🧭 Haiti: good to know
The general-information half of trip planning: how expensive Haiti feels, what is considered polite, what is not, and the everyday practicalities - alongside our 53 written places.
Proud, expressive and formal in greeting; style and courtesy are noticed everywhere.
Cost level: Mid-range Middle of the global pack - comfortable travel without luxury prices. Estimate a daily budget →
✓ Considered polite
- Say bonjou before noon and bonswa after - to everyone in the room, not just your contact
- Dress neatly - Haitians take real care with appearance and notice it in visitors
- Greet elders first and shake hands on meeting
- Haggle at markets with humour - opening prices for visitors run high
✗ Better avoided
- Photograph people without asking - permission is expected and often refused
- Launch into questions or requests before greeting properly
- Dress down for church - Sunday best is meant literally
- Refuse offered food outright - taste a little instead
💡 Worth knowing
- Prices quoted in dollars usually mean Haitian dollars - units of five gourdes, not US dollars
- US dollars circulate widely alongside the gourde
- Sunday mornings belong to church and much of daily life pauses
- Markets and street life start at dawn and wind down by early evening
Plugs and voltage
Type A, B · 110 V travel adapter →
CurrencyGourde (HTG)
LanguagesHaitian Creole, French
Driving sideright
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Keep planning
Customs are living things - regions differ, cities relax, generations shift. Take these notes as a friendly head start, watch what locals do, and when in doubt a smile and a greeting in the local language cover almost everything.