How to travel to Haiti (2023)

I traveled in Haiti independently for 10 days, traveling from Cap-Haïtien to Port-au-Prince and a few places in between, always with local transportation and hitchhiking, but also took a small domestic flight.

It was a great trip, and I recommend visiting Haiti to anyone looking for an unrivalled offbeat adventure in the Americas. 

This updated and comprehensive travel guide to Haiti will show you everything you need to know on safety, top experiences, getting there and more.

For things to do, don’t forget to check my itinerary for Haiti.

Why travel to Haiti?

Haiti is a Caribbean country that occupies one third of La Española (Hispaniola), an island that it shares with the Dominican Republic.

Everyone knows about Dominican Republic and its dreamy beaches but few know about traveling in Haiti.

The first thing you need to know about it is that Haiti was the first country to ever be liberated by slaves, in 1803.

By that time, Haiti was ruled by the French, who had spent the previous decades importing hundreds of slaves from West Africa, mainly from Mali and Benin, to work on their sugar plantations.

The peculiarity about Haiti is that when it got its independence, many of those slaves had been born in Africa but they became Caribbean overnight and that is the number one reason for visiting Haiti, a purely Caribbean country that still keeps its African culture, traditions and essence.

Traveling in Haiti truly feels like traveling in West Africa, with all that default chaos intrepid travelers feel attracted to, but also when it comes to their art, music and religion.

Add to this world-class Caribbean beaches and landscapes, and the result is, perhaps, the most gorgeous and fascinating off the beaten track destination in the American continent.

Cruising in Haiti

Not many people travel to Haiti and, most of the few people who do it, tend to do it on one of those massive cruise ships…