response is very limited and dispatch may not operate in English. We deliberately do not list direct airport or hospital phone numbers here: the ones circulating in other guides could not be verified against any current official source.
Culture and etiquette
Do
- ✅ Learn a few words of Portuguese and Creole
- ✅ Ask before photographing people, always
- ✅ Use local guides on the islands — it is both safer and the point
- ✅ Expect a slower pace and build slack into every plan
- ✅ Carry small denominations in cash
Do not
- ❌ Photograph soldiers, military sites or government buildings
- ❌ Enter sacred groves or ceremonial sites uninvited
- ❌ Assume a boat will leave when someone said it would
- ❌ Rely on being contactable once you leave the main towns
- ❌ Count on cards, ATMs or mobile money working
Cultural note: Guinea-Bissau is Portuguese-speaking West Africa, and its Creole is the language that actually crosses ethnic lines. The Bijago people of the islands are known for matrilineal social structures and elaborate initiation traditions, and traditional belief coexists with Islam and Christianity across the country. Ceremonies are not tourist attractions; go with a local guide or not at all.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this the right country? Guinea-Bissau, Guinea or Equatorial Guinea?
Three different countries, and people book the wrong eSIM for them constantly. Guinea-Bissau (ISO code GW) is the small Portuguese-speaking country on the Atlantic between Senegal and Guinea; its capital is Bissau and its dialling code is +245. Guinea (GN) is its larger French-speaking neighbour, capital Conakry, dialling code +224 — we have a separate Guinea guide for that. Equatorial Guinea (GQ) is the Spanish-speaking country on the other side of the continent, capital Malabo, dialling code +240, and we currently sell nothing for it at all. Check the flag and the +245 before you buy.
Which network does a Guinea-Bissau eSIM actually connect to?
It depends on which plan you buy, and the two answers are different. Every Guinea-Bissau country plan in our catalogue declares exactly one operator: Orange, MCC-MNC 632-03. An Africa regional plan declares MTN Areeba instead (Spacetel Guine-Bissau, 632-02) — at 3G on the eSIMaccess regional and 4G on the Airalo one. So if your phone ever asks you to pick a network by hand, the right answer depends on what is in your basket: Orange on a country plan, MTN on a regional. Pick the other one and you will sit on a bar of signal with no data. Guinetel, the state operator on 632-01 and 632-07, appears in none of our plans.
Do we sell a Guinea-Bissau plan at all, or only regional ones?
Both, and the country plans are live. There are five of them — 1 GB / 7 days, 2 GB / 15 days, 3 GB / 30 days, 5 GB / 30 days and 10 GB / 30 days — and the pricing block on this page shows what they cost today. That 10 GB / 30 days is the ceiling: there is nothing larger and nothing unlimited for Guinea-Bissau from any provider we work with. Anyone advertising an unlimited Guinea-Bissau eSIM is describing a fair-use policy, not an uncapped line.
Is there an eSIMfly Africa regional plan?
No — and this is worth being precise about, because plenty of guides get it wrong. Our own regional families are Europe, Europe Max, Central Asia, Asia, Oceania, North America, Latin America, Gulf Region and Balkans. There is no eSIMfly Africa region. The Africa regional plans you see on our site come from two other providers: eSIMaccess, whose Africa plan lists 29 countries, and Airalo, whose "Hello Africa" plan lists 38. Guinea-Bissau is in both. If you are combining Guinea-Bissau with Senegal, Cape Verde, Ghana or Nigeria in one trip, a regional is the plan that crosses the border — just check that every country on your route is actually on its list, because the two lists are not the same. Guinea (GN), for instance, is on the Airalo list but not on the eSIMaccess one.
Will my eSIM work in the Bijagos islands?
Partly, and you should plan for "no" rather than "yes". Bubaque, the most populated island, and the larger settlements have some mobile service; the archipelago as a whole does not. Of roughly 88 islands and islets, only about twenty are populated year-round, and the standard description of the archipelago is that a lack of infrastructure and communication links is precisely what has held back its tourism. Orango, Joao Vieira, the mangrove channels and everything you go there by boat to see should be treated as no-signal. Download offline maps, tide tables and your bookings in Bissau, tell people ashore when you expect to be back in range, and do not plan to be reachable from a pirogue.
How good is the data once it works?
Set expectations low. Our Africa regional partner declares Guinea-Bissau at 3G; the Airalo regional declares 4G; our country plans do not declare a technology at all. Treat mapping, messaging and email as realistic and video calls, large uploads and streaming as a bonus you may not get. Mains power is also unreliable outside central Bissau, so a power bank matters as much as the data allowance.
Do I need a visa, and is it safe to go right now?
The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office states plainly that "You must have a visa to visit Guinea-Bissau", and its advice notes there is no Guinea-Bissau embassy in London — applications go through the embassy in Paris or an embassy in a neighbouring country. Rules differ by nationality, so check your own government advisory before you book. On safety, the same FCDO advice (last updated 10 December 2025) says "Guinea-Bissau suffers from political instability. In the event of any political unrest follow the advice of local authorities and monitor local media for information", and advises avoiding demonstrations and large gatherings and steering clear of military installations and government buildings. That is not colour: the country has had successful military takeovers in 1980, 2003 and 2012, and most recently on 26 November 2025, after which a transitional military-led government took office. Register with your embassy, keep a data plan that works, and have an exit plan.
What are the emergency numbers?
The numbers published for Guinea-Bissau are 112 as the general emergency number, 117 for police, 118 for fire and 119 for ambulance. Be realistic about what answers: emergency medical response is very limited, and in practice your hotel, your tour operator or your embassy will get help moving faster than a switchboard. Travel insurance that explicitly covers medical evacuation is not optional here. We are not publishing direct airport or hospital phone numbers on this page because we could not verify any of them against a current official source.
eSIM or a local SIM card?
For a trip of up to a few weeks, the eSIM wins on hassle: it is installed and paid for before you land, it does not need a registration visit, and it does not cost you your home number on a single-SIM phone. A local Orange or MTN prepaid line is cheaper per gigabyte and gives you a +245 number, which matters if you are staying for months or need to be called by local contacts, boat operators and lodges — most of whom work by phone, not email. Bring cash in either case: Guinea-Bissau is heavily cash-based and uses the West African CFA franc (XOF), pegged at 655.957 to the euro.
Travelling on from Guinea-Bissau?
A Guinea-Bissau country plan stops at the border. If you are combining countries, compare an Africa regional plan against buying two or three country plans.
Ready for the Bijagos?
Pick the plan that matches the trip — a Guinea-Bissau country plan on Orange, or an Africa regional on MTN if you are crossing borders — and install it before you fly.
View All Guinea-Bissau eSIM Plans