Plugs and voltage
Guinea-Bissau uses Types C and F sockets; Type E is also found. Mains supply is 220 V at 50 Hz.
At 220 V, devices made only for 100–127 V (many American and Japanese hair dryers, curling irons and some shavers) will be damaged without a step-down converter. Chargers labelled “100–240V” work fine with just a plug adapter.
Money
F CFA West African CFA Franc XOF
Average in 2025: 1 USD = 581.9 XOF (World Bank). No daily reference rate is published for this currency by the ECB; check a live rate before exchanging.
Price level 39 (US = 100, 2025)
Everyday household prices in Guinea-Bissau are about 39% of US prices when converted at market exchange rates: cheaper than the median country (50). All countries
Language
- Portugueseofficial100%
Bars show the share of the population that speaks each language (CLDR estimates).
Time
Guinea-Bissau is on UTC+0, with no daylight saving time.
Driving
Traffic in Guinea-Bissau drives on the right, so the steering wheel is on the left.
Public holidays in the next 12 months
11 national public holidays from 2 November 2026. Banks, offices and many shops close; regional holidays are not shown. Dates marked “estimated” follow a lunar calendar and can move by a day.
December 2026
- Christmas Day
January 2027
- New Year's Day
- National Heroes' Day
- Day of the Beginning of the Armed Struggle
March 2027
- International Women's Day
- Eid al-Fitr (estimated)
- Easter Sunday
May 2027
- Worker's Day
- Eid al-Adha (estimated)
August 2027
- Pidjiguiti Day
September 2027
- Independence Day
Travel advisories
United States · State Department
Level 3 Reconsider travel
Read the full advisory. Checked 2026-11-02.
United Kingdom · FCDO
No warnings The FCDO does not advise against travel to Guinea-Bissau.
Updated 2025-12-10. Read the full advice. Checked 2026-11-02.
Advisories are written for each government's own citizens and change without notice: read the original before you travel.
Other practical facts
- Calling code
- +245
- Internet domain
- .gw
- Measurement
- Metric
- Paper size
- A4
- Week starts on
- Monday
- Read more
- Wikipedia
More in Western Africa
Flag: Flag of Guinea-Bissau.svg, Public domain. Arms: Emblem of Guinea-Bissau.svg, CC BY-SA 3.0, DzWiki. Electricity: resolved by intl.life from three sources, see methodology.
