Banjul International is the country's only commercial airport, a single terminal at Yundum with no confirmed SIM counter in 2026, so arriving connected means sorting it out before you board. Most winter visitors land on a charter or a Brussels, Istanbul or Casablanca connection, collect bags in a small hall and walk straight out to a transfer coach or a green tourist taxi. The resort strip at Kololi and Kotu is roughly 20 kilometres and 30 to 40 minutes away, and the capital about 23 kilometres. A Nomad plan installed at home, at 9 dollars for 1 GB over a week, covers the drive, the hotel check-in and the first evening's messages, and a local Africell or Comium card can follow the next morning for a fraction of the price.
What This Guide Covers
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One Terminal and a Runway Built for the Space Shuttle
The airport sits at Yundum, inland from the coastal towns, and every passenger uses the same terminal for arrivals and departures. It is a compact building: immigration, a short walk to the baggage belts, customs and then the exit, with a small duty-free shop, a snack bar on the ground floor and a restaurant upstairs. The terminal was rehabilitated in a project completed around 2021. There is nothing to navigate in the way of piers or shuttles, which is good news when you are tired and bad news if you hoped for a mall of phone shops.
A footnote from aviation history
The runway is about 3,600 metres long, far more than the airport's traffic needs. That length is a legacy of Banjul's role as one of NASA's transoceanic abort landing sites for the Space Shuttle, where an orbiter could have come down if an ascent from Florida went wrong. No shuttle ever had to use it.
Traffic is highly seasonal. From roughly October to April, the dry season, charter flights from the UK and the Netherlands fill the apron, alongside year-round scheduled links such as Turkish Airlines from Istanbul, Royal Air Maroc from Casablanca, Brussels Airlines, Vueling from Barcelona, and regional carriers including Air Senegal and ASKY. Travellers have reported a development fee charged at the airport, so check whether yours is included in the ticket before departure day.
What You Can and Cannot Buy on Arrival
We looked hard for a current SIM counter in the arrivals area and could not confirm one. A traveller's account from 2018 describes an Africell booth at the airport, and some travel guides mention SIM cards being available on arrival, but none of the recent sources we checked places a staffed telecom desk in the terminal in 2026. Treat any kiosk you find as a bonus rather than the plan.
| Option | Where | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Africell booth | Terminal (reported 2018) | Not confirmed for 2026 |
| Africell outlets | Brusubi, Kololi, Serrekunda | Free SIM with passport |
| Comium and QCell shops | Greater Banjul Area | Open business hours |
| Nomad or Airalo eSIM | Installed before the flight | Works on landing, on Comium |
There is a further reason to wait for the coast even if a booth is open. Registration needs your passport and a few minutes of an agent's time, and doing that while your transfer coach is loading or a taxi driver is waiting is a poor use of the first hour. Outlets in the resort area see foreign passports every day of the season.
Package holiday arrivals
If your tour operator's coach is waiting outside, you will be moving within minutes of clearing customs. Have the hotel's address and the rep's number saved offline, because without data or roaming you will not be able to look either up.
Dalasi, the ATM and the WiFi Question
The currency is the Gambian dalasi, written GMD or simply D, at roughly 74.5 to the US dollar in October 2026. Taxis, phone outlets and street traders deal in cash. Recent guides report a bank ATM and a bureau de change inside the terminal, and both are worth using for a modest amount, enough for the taxi and a first bundle, since rates and choice are better around Senegambia and Serrekunda. Pounds and euros are accepted by many hotels, less reliably by drivers, and paying in foreign currency tends to push a fare up.
Do not plan around the terminal WiFi
We could not confirm a current public WiFi network name or login at Banjul International, and travellers rarely mention one. If your eSIM is not installed yet, the last dependable connection is the departure airport: Brussels, Istanbul, Casablanca, Gatwick or Manchester for most visitors. Install the profile there, or better, at home the evening before.
One small practical point: with no confirmed WiFi and no confirmed SIM desk, a phone with neither an eSIM nor roaming switched on is effectively offline until you reach the hotel. That matters most to independent travellers, whose taxi fare depends on knowing roughly what the ride should cost.
Green Taxis, the Tariff Board and the Road to the Coast
The Gambia has two kinds of taxi and the airport rank deals in the expensive one. Green tourist taxis charge per car, not per passenger, and fares to common destinations are fixed on a government tariff board posted at the airport. Yellow taxis are cheaper and work on shared routes, but in many tourist areas they are not allowed to pick up visitors, and you will not find them lined up at arrivals.
Read the board before you talk to a driver
Recent 2026 guides put the green taxi fare to the Kololi, Kotu and Senegambia area at about D1,500 to D2,000; older guides quoted D500 to D700 to Serrekunda hotels, a sign of how far fares have moved. The posted board is the authority.
Agree the total in dalasi
Confirm the destination and the full price per car before the bags go in the boot. Late-night arrivals may be quoted more.
Share your location with the hotel
With data running, a live location to your host or rep is the easiest safety net on an unlit road after dark.
The drive to the hotel strip takes around 30 to 40 minutes. Banjul itself is about 23 kilometres away on St Mary's Island, reached over the Denton Bridge. Coverage on these roads is continuous for every operator, Comium included, so an eSIM user can follow the route on a map all the way. Pre-booked hotel transfers are widely quoted at 15 to 25 dollars, and car hire is available for those planning to drive.
We found no international ride-hailing service we could confirm as dependable at the airport, so do not count on calling a car from an app.
Airport Day, Town Bundle or eSIM: The Numbers
Because there is no airport counter to price, the comparison here is between the eSIMs you can install at home and the local bundles you can buy in town on day two.
| Option | Data and validity | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Nomad eSIM | 1 GB, 7 days, Comium | $9 |
| Nomad eSIM | 5 GB, 30 days, Comium | $27 |
| Airalo eSIM | 1 GB, 3 days, Comium | $9.50 |
| Airalo eSIM | 5 GB, 30 days, Comium | $44 |
| Comium bundle in town | 5 GB, 14 days | D250 (about $3.35) |
| Africell bundle in town | 3 GB, 45 days | D255 (about $3.40) |
| Africell local eSIM | Activation, plus 3 GB promo in October 2026 | D150 (about $2) |
On money alone, the local options win by a large margin, and the cheapest travel eSIM costs about eight times what Comium charges for the same 5 GB on the same towers. The case for the travel eSIM at Banjul is narrower and practical: it is the only one of these that works the moment the wheels touch at Yundum, with no counter, no passport handover and no dependence on business hours.
The pattern most visitors should follow is a small Nomad plan for arrival, then a local card once settled. Prices for every plan are in the Gambia eSIM guide, local tariffs in the Gambia SIM card guide, and the eSIM Finder can match a plan to your dates.
Landing Connected or Landing Offline at Yundum
The decision has to be made before you fly, because the airport offers so little to fix it on the ground.
An eSIM installed at home
The trade-offs
Roaming on a home plan is the other way to land connected, and for a weekend it can be acceptable if your operator includes The Gambia in a travel pass. For a two-week winter break it is usually the most expensive route of all. Whichever you choose, arrange it before the flight, because Yundum is not the place to discover your phone has no way online.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I pick up a local SIM inside the Yundum terminal before I head to the hotel?
We could not confirm one for 2026. An Africell booth was reported in 2018, but no current source places a working telecom desk in the terminal. Africell outlets in Brusubi, Kololi and Serrekunda hand out free SIM cards against a passport, so buying on the coast the next day is the reliable route.
What should a green taxi from BJL to Kololi cost?
Recent 2026 guides put it at about D1,500 to D2,000 per car, roughly 20 to 27 dollars, for a ride of 30 to 40 minutes. Fares are set on a government tariff board at the airport, so read it first and agree the full price in dalasi before loading bags.
Can I rely on airport WiFi to download my eSIM after I land?
No. We could not confirm a working public WiFi network at Banjul International. Install the eSIM at home, or during your connection in Brussels, Istanbul or Casablanca, so it is ready before the last leg.
Which network will a travel eSIM use when I land at Banjul?
Comium. Both Nomad and Airalo name Comium as their only Gambian network. It has good 4G on the road from Yundum to the coast and around the resort strip, but it is the smallest of the four operators, so coverage thins upriver.
Do I need dalasi as soon as I arrive?
Yes, for the taxi at least. Drivers and phone outlets prefer cash in dalasi, and paying in pounds or euros tends to cost more. Recent guides report an ATM and a bureau de change in the terminal; take out a modest amount there and the rest in Senegambia or Serrekunda.