haiti business trip

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Haiti Country Commercial Guide

The Country Commercial Guide (CCG) is your trusted source about how to do business in an international market. Authored by seasoned trade experts at U.S. embassies and consulates, the guides provide insight into economic conditions, leading sectors, selling techniques, customs, regulations, standards, business travel, and more. Country Commercial Guides are available for 140+ markets.

7 Key Topics for Market Success

Doing Business in Haiti : Get an overview on market opportunities and entry strategies, key economic indicators and trade statistics, and other reasons U.S. companies should consider exporting to the country.
Leading Sectors for Exports & Investments: Learn about sector-based industry trends, industry market overviews, export-import trade data, and key trade events.
Customs, Regulations & Standards: Check the latest on tariff and non-tariff barriers, export controls, import requirements and documentation, product standards, and trade agreements.
Selling U.S. Products & Services: Gain insight into the best market entry strategies using agents/distributors, other sales channels, pricing and methods of payment, financing, joint/ventures/licensing, and selling to the government.
Business Travel: Find information on visa, travel and vaccine requirements, and get insight into local business protocol such as dress, business cards and gifts.
Investment Climate Statement: Learn more about the country’s investment climate.
Political and Economic Environment: Get current status of the country’s relations with the U.S., local laws, tips on safety and security.

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Haiti - Business Travel Haiti - Business Travel

Facilities for visiting business persons have improved significantly with the opening of two additional hotels in Petion-Ville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince. These hotels offer a full range of business services, including internet connectivity and voicemail. The hotels include Hotel Karibe, NH Hotels’ El Rancho, Kinam Hotel, Servotel, Visa Lodge, Royal Oasis, Marriott, and Best Western. Reservations can be made by telephone, fax, e-mail or online (only the Best Western, Marriott and Royal Oasis, Karibe, and Kinam hotel provides the online booking service).

Business Customs

Haitians are open to working with foreign investors and are particularly well disposed towards American investors. Most Haitian businesspeople speak English fluently. Appointments with Haitian business operators should be made in advance. Invitations to restaurants for meetings are appreciated and business is usually discussed in restaurants and hotels as much as in offices.

Travel Advisory

Visit the following site for the latest travel advisory on Haiti: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/haiti-travel-advisory.html

Visa Requirements

Visitors are required to have a valid passport. Visitors from the United States, U.K., France, and Germany may not require a visa. However, if a U.S. Citizen expects to be in the country for more than 90 days they need to apply for an extension of stay with the Haitian Immigration Service in order to obtain an exit visa. It is highly recommended to do this procedure prior to the 90 days expiration date. An airport tax of $55 is required from foreigners departing Haiti, and is included in the price of airline tickets. A publication (“Guide for Business Representatives”) is available for sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 20402, telephone 202-512-1800, or fax 202-512-2250. Business travelers to Haiti seeking appointments with U.S. Embassy officials in Port-au-Prince should contact the Economic Section in advance of their arrival date by calling 509-2229-8000 and asking to be transferred to the Economic section or via e-mail at [email protected] Haitian Immigration Service Avenue John Brown, Lalue Port-au-Prince, Haiti Tel: 2244-1737 More information may be found at: http://www.travel.state.gov/ U.S. Companies that require travel of foreign businesspersons to the United States should direct potential Haitian travelers to the following links. State Department Visa Website: http://travel.state.gov/visa/visa_1750.html U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince Consular Section: http://haiti.usembassy.gov/visas.html

The Gourde is the national currency of Haiti, with HTG as the currency code. The currency symbol is G, and the top HTG conversion is USD/HTG.

Telecommunications/Electric

The number of telephones has significantly increased since 2007. The top cellular company is Digicel as they bought their biggest competitor Comcel. Digicel use GSM wireless cellular phone technology. Natcom a Vietnamese/Haitian state joint venture, created in April 2010, is Digicel’s main competitor. Natcom provides high-speed bandwidth through its network of 3,500 kilometers of fiber optic cable broadband throughout Haiti, which allows high-speed stability and a high-quality connection. The distribution of electricity is sporadic with only 5 to 15 hours of electricity on average on a daily basis.

Transportation

The major car rental agencies located in Port-au-Prince include Hertz, Avis, Budget, Dollar, and Secom. Air travel is possible from Port-au-Prince to most of the provinces. Though distances are short, travel in Haiti, including in the Port-au-Prince area, is extremely slow. Many national highways have been constructed making travel to the cities outside of Port-au-Prince much easier, but many more are in bad condition. Privately operated taxicabs and other public transportation vehicles are not recommended for use (U.S. Embassy officers are not allowed to use public transportation). Visitors are advised to hire a driver for ground transportation.

French and Haitian Creole are the official languages of Haiti; however, English is widely spoken in the business community and Spanish is spoken to a lesser extent.

Medical facilities are limited, particularly in areas outside of the capital. Doctors and hospitals often expect immediate cash payment for health care services. U.S. medical insurance is not always valid or accepted outside the United States. Travelers should confirm the validity of their insurance coverage before departing the U.S. The Medicare/Medicaid program does not provide for payment of medical services outside the United States. It is prudent to have medical evacuation coverage.

Local Time, Business Hours and Holidays

Government and commercial offices typically open between 8:00 AM and 9:00 AM and close between 3:30 PM and 5:00 PM. Retail businesses remain open until 6:00 PM. Supermarkets, depending on the area, may close at 7:00 PM or 8:00 PM, and observe their Sunday schedule on National holidays. Haitian Holidays for 2019: January 1, New Year’s Day January 2, Ancestors’ Day March 5, Carnival April 19, Good Friday May 1, Labor and Agriculture Day June 20, Corpus Christi August 15, Assumption Day October 17, Death of Dessalines November 1, All Saints’ Day November 2, All Souls’ Day November 18, Battle of Vertieres Day December 25, Christmas

Temporary Entry of Materials or Personal Belongings

There is no fee for the entry of personal belongings. However, a 0.25 percent unique rate is applied to goods entering under diplomatic concessions and for those that are on "temporary entry." Goods that will be in the country temporarily must be imported under the temporary entry regime. Temporary entry refers to goods that will be processed before being re-exported. These goods are subject to a security deposit equivalent to one and a half times the duties and taxes payable under the release for consumption regime. This deposit is paid in the form of a bank check that will be released once the goods are re-exported. Goods that enter the country under the temporary entry regime and are then used for consumption purposes are taxed on the amount of their depreciation when they are re-exported. All imported goods are subject to verification fees and administrative costs.

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Haiti Up Close

Seven Haitian Businesses and Brands You Should Know

Handcrafted handbag by Vèvè Collections

Photo: Vèvè Collections

We're giving you the lowdown on Haiti’s top entrepreneurs and independent businesses, including art galleries, a woman-owned fashion boutique and delicious local products.

When it comes to loving and repping Haiti everywhere we go, we all know that walking the walk is what really matters. Haitian Heritage Month is in May, but driven, talented, and hard-working Haitians surround us all year long. Making sure that travel pennies are pocketed by people they will directly impact is both extremely important and easy. It’s a great way to support Haiti, to gift something special to a friend, or to carry a little piece of the island with you everywhere you go.

With that in mind, we're giving you the lowdown on Haiti’s top entrepreneurs and independent brands, including art galleries, a woman-owned fashion boutique and delicious locally-grown chocolate and coffee.

1. Tisaksuk

Tisaksuk is a black-and-woman-owned fashion brand that strives to make traditional Haitian clothing that is usually reserved for cultural events or special occasions more of an everyday habit. The garments feature hand-painted illustrations of Haitian silhouettes, traditional homes, and still life.

Vis dette opslag på Instagram Et opslag delt af Tisaksuk | Promoting Haiti (@tisaksuk)

One of the more popular and dynamic brands of Haitian coffee grown, harvested, and ground in Beaumont, Haiti, Mokafe offers a wide variety of flavored coffee, ranging from their Tanbou (caramel) flavor to their Cap Rouge (chocolate) grind. It’s the perfect way to start your day!

Click here to buy Mokafe Ground Organic Gourmet Coffee!

Vis dette opslag på Instagram Et opslag delt af Mokafe Coffee™ (@mokafe_official)

3. Makaya Chocolate

Based in Pétion-Ville, Port-au-Prince, Makaya Chocolate is the brainchild of Ralph Leroy. The chocolatier offers specially catered chocolate tasting experiences at his flagship location in Pétion-Ville , and various flavors of Makaya chocolates are available at supermarkets all throughout Haiti.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Makaya Chocolat (@makayachocolat)

4. Kòmsi Like and Colorful Nomad

Coralie Nader is the Haitian woman behind Kòmsi Like, a Haitian women empowerment brand, and Colorful Nomad, a vintage clothing shop. Her style brings a lively, funky flair that appeals to the young, the bold, and the proud in ways that other companies are rarely doing today.

Click here to visit the Kòmsi Like shop!

Vis dette opslag på Instagram Et opslag delt af Kòmsi Like | Haitian Lifestyle Brand (@shopkomsilike)

5. Vèvè Collections

Looking for functional fashion pieces that are also art statements? Phelicia Dell’s Vèvè Collections is the place for you. Traditional Vodou vèvè designs are given a new life with stunning, hand-woven beadwork on the side of handbags, dresses, and several other articles of clothing from the designer’s studio.

Click here to buy a handcrafted Vèvè Collections handbag!

Vis dette opslag på Instagram Et opslag delt af VèVè Collections (@collectionsveve)

6. Créations Dorées

Stéphanie Dartigue and Sara Magloire are the beauties and brains behind the Haitian jewelry and footwear brand Créations Dorées. The gorgeous, handmade sandals feature hand-beaded detailing and add a stylish tropical flair to any outfit.

Check out the Créations Dorées online shop!

Vis dette opslag på Instagram Et opslag delt af CRÉATIONS DORÉES (@creationsdorees)

7. Galerie Monnin

Located just 15 minutes outside of Pétion-Ville, Galerie Monnin is a dreamy, almost surreal crossroads where art and Haiti meet for what seems like a moment suspended in time. If you are into collecting art, or into surrounding yourself with beautiful work, this is the place for you.

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Business Trips to the Edge

Category archives: haiti, haitian viagra.

I last visited this challenged country three years ago, about five months after the devastating earthquake. I’m back for another round and I am finding some real post-earthquake progress; but challenges continue and a fair bit of dysfunction remain. This time I am working in Haiti’s north, in Cap Haitien, the country’s second city. By any poor country comparison Haiti is poor. Also by any poor country comparison, Cap Haitien is an absolute jewel. It is vibrant, reasonably well supplied with hotels, restaurants, and nightlife, and is remarkably secure. I safely and enjoyably walk the downtown after dark. The colorful and balcony lined streets are reminiscent of New Orleans (another poor city.)

My client is Makouti, a local business that supports entrepreneurial efforts by small holder farmers, bee keepers and producers of chicken, goat, and rabbit meat. Makouti has asked me to visit a range of their farmers and producers, design business training for them, and guide the writing of a business plan for the producers.

Last week my first visit was to a successful beekeeper and honey producer. He let me sample a new product he is offering – – described as Haitian Viagra. I downed a bottle. Ladies, please do not read the next sentence. (Guys, I think you can make this at home; it is mostly a blend of honey, peanuts, and ginger.) Ignoring the likely overly touted Viagra-like effects, the product tastes delicious and is quite healthy. I cannot report the same health benefits from the rest of the Haitian diet. One legacy of French colonialism is a fondness for white bread and french fries. Fried plantains and white rice round out the mix. In a poor country with numerous health challenges, I suspect such a diet is not a life enhancer.

Yesterday I conducted my first training session for the farmers and producers. One topic I covered was marketing. I asked one of the farmers how he communicated to his customers. He replied, “I don’t need to, they know who I am and they come to my house.” I believe he is following the famous adage credited to Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.” There are at least two shortcomings in this message: you must communicate that your mousetrap is indeed better and you must tell your customer how to find your door. The good news here is that there is plenty of room for improvement in this farmer’s marketing program.

Due to the simple fact that I come from the United States, I am seen (likely erroneously) as a business expert. I met a local guy at my hotel who wants my advice regarding his pizza parlor in town. Now I don’t know much about the retail pizza business, but I suspect I’ve got the basics nailed: take a heap of refined white flour, throw on a glop of mozzarella, and then ladle on canned tomato sauce: voilà, pizza. I think I’ll recommend that he watch Mystic Pizza.

Frequent readers of this space may recall that from time to time I like to get a haircut from a local barber. I generally wear my hair on the bushier side. I now have learned that if you do not know the Haitian Creole words for long, short, and hair, you are pretty much at the artistic whim of the kwafè (barber.) Haitian men sport one of two hair styles: shaved head and short buzz cut. I lucked out and got the latter. In fact, the last time my hair was this short was July 1, 1967 – – the day I was inducted into the army. Over the next several months I will save barber fees while my hair grows out. As well, I have access to Haitian Viagra until my hair is presentable again.

A New Employer in Town

Farmers outside Les Anglais, this rural town of 5,000, are self employed. But in town, very few people have jobs and almost all are very poor. There are a few “ma & pa” stores that employ the owner and perhaps a family member part time. Such a store might be 10 feet by 10 feet in size and would sell daily necessities: soap, batteries, candles, bouillon cubes, etc. The largest (and perhaps only) employer in town runs the combined hotel, restaurant, internet café, flour mill, popsicle maker. He employs 10 people. Our new clean energy store will soon be a relatively large employer: 3 people and growing.

Unemployment is unmeasured, but it must be around 70%; consequently, there is a lot of sitting around on the sidewalk, especially in a shady spot during the heat of the day. I suspect most people exist on aid (e.g. Catholic Relief Services) and on remittances sent from Haitians working abroad. Despite the crushing poverty there are virtually no beggars in this rural area. But there are a few opportunists. I have been hit up to fund a motorcycle purchase, as well as a law school degree. I passed on both contribution opportunities.

We launched the Clean Energy Store on Wednesday. We started the day with a booth at the weekly market. Thousands of townspeople as well as countryside dwellers showed up Wednesday morning to buy their weekly food supplies, used clothing, plastic shoes, woven palm frond donkey saddle bags, and so on. Our booth drew a crowd to watch demonstrations of our efficient cook stoves and to consume the food produced. (Produced tastefully and efficiently, I should add.) We had a DJ who selected a music genre that appealed to young teenagers – – not exactly the target market for cook stoves and solar home systems – – but at least we drew a crowd.

That evening we brought in a group from Port au Prince called Sinema anba Zetwal (Cinema under the Stars.) They set up a large screen in the town square to show a variety of short environmentally themed films…and a few cartoons for the kids. Between films we interviewed local townspeople abut their energy use, we gave out information about our products, and then we raffled off a few of them.

This being a poor country, we didn’t’ sell the raffle tickets, but gave out the tickets in exchange for the entrant’s cell phone number. With residents’ cell numbers we can build a data base of prospective clients to text store updates to in the future.

Thursday morning we opened the doors of the store. The first customers who showed up held the winning raffle tickets from the night before. We did have a few paying customers as well…so now the Magazen Eneji Pwop is off and running. Keep your eyes on this remote tip of Haiti as charcoal use plummets and solar lighting begins to brighten the homes.

And now to wrap up, a few random observations:

The little kids call us rare visiting Americans, “blanc,” which means white. So as I walk down the street the young ones will shout out “blanc, blanc,” always in a friendly, good natured way.

Being a guy, I don’t travel with a mirror. The room where I stayed had no mirror, nor did the bathroom, nor the living room. I later found that there was a mirror elsewhere in our host’s home; but at one point, I actually went eight straight days without seeing my reflection. This doesn’t count using my cell phone screen to see a hazy view of a small, very regionalized part of my face. Going without a mirror for over one week is quite liberating in a strange sort of way. I was a baby the last time I went so long without seeing my reflection. You should try it sometime. It will help you to avoid one of the seven deadly sins, that of vanity.

One day I was laid low by a brief bout of food poisoning. Our hosts were very concerned about my health. They also spent some time discussing the likely cause. Ultimately, local folk wisdom settled on the culprit: I had gone on a bike ride that was followed by drinking hot chocolate. So much for believable folk wisdom.

The Haitians are devoutly religious, mostly Catholic. At each of the meetings we held with the local board of our store, the Haitians would begin and end with a prayer. But the most beautiful part of this was they also included an acapella hymn with each prayer. Really sweet music, from a really sweet people.

So now, with good feelings about my experience here, I will depart tomorrow. Thus ends my reporting from Haiti. This blog will go into suspended animation until I find my next special international opportunity.

Seeking a Miracle

On Saturday my EarthSpark colleague, Allison, and I took a break from work to bike deep into the countryside. The ride along the Caribbean coast on a dirt road in southwestern Haiti at the tip of the backwards C was absolutely beautiful. We passed small one and two room homes, thatched roofs, whitewashed walls, that held families of 4 – 10 people (lots of kids here.) We stopped to cool off in the Caribbean twice and also paused in the shade to purchase a very juicy and refreshing watermelon and to quench our thirst with coconut water from a freshly opened coconut.

We biked westward for 2.5 hours until my left pedal fell off and my rear tire went flat. Separately, I plan to write a book about the perils of 3 rd world bike rentals. Keep your eye on Amazon books.

Haiti is a mountainous country and the green hills are covered in fast growing grass…but are mostly devoid of trees. No real stands of trees along our entire 2.5 hour ride. This is a result of unlimited cutting to produce charcoal and very limited replanting to replace the stripped trees. We passed eight charcoal manufacturers: Mounds of dirt covering tee-pee shaped wood piles. The wood had been lit, then before fully burning, covered with dirt so that the wood would continue to burn in the absence of oxygen, thereby converting the unburned wood to charcoal. Which brings me to the reason I am in rural Haiti.

I am assisting in the launch of a clean energy store. Beginning July 7, the residents of Les Anglais and the surrounding countryside will be able to purchase home solar lighting and various cook stoves that are more efficient than traditional stoves. Stoves currently in use are basically free standing metal grates that hold charcoal with a cooking pot set directly on the charcoal. I suspect that a 50 year old Weber grill is substantially more efficient. One of our products is called, in Creole, Recho Mirak, or the Miracle Stove. This stove, if not quite a miracle, is nevertheless a great benefit. It uses 25% less charcoal than traditional stoves. In a very poor country, reducing charcoal expenditure by 25% is a big deal. And slowing deforestation by 25% is a big deal, too. We even have the Eco Stove which uses 50% less charcoal…but costs substantially more than traditional charcoal stoves.

So, 2.5 hours out of town with a dysfunctional bicycle required us to flag down a passing tap tap: the ubiquitous rural Haitian bus. Our tap tap was a pick up truck with two parallel wooden benches running along the sides of the pick up bed. There was room for 8 seated passengers, but with the inclusion of our bikes and a very large bag of charcoal and another of coconuts headed to market, three of the passengers had to ride on the top of the cab.

We ultimately made it back to town to continue preparation for our July 7 store launch. Stay tuned.

Life at the Tip of the “C”

Haiti occupies the western half of the island of Hispaniola between Cuba and Puerto Rico. (The Dominican Republic occupies the eastern half.) Haiti is shaped like a backwards letter “C”, pointing westward.

Our six hour drive to Les Anglais took us to the far southwestern tip of the backwards C…through the massive damage in Port au Prince, through the earthquake’s epicenter several miles west of PAP. There the paved road showed signs of earthquake stress: odd rills and ridges in the asphalt as if Mother Nature had held the roadway at either end and had shaken and twisted it.

But the most precarious part of the drive was when the pavement ran out, about 1.5 hours short of Les Anglais. The dirt road clung to a bluff overlooking the Caribbean Sea to our left. Water which sporadically rushes down seasonal rivers and gullies had washed out stretches of the dirt road. This required us to creep along a two lane, reduced-to-one-lane road along an irregular precipice on our left plunging to the sea below. Just glad that Rene, our driver was up to the challenge.

As it was we forded half a dozen rivers before reaching Les Anglais. The final river was the largest and most challenging: maybe 50 yards wide, hub cap deep at the ford but deeper elsewhere, and flowing briskly. Enterprising local river guides were waiting for us near the river. By then it was too dark to discern the hub cap deep passage from the deeper car swallowing passages. One of the river guides waded to the far side in front of our vehicle leading us across a known safe passage.

Our lodging for the next two weeks is at the home of Madame Alexander, the elderly mother of one of EarthSpark’s vendors. Her home may be the nicest in this town of 5,000 people. It is a relatively new concrete three bedroom construction. My EarthSpark colleague, Allison, and I each have our own rooms, Madame Alexander, the other. The house is spotlessly clean – – a small army of helpers sweeps, cleans, washes (and cooks) for her daily.

However her house does lack what most every house in Les Anglais lacks: running water and electricity. I am already accustomed to bucket showers and bedtime preparation by flashlight. Fortunately EarthSpark is in the clean energy business so my ES solar flashlight never needs replacement batteries.

Sleeping is damn hot though. The temperature seldom dips much below 80 degrees, the humidity likewise rarely falls below 80%. My bed is below the level of the high bedroom windows so a refreshing breeze never reaches me. The mosquito netting around my bed protects me from potential malarial pests, but also traps body heat. After a cool bucket shower, I slide slowly into bed and lie perfectly still to avoid generating additional body heat. But that’s just life at the tip of the C.

Finally, the food: lots of white bread, white rice, and processed cheese – – not my favorite cuisine – – but also fresh tropical fruits and fresh fish, so it all sort of balances out.

Beyond the Rubble

On Friday I started a new business volunteer gig, this time in Haiti…but not in the earthquake zone. I am not participating in a rebuilding effort. Instead, I am working for EarthSpark International, a US-based NGO that is bringing clean energy to rural Haiti. I will spend 17 days in Les Anglais in the far southwest of the country, about six hours over rough, but mostly paved road, from Port au Prince (PAP).

We will launch the Magazen Eneji Pwop (for those of you who don’t read Creole, that is the Clean Energy Store)…a retail store that will sell solar lighting, efficient cook stoves, and alternatives to charcoal fuel.

Haiti is relatively easy to get to, just 3.5 hours Boston to Miami, turn left and travel another 1.5 hours. There is only one time zone change and travel is mostly north to south, so no jet lag to deal with.

Flying into PAP I saw, as expected, numerous collapsed buildings, many tent camps, as well as scores of buildings missing roofs, but with replacement blue plastic tarps to keep out the elements. The airport is still standing, but – – for safety reasons, I presume – – we disembarked through a newly built temporary arrival hall. I discovered that a windowless metal building in the tropics, full sunshine, 90 degree heat, gets pretty toasty inside – – especially crowded with people and with only a few weakly spinning fans. Once through the immigration line and covered in sweat, I went outside to meet my EarthSpark colleagues: executive director Allison (like me, an American) and driver Rene from Haiti.

Since it was too late to begin the six hour drive to Les Anglais, we drove instead to our overnight rooming house through PAP’s ramshackle streets. The streets display a collection of rubble, much from the earthquake, some from just third world daily life. Traffic is not particularly heavy. There are few car owners in this, the poorest country in the western hemisphere. We passed many, many collapsed, pancaked homes and buildings. I now understand how the country suffered 200,000 people killed in the January earthquake.

Since few of the remaining buildings are safe to enter, most retail commerce takes place on the sidewalks. Grilled chicken, coconuts, toilet paper, chewing gum, cigarettes, and so on can all be purchased from a sidewalk vendor. Throughout the city, are countless tent camps, sheltering I am told up to 1.2 million still homeless Haitians.

A typical tent camp consists of a town square filled with a mix of canvas tents interspersed with plastic lean-to shelters. Around the border of the tent camp are outhouses and showers set up by relief organizations. My first impression is that in this incredibly poor country, full reconstruction is years away.

So, a sobering first view of my first afternoon in Haiti. I will report more once I reach Les Anglais…and its rural povery, well beyond the rubble.

Business in the developing world

Find Business Class Flights to Haiti

Faqs for haiti business class flights, how does kayak find such good deals on business class tickets to haiti.

KAYAK is a travel search engine. That means we look across the web to find the best prices we can for our users. With over 2 billion flight queries processed yearly, we are able to display a variety of prices and options on flights to Haiti for economy class as well as Business Class travelers.

What is the best airline for business class flights to Haiti?

The highest-rated airline by KAYAK users offering business class flights to Haiti is JetBlue, with an overall rating of 7.6.

Top 5 airlines flying to Haiti

at the time for boarding the lady just call Group A and no other goups and everybody from A to F go inside without the right turn,and when we get in theres no more spsce for carry on , the ones that get in at not correct group from the back occupy our space !!!!! a mess !!!!

There were multiple delays but JetBlue tried to make the boarding and departure process as quick and efficient as possible. The crew was as detached from reality as could be, meaning: not very friendly and just doing things by the numbers.

I had back trouble prior to my flight and everyone was great about helping me.

Jetblue needs to improve on Onboarding as it seems to always be behind on departing. It never leaves on time. I would recommend to have an earlier Onboarding in order to leave on time and respect your customers time as well.

40 minute delay before take off after boarding flight. Bright lights throughout night flight due Issues with light panels. In flight Entertainment nonfunctional

Jet Blue keeps getting iit wrong. 4 hour mechanical delay followed by terrible boarding experience. This is my third horrific jet blue flight in 2024. I am going to try to avoid this loser in the sky

I booked this flight using JetBlue points and I was just so happy. The plane was so clean, I had every need met. Thank you!!

Another horrible Jet Blue experience. This airline has suffered the biggest decline of all from best to worst. TVs didn’t work (again). internet was temperamental. Boarded late and couldn’t get organized to serve snacks.

I hate their constant delays! It’s as if I cannot confidently make plans for timing when I'm traveling with them. I slept through it, so all I can say is it was good.

The staff at JFK were rude and unhelpful. I was harassed for the same bag that I used on my flight to jfk with no issues claiming it was the inappropriate size. The women then allowed my travel companion to board with the same size bag because they thought she was more “humble”. Also on the flight when informing the flight attendant that nationals no longer have to fill out the Bahamas immigration form my statement was met with eye rolling and attitude.

I arrived to the airport 2 hours before my American Airlines flight was scheduled to take off. I have TSA pre-check. The airport was crazy packed when I arrived. After momentarily standing in the pre-check line, the TSA agent said that I am not pre-check. Of course I said that I am because I entered my KTN number on all my traveling sites and programs. I had to get out of line and go back to the AA counter to discover that American Airlines did not add my KTN to my boarding pass. I had to call TSA to find out my number, then have AA enter it onto my boarding pass. The emblem would not load onto my boarding pass. By this time, I decided to use my Clear in order to get through TSA but the line was ridiculous long. By the time I made through TSA, I missed my 11:08am flight and was re-booked for the 5:30pm. This is after the AA employee told me I should have gotten to the airport early. AA use to be a dependable airline not I use them only if I have too.

Average - flew with Jet Blue internal and it was far more comfortable and better food and entertainment. Notable difference

Flight from SBP to DFW 1. They rerouted us through PHX 2. Delayed flight out of SBP for 3 hrs so we missed our connection Downgrade on rerouted flight. Back of the plane, center seats, didn't sit together 4. Return flight out of DFW same exact thing. Delayed, missed connection, Downgrade + they lost our luggage! A complete mess.

On the new 319 NEO? seatback entertainment system did not work even when the flight attendant rebooted it. At least I had my cell phone to connect with wifi.

Good flights. Departure and arrivals were on time. DFW was a little problematic in that the Skytrain without prior notice bypassed the Echo terminal so that delayed my arrival at my connecting flight.

Do not eat the bagel! Otherwise, good albeit late, breakfast in first. Boarding downgrade only because flight was delayed due to plane change due to undisclosed problem with original aircraft. I did not use entertainment.

Because I can’t stand very long in one place, I was allowed to reword.

It was a good flight. Of course it was full, but it went well.

Overall the flights pretty good. The snacks we’re good and they were plenty of them. Both boarding and deplaning went quickly.

The return trip was a customer service disaster. American Airlines needs an overhaul of how they treat their customers.

Overall it was a good experience. Stewards were very kind and professional. The departure and arrival times were as promised. Plane was clean.

The seat are terrible. Don’t even think of sleeping on a Spirit flight. The kids that run the plane aka flight attendants are pretty rude and straight forward. They get the job done but without class.

No frills, limited comfort, no food, no entertainment, but fine

I had a death in my family and booked my flight on Spirit. My flight was cancelled the morning of my flight, no explanation, no help to rebook, nobody to talk to. The next available flight was 2days later !!!! Terrible airline, will NEVER fly with them again!

Flight was canceled. Knew there was weather, and were notified of 20 min delayed, and then suddenly canceled. Next reschedule was for 2 days. No help other than to refund. Thankfully full refund and appreciate that. I appreciate discounted airline but felt they could've done more for customer inconvenience.

They seemingly have no respect for their customers, on any level. Avoid flying spirit, they will bump you to another flight without thinking twice so they can sell your seat, no joke.

Flying on Spirit Airline is a penny-pinching beat down.

Bag self drop off was terrible! No staff there to help. Almost missed my flight. Would never check a bag in with Spirit again.

They took a horrible route with a lot of turbulence and I eneded up getting sick. Even if the flight takes longer. Don't put people life at risk just to get to the airport on time.

3 hour delay was brutal though not Spirit Airlines fault. the control tower would not let us take off because of weather

Going the plane was late and then Bahamas Air chartered another plane to take the passengers to San Salvador.

4 hour delay Noisy passengers Tight seats Missed connecting flight in Ft. Lauderdale

We were scheduled to travel at 12pm. The flight got delayed with no updates until 11:30am. They advised that we will receive an update at 1pm. However, the flight was then delayed until 6pm with no clear indication as to if that was the departure time. It was NOT! They decided to combine two of their scheduled flights into one due to the smaller number of passengers. If you do not wish to be inconvenienced, “STAY AWAY FROM THIS AIRLINE”!!!!!!They do have a track record of this!

Flight was delayed more than 2 hours in departure. Boarding was lengthy and passengers were very rude. I waited on the plane for almost an hour once boarded and it was very hot. The passenger next to me was clearly I’ll: coughing and sneezing the entire flight.

Very courteous staff at the gate and excellent assistance with my needs as a handicapped person on board. The flight itself was uncomfortable, with tight seating and seats they don’t recline, so be aware. The aircraft itself is old and worn, and it shook a lot and made a lot of noise, especially upon takeoff and at landing. But, hey it’s a short flight and it got me back home to Florida safely, so….

I feel that I was scammed by BahamasAir. Both on flights 202 and 207, to and from Nassau - Fort Lauderdale June 2, June 6. I paid for 2 full size bags and selected seats. On both flights they told me I had not paid for luggage or seats. I was charged $100 extra each way without seat assignment. BahamasAir does not participate in TSA Pre Check. Even if you have it you cannot use it. Instead endure long lines because BahamasAir will not pay their share of PreCheck.

Booked thru you. Paid and was supposed to have 1 checked bag and seat 3 C; with the same for my wife sitting on the opposite side of the aisle in 3D. At airport we had to pay $ 25 each for 1 bag each.. we’d were given seats inn row 17

Boarding process was smooth and easy. The crew was friendly and communicable and transparent about the delay at the landing destination.

Flight was delayed 7hours due to multiple planes having mechanical issues.

Nothing to add! I will definately use your website again. Thank you

They find a way to Nickel and dime you in all creative ways. The boarding crew seems to have target collection amount. If you are flying internationally, avoid them at all costs.

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Things to do in Haiti in a 1-week itinerary

By Joan Torres Leave a comment Last updated on April 11, 2024

Dreamy landscapes and beaches, world-class architectural delights and the most authentic West African culture in the heart of the Caribbean.

Few travelers know about any of the places to visit in Haiti, yet this is truly the most unique destination in the Americas, packed with exciting sites offering thrilling backpacking adventures.

After spending 10 traveling around the country, here’s a comprehensive 7-day , safe itinerary containing the best things to see and do in Haiti.

For all practical information including visas, safety, local culture, etc., check our travel guide to Haiti .

In this Haiti itinerary, you will find:

Table of Contents

Accommodation
Day 1 – Traveling from Santo Domingo to Cap-Haïtien
Day 2 – Exploring Cap-Haïtien
Day 3 – Day trip to Citadelle la Ferrière
Day 4 – Hiking to Labadee
Day 5 – Travel from Cap-Haïtien to Port au Prince
Day 6 – Port-au-Prince
Day 7 – Mirelabais and Dominican Republic
More Information

Remember to get travel insurance for Haiti IATI Insurance is one of the very few that covers travel in Haiti 5% discount if purchasing via this link

🏨 Accommodation: where to stay at the places you visit in Haiti

Where to stay in santo domingo.

Near the station for buses to Haiti: Torres Apart Studio

Although this place is nothing special, it’s relatively well-priced and ideally located next to the bus terminal for buses going to Haiti.

In the Zona Colonial, near tourist sites: La Puerta Roja Guest House

Cheap, and very well located. This beautiful guest house is an excellent place to stay.

Where to stay in Cap-Haïtien: Habitation des Lauriers

This is the best place to stay in Cap-Haïtien. The rooms are basic and a bit expensive, but that’s what you always get in Haiti, and this accommodation offers the added benefit of having staff who speak English. You can also pay by card and exchange money.

The views are amazing too, overlooking Cap-Haïtien.

Where to stay in Port-au-Prince: Allamanda Hotel

Pétionville is the safest area in the capital, and the only place where you should book a hotel.

This one is one of the best choices in town.

🛖 Things to do with Haiti in a 7-day itinerary

Here’s everything you can visit in Haiti in 1 week.

Map of things to do in Haiti

Day 1 – Traveling from Santo Domingo to Cap-Haïtien

I overlanded into Haiti from Dominican Republic and that’s what most travelers do, so our Haiti itinerary will focus on this area.

In any case, remember that both Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haïtien have an international airport with connections to different cities in the USA – especially Miami – but flights tend to be more expensive than any flight into Santo Domingo.

The best way to travel from Dominican Republic to Haiti is by taking the direct bus that runs from Santo Domingo to Cap-Haïtien via Santiago de los Caballeros.

A bus also goes to Port-au-Prince, but this Haiti travel itinerary will instead focus on the other route.

Step 1: Head to the bus terminal at least one day before your intended date of departure

The bus company going to Haiti is called Caribbean Tours , and the terminal is located here .

Buses to Cap-Haïtien depart in the morning, between 7am and 8:30am.

Tickets do sell out, so try to get there at least one day before to book your ticket and find out the actual time of departure.

A one-way ticket costs 30-35 USD. This can be paid in Dominican Pesos too.

Step 2: On the day of departure, go to the terminal to catch the bus and pay the respective border fees

To exit Dominican Republic by land, some border fees apply and you must pay these before boarding the bus.

Border fees cost 37 USD, and must be paid in USD.

If you don’t have US dollars on you, there’s a money exchange office on the first floor of the bus terminal, where they will exchange your Dominican Pesos into USD at a pretty fair rate.

Note that the office will most likely be closed by the time you get there, so make sure to buy your $ the day before.

The bus journey officially takes 7 – 8 hours although it can easily take up to 12. Factors for potential delays include border crossing mishaps, but also bus breakdowns.

The bus has a pretty long stopover in a city called Santiago de los Caballeros.

They do also serve a meal on board consisting of Dominican-style grilled meat and rice, which I found to be particularly awful.

Step 3: Dominican Republic-Haiti border crossing

The border is a bit chaotic but there’s an attendant/tour leader on the bus who will probably guide you through, including paying the mentioned border fees.

On the Haitian side, some locals will offer to help you with filling out the forms – looking for a tip – but just ignore them.

Step 4 – Arriving in Cap-Haïtien

The bus will drop you at this terminal .

I arrived at around 7pm, when it was already dark. Actually, it was really dark, since the street lights weren’t on, which happens pretty much all over Haiti.

At the station, you’ll find plenty of motorbike taxis but the hotel I stayed at, Habitation des Lauriers, is just 1.7km from here, so I decided to walk.

Day 2 – Exploring Cap-Haïtien

Cap Haïtien is the second most important city after Port-au-Prince, housing the top tourist attractions in all Haiti.

Furthermore, from a historical perspective, the area is far more significant than the capital, for the following reasons:

It was here in Cap-Haïtien – in Bord de Mer de Limonade, just outside of the city – where Colombus built the first settlement ever in the New World.
The area was the epicentre of the slaves’ revolt against their French overlords.
Cap Haïtien served as the French headquarters during colonial rule.

From the Habitation des Lauriers hotel, you get the best views of the city’s skyline, so there isn’t a better place to start your day.

Other than that, Cap-Haïtien is a pleasant city to walk around while checking out some pretty cool local markets and old colonial French architecture.

Things to do in Cap-Haïtien

Place d’Armes & Notre Dame Cathedral: the central square with its respective cathedral, colonial buildings and gingerbread houses.

Iron Market: East of Place d’Armes, the Iron Market covers several streets of the city grid. It’s a bustling, fascinating market, something you won’t see anywhere else in the Americas, and very similar to local markets in West Africa.

Around Place de la Résistance: This is a pretty random place that won’t be mentioned in any guidebooks, but at the entrance to the city, just before reaching the bridge, there’s a huge outdoor market, one that tourists never see and the best place in Haiti for people-watching. This market is located almost right on the beach, and it reflects the typical images we see of Haiti on the news: absolutely massive piles of rubbisha being dragged away by the ocean waves.

Half-day trip from Cap-Haïtien: Bois Caïman

Bois Caïman is one of the most important places in Haiti .

On 14th August 1791, a group of black slaves from the sugar plantations of Cap-Haïtien and nearby areas gathered at a site called Bois Caïman to perform a Vodou ceremony, while also planning a mass uprising that quickly turned into the Haitian Revolution which freed the country from its French overlords.

Bois Caïman is located 10km from Cap-Haïtien.

How to visit Bois Caïman

If you want to do it the backpacking – hard – way, first take a tap tap towards Vaudreuil. From there, it’s a 2km walk to the actual village, but you can also catch a taxi motorbike.

In the village, there’s a painting and memorial of the Haitian Revolution and you can visit the actual cave where the Vodou ceremony took place, and where rituals are still held.

Day 3 – Day trip to Citadelle la Ferrière

In my opinion, Citadelle la Ferrière is the most beautiful place to visit in Haiti.

Less than 20km from Cap Haïtien, there’s a place called Milot, a rural town home to an absolutely astonishing fortress built on top of a mountain with superb views of the mountains around the region.

This is the largest fortress in the whole American continent, and a symbol of Haiti’s independence, built by black slaves who had gained their freedom – the first of its kind – and the reason Citadelle la Ferrière is today a UNESCO World Heritage site , and the most famous place to visit in Haiti.

It was built in the 19th century, commissioned by Haitian revolutionary Henri Christophe, and aiming to at thwart potential French invasions.

How to get to Citadelle la Ferrière

1 – Take a tap tap to Milot

The tap tap station for Milot is located here .

It costs around 100 Gourdes per person.

2 – Arriving in Milot and ticket office

Upon arriving in Milot, you will be approached by particularly intense young men on their motorbikes wanting to take you up to the Citadel. They won’t leave you alone.

The ticket office for going up to the fortress is 10-15 minutes away from the tap tap drop-off point.

The guys on the motorbikes will most likely follow you all the way there, insisting on taking you to the top.

The entrance fee to the Citadel is 1000 Gourdes.

3 – Going up to the Citadel.

Going to the top of the Citadel on foot is possible, but it would take a few hours.

Instead, you can hire someone to take you there on a motorbike, and a round-trip ticket should cost no more than 1000 Gourdes but you’ll probably have to bargain a bit.

Motorbikes can’t make it all the way to the top, so the last 1 or 2 kilometres must be done on foot. Lazier travelers can opt to ride a horse too.

Day 4 – Hiking to Labadee

Many travelers agree that Labadee is the most beautiful place to visit in Haiti.

Labadee is the bit of coast west of Cap-Haïtien, on the other side of the small peninsula.

This is the best stretch of coast in the country, not only for its white-sand beaches and crystal-clear waters, but also because it’s impeccably clean and plastic-free, something hard to find in Haiti.

Labadee is in fact a pretty laid back settlement, more notably known for being home to a tourist resort named after the village.

This resort is an essential part of the itinerary for many Caribbean cruises sailing past the islands.

But don’t worry, the resort is a bit far from the village and nobody is allowed to enter unless they are a cruise passenger. Moreover, cruise passengers are either not interested in leaving the resort or they just think it’s too dangerous.

Actually, you won’t even notice there’s a resort here unless you climb one of the hills or come from Cap-Haïtien on foot.

How to visit Labadee

The 10km hike that follows the coast from Cap-Haïtien to Labadee is an excellent day trip, and one of the best things to do in Haiti.

By the way, you can also get there by motorbike taxi, but you’ll be missing a lot of things on the way.

To hike to Labadee, you’ll first have to climb a hill through a slum, so there are no marked streets either, and it’s easy to get lost. In my experience, however, locals were pretty helpful in pointing me in the right direction.

You need to start climbing somewhere around here .

Once you leave the slum, you’ll get to the main road, and then you just need to follow the trail.

Things to do in Labadee

As mentioned, Labadee is a small settlement. There’s a small centre, the commercial area where locals gather and you can get a drink.

From there, local boats depart to different beaches and settlements in the peninsula. A one-way ride costs the equivalent of 1 or 2 USD.

I took the boat to a beach named Belly Beach. There’s a bar here, where you can order drinks and seafood. It wasn’t busy when I was there, and everyone was either wealthy Haitians or crew members from the cruise ship.

Day 5 – Travel from Cap-Haïtien to Port au Prince

I recommend visiting Port-au-Prince only if you have a good local contact, otherwise, I think it’s too dangerous to go.

Everyone in Cap-Haïtien will think that you are crazy wanting to travel to Port-au-Prince.

Maybe they’re right, I don’t know.

They will even say it’s not possible to travel there by land, declaring that road access into the capital is controlled by the gangs.

I actually believed them, so I decided to flew in instead.

Domestic flights are run by a local airline called Sunrise Airways, and the Cap-Haïtien – Port-au-Prince route is a short 30-minute flight.

However, it was after booking my ticket that I learn from my local contact in Port-au-Prince that buses do run regularly between the major cities, although they take a different route.

In any case, remember that the bus journey takes around 9 hours.

Day 6 – Port-au-Prince

Remember that there is basically a civil war going on in Port-au-Prince. Some places like Pétionville are safe but to go further afield, you must go with someone who knows their way.

The capital of Haiti is one of the most chaotic cities I’ve ever been. It is said that the city’s infrastructure can only accommodate a quarter of its total population, and what existing infrastructure there is isn’t great either, built in a city that has been crumbling since the earthquake in 2010 .

Port-au-Prince is dusty and extremely noisy, with piles of rubbish and extreme poverty filling all the streets.

To be completely honest, this isn’t a destination for most travelers although Against the Compass readers may find a certain appeal in its chaos, art scene and particular nightlife.

Port-au-Prince is an unmissable place to see in Haiti, and it’s sure not to disappoint you.

By the way, when visiting Port-au-Prince, you must stay only in Pétionville, the safest area in the city, and the only place where you can walk around freely. A good place to stay is Allamanda Hotel .

Things to do in Port-au-Prince

Pétionville: Originally a residential suburb in the mountains, Pétionville flourished after the 2010 earthquake, becoming the most prominent neighbourhood in Port-au-Prince, housing the best restaurants and hotels. This is a safe area to walk around, and one where you can enjoy a lively market, a beautiful street where they sell pieces of local art, and numerous bars and restaurants.

Atis Rezistants: A workshop where they create art out of trash, mainly Haitian Vodou-related pieces. This was one of the most interesting places to visit in Haiti.

The National Pantheon Museum : Among other things, this museum features the anchor from Santa Maria , the largest boat used during Christopher Columbus’ expedition to the New World, back in 1492. Remember that the first place there ever set foot on was in today’s Haiti.

Check our travel guide for more information.

 Cité Soleil: The poorest slum in all of the Americas and one of the largest in the world.

How to visit Cité Soleil

The most infamous place to visit in Haiti is Cité Soleil.

Cité Soleil is perhaps the most dangerous place in the Americas, and far more dangerous that infamous destinations such as Syria , Yemen or Afghanistan . The reason is that today, Cité Soleil is a battlefield for gangs trying to kill each other on an almost daily basis.

Despite the current situation, however, I did visit Cité Soleil with the help of a local fixer who personally knows the gangs controlling the area, and I actually had the chance to meet the sub-chief of G-PEP.

They showed me around the slum, we had a few beers with some gang members then left after 2 hours.

2 things I want to highlight:

Firstly, that I’ve never felt so intimated in my life as, the time I visited Cité Soleil. Upon arriving at the main gang checkpoint to enter the slum, a group of extremely young Haitians came running towards us, but as soon as they saw our fixer, they all calmed down.

It’s important to highlight that unlike checkpoints in Iraq for example, these Haitians do actually use their guns every other day.

Second, kindly note that I won’t be sharing my fixer’s contact details as I don’t want Cité Soleil to become a playground for backpackers since eventually, someone will get shot and I really don’t want to be involved. Street shootings do occur every every day and stray bullets are a thing.

Day 7 – Mirelabais and Dominican Republic

Unless you wish to keep exploring Haiti beyond what is included in this Haiti travel itinerary, on day 7 of the tour, I recommend going back to Dominican Republic.

However, instead of getting a direct bus to Santo Domingo, I recommend doing it the backpacking way through Mirebalais and the Belladères border , so you can to see another, more rural side to the country.

Step 1: Get a bus to Mirelabais.

Buses run all day long, starting early in the morning. The station is located here .

Step 2: Get on a tap tap to Lascahobas.

You can find a taxi to take you to the border, but we couldn’t find a public tap tap .

Step 3: Get a final tap tap to the actual border.

No secrets, you’ll easily find the necessary transportation.

Step 4: Cross the border on foot.

On the Haitian side, you don’t have to pay any exit fees but on the Dominican side, a fee of 10 USD applies. I found this border to be very corrupt, so make sure you pay at the official stall, and get an actual receipt. The police may ask for it later.

Step 5: Bus from Elias Pina to Santo Domingo.

Elias Pina is a 20-minute walk from the border, maybe a bit more. There’s not much to see in this town, but it has a lively market and a very local feel. It’s easy to find transportation to Santo Domingo but you might want to spend the night here, or travel somewhere else instead. One piece of advice, however: I took the last bus to Santo Domingo, departing at 6pm. The ride was long and they dropped me off in the middle of the night at a very, very sketchy area of Santo Domingo, where muggings are not uncommon.

Haiti-Dominican Republic border crossing

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📢 In my Travel Resources Page you can find the list of all the sites and services I use to book hotels, tours, travel insurance and more.

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Travel Advisory

Visit the following site for the latest travel advisory on Haiti: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/haiti-travel-advisory.html

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The Gourde is the national currency of Haiti, with HTG as the currency code. The currency symbol is G, and the top HTG conversion is USD/HTG.

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French and Haitian Creole are the official languages of Haiti; however, English is widely spoken in the business community and Spanish is spoken to a lesser extent.

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Haiti Travel Advisory

Travel advisory july 27, 2023, haiti - level 4: do not travel.

Last Update: Updated to reflect the Ordered Departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel and eligible family members for Embassy Port-au-Prince.

Do not travel to Haiti due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and poor health care infrastructure. On July 27, 2023, the Department of State ordered the departure of family members of U.S. government employees and non-emergency U.S. government employees. U.S. citizens in Haiti should depart Haiti as soon as possible by commercial or other privately available transportation options, in light of the current security situation and infrastructure challenges. U.S. citizens wishing to depart Port-au-Prince should monitor local news and only do so when considered safe.

Country Summary : Kidnapping is widespread, and victims regularly include U.S. citizens. Kidnappers may use sophisticated planning or take advantage of unplanned opportunities, and even convoys have been attacked. Kidnapping cases often involve ransom negotiations and U.S. citizen victims have been physically harmed during kidnappings. Victim’s families have paid thousands of dollars to rescue their family members.

Violent crime, often involving the use of firearms, such as armed robbery, carjackings, and kidnappings for ransom that include U.S. citizens are common. Mob killings against presumed criminals have been on the rise since late April. Travelers are sometimes followed and violently attacked and robbed shortly after leaving the Port-au-Prince international airport. Robbers and carjackers also attack private vehicles stuck in heavy traffic congestion and often target lone drivers, particularly women. As a result, the U.S. Embassy requires its personnel to use official transportation to and from the airport.

Protests, demonstrations, tire burning, and roadblocks are frequent, unpredictable, and can turn violent. The U.S. government is extremely limited in its ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in Haiti – assistance on site is available only from local authorities (Haitian National Police and ambulance services). Local police generally lack the resources to respond effectively to serious criminal incidents. Shortages of gasoline, electricity, medicine, and medical supplies continue throughout much of Haiti. Public and private medical clinics and hospitals often lack qualified medical staff and even basic medical equipment and resources.

U.S. government personnel are limited only to the confined area around the Embassy and are prohibited from walking in Port-au-Prince. U.S. government personnel in Haiti are prohibited from:

Using any kind of public transportation or taxis
Visiting banks and using ATMs
Driving at night
Traveling anywhere between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.
Traveling without prior approval and special security measures in place.

Read the country information page for additional information on travel to Haiti.

The Haitian Ministry of Health and Population (MSPP) has confirmed an outbreak of cholera in the country.

If you decide to travel to Haiti:

Avoid demonstrations and crowds. Do not attempt to drive through roadblocks.
Arrange airport transfers and hotels in advance, or have your host meet you upon arrival.
Do not provide personal information to unauthorized individuals (e.g. people without official uniforms or credentials) located in the immigration, customs, or other areas inside or near any airports.
If you are being followed as you leave the airport, drive to the nearest police station immediately.
Travel by vehicle to minimize walking in public.
Travel in groups of at least two people.
Always keep vehicle doors locked and windows closed when driving.
Exercise caution and alertness, especially when driving through markets and other traffic congested areas.
Do not physically resist any robbery attempt.
Purchase travel insurance and medical evacuation insurance ahead of time.
Review information on Travel to High-Risk Areas .
Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive Alerts and make it easier to locate you in an emergency.
Follow the Department of State on Facebook and Twitter .
Review the Country Security Report on Haiti.
Prepare a contingency plan for emergency situations. Review the Traveler’s Checklist .

Travel Advisory Levels

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Embark on your next thrilling adventure with a Haiti vacation package, and leave relaxed knowing the finer details have been taken care of. And with the ability to tailor your escape, it'll be one to remember! The best and easiest way to plan your trip to Haiti is to begin with its most renowned cities, which include Montrouis , Augier and Petionville . From the moment you book your Haiti vacation to when you return home, Expedia has you covered every step of the way.

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Haiti is home to miles of breathtaking beaches, rugged mountains, lush vegetation and historical monuments. Despite its troubles, travelers who come prepared to explore this Caribbean paradise are in for a treat.

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Expedia can make your travel budget stretch further. Bundle your hotel and flights into a Haiti Vacation Package and score amazing discounts. And with 254 hotels starting at $86 a night to choose from here, planning your getaway will be a breeze. You can also add car rental and activities to your package, like a tour of the Bassin Bleu waterfalls or the capital city, Port-au-Prince.

Your Haiti Vacation Itinerary

Day 1-2: Fly into Aeroport International Toussaint Louverture and start your adventure in Port-au-Prince. Find your hotel, freshen up and then get a great view of the city from Boutillier Observatory. After that, buy some hand-crafted goods from the Papillon Marketplace and learn some of the local history at the Haitian National Museum.

Day 3: Experience the beauty of Haiti's beaches on a day trip from Port-au-Prince. Explore the pristine coastline by boat from Petit Goave to Kokoye Beach, a secluded sandy treasure which boasts azure waters and fine, white sand.

Day 4-7: Jump in your rental car and drive north to Wahoo Bay Beach. This romantic destination also offers plenty of adventure like snorkeling, kayaking and mountain climbing. Continue to Cap-Haitien and check out famous sights like Citadelle Laferriere, Sans-Souci Palace and Cathedrale Notre Dame.

Haiti Information

New Year’s Day is cause for extra celebration in Haiti — January 1 is also Haitian Independence Day. You’ll see parades, dancing and fireworks if you’re in Port-au-Prince.

Staying in the capital? Our Port-au-Prince Vacation Packages will make planning easy.

Things move at a slower pace in the Caribbean. If you really want to take advantage of this laid-back vibe, check out our Haiti All Inclusive vacations .

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Frequently asked questions, discover the most popular places to visit in haiti, labadee beach.

Why not spend a carefree afternoon at Labadee Beach during your travels in Labadee?

Citadelle Laferriere

Find out about the history of Milot with a stop at Citadelle Laferriere. You can enjoy the restaurants while in the area.

National Palace

Learn about the local history of Port-au-Prince with a stop at National Palace. While in this relaxing area, you can savor the top-notch restaurants.

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US-expelled Haitians fuel charter business to Latin America

Etienne Ilienses checks her family’s papers for a flight to Chile, at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022. Ilienses said she was sent back to Haiti from Texas on Dec. 14 and talked to the AP before flying to Santiago with her three children on a Jan. 30 charter flight on SKY. “To get to the USA, I braved hell,” she said. Still, she did not dismiss doing it again “because Haiti offers nothing to its children. We are forced to suffer humiliations, affronts everywhere.” (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Haitian migrants wait in line to check-in for a flight to Chile, at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022. Thousands of Haitians in recent months have boarded charter flights to South America, according to flight tracking information and independent verification by The Associated Press in collaboration with the University of California, Berkeley. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

The office of the Alta Tour Turismo Travel Agency is open for business inside a small shopping center in downtown Santiago, Chile, Thursday, June 9, 2022. The agency rents planes for charter flights between Haiti and Chile. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

John Paul Spode, who has worked 35 years in the travel industry and manages NewStilo, a travel agency, poses for a portrait at his office in Santiago, Chile, Friday, March 25, 2022. Spode said few places have the demand for charter flights like Haiti, though he said it’s not an easy place for a business to operate. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

An agent at NewStilo travel agency assists customers in Santiago, Chile, Friday, March 25, 2022. John Paul Spode, who manages NewStilo, said few places have the demand for charter flights like Haiti, though he said it’s not an easy place for a business to operate. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Jean Robert Jean Baptiste looks at the camera in Tijuana, Mexico, Thursday, June 9, 2022. Jean Baptiste said he took a charter flight to Brazil after he was deported from the U.S. and has since made his way to Tijuana. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

An AP-University of California analysis looked at the infrastructure of Haitian migration to Latin America that has reached the U.S.-Mexico border at record levels amid worsening conditions in Haiti. Map shows the routes Haitian immigrants follow.

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SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — With jokes, upbeat Caribbean music and vacation scenes of sun-kissed beaches and palm trees, Haitian influencers on YouTube and TikTok advertise charter flights to South America.

But they are not targeting tourists.

Instead, they are touts for a thriving, little-known shadow industry that is profiting from the U.S. government sending people back to Haiti, a country besieged by gang violence.

More than a dozen South American travel agencies have rented planes from low-budget Latin American airlines — some of them as large as 238-seat Airbuses — and then sold tickets at premium prices. Many of the customers are Haitians who had been living in Chile and Brazil before they made their way to the Texas border in September, only to be expelled by the Biden administration and prevented from seeking asylum. They are using the charter flights to flee Haiti again and return to South America.

Some, clearly, plan to make another try to enter the United States.

Rodolfo Noriega of the National Coordinator of Immigrants in Chile said Haitians are being exploited by businesses taking advantage of their desperation. They “are at the end of a chain of powerful businesses making money from this circuit of Haitian migration,” he said.

The airlines and travel agencies say they work within the legal norms of the countries where they are operating from and are simply providing a service to the Haitian diaspora in South America.

The thriving business model was revealed in an eight-month investigation by The Associated Press in partnership with the University of California, Berkeley’s Human Rights Center and its Investigative Reporting Program.

This story is part of an ongoing Associated Press series, “Migration Inc,” which investigates individuals and companies that profit from the movement of people who flee violence and civil strife in their homelands.

Haitians sick of the deprivations of their island home resettled in Chile or Brazil, many after Haiti’s catastrophic 2010 earthquake. Then, last fall, struggling as the pandemic hit local economies and beset by racism, thousands decided to make their way to the Texas border town of Del Rio. There, they ran afoul of a public health order, invoked by the Trump administration and continued under the Biden administration, that blocks migrants from requesting asylum.

Authorities returned them not to South America, where some of their children were born, but to their original homeland — Haiti.

Some interviewed by the AP said they feared for their lives there and wanted to return to South America. But airlines had stopped direct commercial flights from Haiti to Chile and Brazil during the pandemic; their remaining option was the charters.

The flights from Haiti became a lucrative business as restrictions aimed at controlling the spread of the coronavirus decimated tourism, according to the travel agents. Planes arrive empty to Haiti but return to South America full.

From November 2020 until this May, at least 128 charters were rented by travel agencies in Chile and Brazil for flights from Haiti, according to flight tracking information, online advertisements matching the flights to agencies and other independent verification by the AP and Berkeley.

Since taking office in January 2021, the Biden administration has sent more than 25,000 Haitians back to Haiti despite warnings from human rights groups that the expulsions would only contribute to Haiti’s travails and feed more Haitian migration to Latin America and the U.S.

Not all of the passengers on the charters had tried to immigrate to the U.S., but based on interviews with dozens of travel agents, Haitian migrants and advocates, and an analysis of flight data using the Swedish service Flightradar24, it is clear that the charters have become a major means to flee Haiti.

Some who took charter flights back to South America have headed north again on the network of underground routes that wind through Central America and Mexico and that ultimately lead to the United States, according to immigration attorneys, advocates and interviews with dozens of Haitians.

Many of the Haitians go back to Chile and Brazil, rather than places close to the U.S. like Mexico, because they have visas and other legal paperwork to get into those countries. And having lived there, they can find jobs quickly to make money for the trip north.

Some, like Amstrong Jean-Baptiste, also have children who were born in South America. The 33-year-old father of two said he spent $6,000 on a harrowing trip from Chile to Texas, only to be sent back to Haiti.

He said he had knives pulled on him, forged rivers that carried others away to their deaths and encountered highway robbers. In the end, he said the Haitians were handcuffed and “treated like animals” by U.S. immigration authorities. He said his son caught pneumonia in the immigration detention center.

As he waited in Port-au-Prince for a charter flight back to Santiago, news from northern Chile underscored why he wanted to go to the United States in the first place: A demonstration against immigrants drew thousands of protesters who turned violent and destroyed the belongings of migrants living in a camp.

Would he try to go to the U.S. again? He did not rule it out.

“The risks are so numerous that this shouldn’t be an experience to repeat,” he said. “However, one should never say never.”

Ana Darcelin, a travel agent with Travel VIP, a Santiago-based agency that rents planes for flights from Haiti to Chile, said Haitians who migrated north from the South American country, only to be sent back to Haiti, are scrambling to leave Haiti and get back to Chile again.

“Everyone is offering charter flights. There is a lot of demand,” she said.

Travel agencies in Brazil and Chile said in interviews that they pay anywhere from $100,000 to $200,000 to rent an aircraft. At that rate, the three airlines that rented planes for 128 charter flights between Haiti and either Brazil or Chile would have been paid a total of anywhere from $12 million to $25 million. Meanwhile, some prices for one-way tickets from Haiti to Chile have more than doubled in eight months, from $625 to more than $1,600.

In Brazil, many agencies offering flights from Haiti rented from the low-cost Azul S.A. airlines, which was started by JetBlue founder David Neeleman.

Most of the charters to Chile are on planes rented from SKY Airline, owned by the Chilean Paulmann family, which is worth billions.

Neither Neeleman nor Holger Paulmann, chairman of SKY, responded to emails and LinkedIn messages requesting comment.

SKY also signed a $1.8 million contract in April with the previous administration of Chilean President Sebastián Piñera to fly Latin American immigrants, mostly Venezuelans and Colombians expelled from Chile, back to their homelands. SKY earned about $670 for each expelled immigrant it flies to Central and South America. Under the contract obtained by the AP and Berkeley, the carrier must complete at least 15 flights carrying 180 passengers each.

John Paul Spode, who has worked 35 years in the travel industry and manages NewStilo, which rents planes from SKY for the flights, said Haiti is not the only place in crisis that offers an attractive market for the charter flight business.

His agency also offers charter flights between Venezuela and Chile. But there are few places with the demand for charter flights like Haiti, though he said it’s not an easy place to do business. In March, protesters stormed the tarmac at an airport in the countryside and set a small plane on fire. Gangs also operate in and around the airport, he said.

“Unfortunately, we have had many passengers who have not been able to board because there are people who stand outside (the airport) with some kind of a list and some kind of uniform and they started charging, saying ‘You are not on the list, sir, but for $250 you can be added,’ and then they let them enter the airport,” Spode said.

Some passengers said once inside the airport they were blocked again by so-called airport business employees and told that their names were still not on the list, and they must pay again, Spode said. Many do before they reach the ticket counter where they finally are checked in by a legitimate employee with the flight.

But would-be passengers brave all that. “It’s tough to sell tickets from Santiago to Port-au-Prince. The plane leaves usually almost empty,” Spode said. “But we know that on the return trip it’s going to be full, literally, like people practically hanging from the plane, so to speak.”

The demand has been so great that a second low-cost airline based in Ecuador, Aeroregional, entered the Chilean market for the first time and started offering charter flights from Haiti to Chile. At least 11 Aeroregional charters have arrived from Haiti to Chile since December.

Dan Foote, a former U.S. envoy to Haiti who resigned over the Biden administration’s handling of Haitians at the Texas border, said he is not surprised to hear Haitians expelled from the U.S. are making their way back to South America, and that businesses are lining up to help them.

“Until the root causes of instability are truly attacked in a patient, systematic, holistic way, it’s going to keep going,″ Foote said.

The travel agencies and airlines denied they are facilitating Haitian migration.

Aeroregional’s managing director, Luis Manuel Rodriguez, said in a statement via LinkedIn that the airline’s role is simply to transport people. He said that the immigration status of its passengers is checked by immigration authorities of the countries involved.

Azul confirmed by email that it has provided charter flights between Haiti and Brazil, but said those contracts have confidentiality clauses. The company did not respond to a follow-up request for more information.

Carmen Gloria Serrat, the business manager of SKY, said in a statement that the company offers safe, legal transportation “for whoever wants it and needs it.” She said airlines are responsible for validating the paperwork of passengers and must eat the costs of returning anyone who is denied entry to a country.

She said the flights run four times monthly on average and represent a minuscule part of SKY’s business.

“The act of providing safe and legal transportation is a guarantee to avoid the possibility of abuses,” Serrat said. “It’s important to point out that in SKY we operate within the established norms for entering a country and always in coordination and under the supervision of immigration authorities.”

At least one travel agency is open about offering to help those who hope to reach the United States.

Alta Tour Turismo Travel Agency rents planes for charter flights between Haiti and Chile.

A TikTok account with the handle @altatourtravelagency posted a video on June 14, 2021, discussing how to avoid the Darien Gap, a treacherous, roadless area of thick jungle between Colombia and Panama traversed by migrants from South America heading north.

In the video, two men are talking about different routes north as they show a big boat at sea.

“Considering the level of mistreatment Haitians endured from the Colombians in the jungle, I will never go through the jungle,” says one as the camera zooms in on the boat on the horizon.

It was unclear if the video was meant to connect people to boats or was a marketing tool to attract customers in need of flights to South America who intended to then take the migrant route north.

Alta Tour Turismo started with a video on Facebook at the start of 2021 that informed viewers that Bolivia was not deporting people. The agency incorporated a month later.

The slogan of the Santiago-based agency is “travel with joy.” Reservations for flights are largely done through WhatsApp. The agency’s social media accounts have nearly 40,000 followers; they promote travel from Haiti to such countries as Brazil, Guyana, Suriname, Chile and Mexico.

Ezechias Revanget said he started the agency with three other Haitian immigrants in Chile to rent planes so fellow Haitians in Chile could go back home to see family. His agency has leased 186-seat Airbus planes from SKY airlines.

“Our objective is to work with our compatriots, and there are also other people — such as Chileans, Bolivians, Dominicans, anyone, any nationality can buy tickets at our agency,” he said.

Alta Tour Turismo also advertised flights to Suriname. In an April 2021 post, the agency posted on its Facebook page that Haitians who had only a passport and wanted to leave Haiti should not miss this opportunity, asserting: “you know if you arrive in Suriname you can go to other places too,” followed by three smiling emoji and the agency’s numbers.

Revanget, who also uses the name Dave Elmyr, refused to answer more questions.

“They should be investigating these flights — they should,” said Carolina Rudnick Vizcarra, an attorney and director of LIBERA, a Santiago-based nonprofit combatting human trafficking. “And by now, everyone knows that Haitians are vulnerable — they don’t have the money” or places to stay.

U.S. officials told the AP they were unaware of the charter flights from Haiti. Some South American nations have taken action to prevent their use by migrants and smugglers. Last year, Suriname stopped charter flights from Haiti and issuing visas to Haitians, according to Suriname’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

That same year, neighboring French Guiana complained about Haitians coming across its border.

“What was strange was that in the middle of a pandemic, so many flights were arriving from Haiti ... there were unaccompanied minors on the flight, as well as several Haitians without visas,” Antoine Joly, the former French ambassador in Suriname told the French Guiana TV station, Guyane la 1ere in a video posted May 4.

Shortly after that, Guyana, which also borders Suriname, canceled an earlier order allowing Haitians in without a visa, contending the country was being used as a destination for human smugglers who were taking migrants into neighboring Brazil where they would stay briefly before heading north to Mexico and the U.S.

Giuseppe Loprete, chief of mission in Haiti of the International Organization of Migration, said the United Nations agency learned about charter flights from Haiti to Chile in interviews with migrants who had been sent back from the United States and Mexico.

“We tried to find out more, but we don’t have the means to investigate these flights,” he wrote in an email to the AP on April 22. “Our assumption was that from Chile they move on to other countries heading (to) the Mexican-USA border, if not right away, after some time. Probably when they have collected enough money and information to move forward.”

The Azul charter flights started on Nov. 14, 2020, from Port-au-Prince to Manaus, Brazil. The city of 2.2 million boasts one of Brazil’s biggest airports, is the capital of the Amazon region with a Haitian immigrant population and is also a well-known jumping-off point for Haitian migrants who travel by boats from there along a river connecting the Colombian, Peruvian and Guyanese borders before continuing north.

Flight data showed that 54 Azul planes flew charter flights from Port-au-Prince to Manaus. The flights stopped in October. That same month, the Brazilian embassy in Haiti stopped issuing all visas to Haitians, according to a document from the Brazilian ambassador in Haiti obtained by AP and Berkeley.

Jean Robert Jean Baptiste, 49, said he bought a $1,400 ticket for an Azul flight in December 2020 to Brazil. He spent a month in Haiti after he was deported from Louisiana, where he was held at an immigration detention center following his arrest on a DUI charge. Back in Haiti, he said an enemy threatened to kill him and had the backing of the police.

He said he decided to fly to Brazil because he had a visa to get into the country after living there from 2011 to 2012 before making his way to the United States in 2016 and settled in Alabama.

In 2021, he made his way from Brazil by bus and on foot. He walked for a week, most of it in the rain, through the Darien Gap, where he said he saw dead bodies of those who didn’t make it. He said he had to pay bandits who blocked his path; robbers stole his phone and $500 from him.

All told, he said it cost him about $7,000 to return to Tijuana, where he was trying to find a way back to the U.S. He’s driven, he said, by a determination to “have a good life” for his children.

The Paulmann family’s SKY, meanwhile, is the charter of choice between Haiti and Chile; of 71 such flights since 2020 that AP and Berkeley tracked, 60 were on SKY. The Paulmanns run one of Latin America’s biggest retail companies, Cencosud, and have a net worth of $3.3 billion, according to Forbes magazine. SKY charter planes also flew three flights between Haiti and Brazil in 2021.

Etienne Ilienses said she was sent back to Haiti from Texas on Dec. 14. She talked to the AP before flying to Santiago with her three children on a Jan. 30 charter flight on SKY. “To get to the USA, I braved hell,” she said. Still, she did not dismiss the possibility of doing it again “because Haiti offers nothing to its children. We are forced to suffer humiliations, affronts everywhere.”

But just because Haitians fly to Chile, it doesn’t mean they can stay. Dozens have been held by immigration officials after arriving in Santiago in recent months. One group spent weeks sleeping at the airport before Chile’s Supreme Court on Jan. 31 ordered police to release them and allow them to request asylum.

Others were sent back to Haiti within hours of landing.

SKY’s Serrat said the airline works closely with immigration officials to avoid that situation, while the marketing aimed at passengers is the responsibility of the travel operators. (Aeroregional’s manager did not respond to questions about flying in Haitians who were later expelled.)

Theleon Marckenson, 31, was sent back to Haiti from Texas last fall. He said he spent $1,650 for a charter flight on Aeroregional to return to Chile, where he had lived since 2017.

After Marckenson landed in Santiago, Chilean authorities told him the application he had submitted for permanent residency before he left for the U.S. border had expired. Hours later he was put on another Aeroregional flight to Haiti with six others.

“I don’t have any more money,” Marckenson said by phone after landing back in Port-au-Prince. “I don’t know what I am going to do. But I can’t stay here. There is only hunger. There is no life.”

Gisela Perez de Acha is a supervisory reporter for Berkeley’s Human Rights Center and its Investigative Reporting Program. Katie Licari is a recent Berkeley graduate journalism alum.

Watson reported from San Diego, Daniel from New York. Associated Press writers Elliot Spagat in San Diego; Evens Sanon in Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Adriana Gomez Licon in Miami; and Gonzalo Solano in Quito, Ecuador; also contributed to this report. University of California students Zhe Wu, Mar Segura, Grace Luo, Gergana Georgieva, José Fernando Rengifo, Pamela Estrada, Freddy Brewster, Sabrina Kharrazi, Jocelyn Tabancay, Imran Ali Malik reported from Berkeley, along with Human Rights Center Investigations Lab director Stephanie Croft.

Brockton natives 'use the best sugarcane in the world' to create rum brand

B ROCKTON—Deep in the coastal terrain of Léogâne, Haiti, is a sugarcane business so close to the ocean you can catch a whiff of the ocean breeze. Four lifelong friends from Brockton started a company with the hopes of making a change in Haiti.

Everyone in college called Eddy Jean, Dwayne Naitram, Joseph Roseme, and Jean Alexandre the "The Rhum Boys" , which later manifested into a thriving business two decades later, Navèt 1804, a Haitian rum brand.

The four created the brand to honor their Haitian and Caribbean lineage and "bonded over the shared affection for the culture." They hope to change the way people think about Haiti. The business uses a portion of its profits to produce change in the community.

What makes Nativé 1804 so special?

What makes Nativé 1804 so special compared to other rum brands? Well, the secret is in the organic sugarcane farmed and distilled by a family-owned distillery with over 75 years of experience in Léogâne. Sugarcane juice creates a "unique" spirit native to Haiti called clairin, which also translates to clear in Creole.

"Haiti is known to produce "the best sugarcane in the world," Roseme said. "The difference between our clairin and other products on the market is that they use molasses, while our product heavily relies on the sugarcane plant."

How the different climates of Haiti benefit sugarcane flavor

What makes the sugarcane so "delicious is the soil and sun" it comes from and the different climates around Haiti. Different climates produce different products; ultimately, the brand blends these flavors together to craft its own flavors of Haiti.

"The microclimate, the temperature, the humidity, everything that's going on changes the characteristic of the end product of the sugarcane, so now when we get into Léogâne, we have access to three different microclimates including sugarcane growing in elevated land, which is earthy and concentrated in sugar content but lower in juice content, we have sugarcane growing on the coastal side of Léogâne are a bit grainer because they're getting blasted by that beautiful sea breeze," Jean said.

Other brands are similar in taste, but "nothing is like our product," Jean said.

Brockton Eats with Alisha: Here's where to find sweet, savory, smoky tastes of India

Nativé 1804 prides itself on being entirely waste-free, using every part of the sugarcane, being environmentally sustainable, and helping the community that serves them.

"Our idea is to be able to create and stimulate the sugarcane industry," Roseme said.

The remaining sugarcane plants are left to feed livestock and fertilize the ground in the area.

So far, it's been a wild ride for the four friends/brothers, and they are excited for the future. The business is run entirely in Haiti without issues despite the country's current political climate.

Haiti outside the capital is still exporting and producing products for the world, Roseme said.

The business provides jobs and resources to the community while expanding its heritage to the masses.

Where can you find Nativé 1804?

Nativé 1804 officially launched their rum brand at Blanchard's at 102 Westgate Drive, Brockton, and hopes to expand into different locations in the area. Please visit their website to find more locations.

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Brockton natives 'use the best sugarcane in the world' to create rum brand

Navèt Haitian rum owners from top left, Joseph Roseme, Eddy Jean, Dwayne Naitiam and Jean Abede-Alexandre, at Blanchards on Saturday, March 16, 2024.

Haitian police seize hijacked cargo ship after 5-hour shootout

A National Police officer patrols an intersection in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Haiti’s National Police agency says that it has recovered a hijacked cargo ship laden with rice following a gunbattle with gangs that lasted more than five hours.

Two police officers were injured and an undetermined number of gang members were killed in the shootout that occurred Saturday off the coast of the capital, Port-au-Prince, authorities said in a statement.

It was a rare victory for an underfunded police department that has struggled to quell gang violence following a spate of attacks that began Feb. 29.

Police said in the statement Sunday that those responsible for the hijacking were members of two gangs, named the 5 Seconds and the Taliban gang. They said gunmen seized the transport ship Magalie on Thursday as it departed the port of Varreux.

Radio Télé Métronome reported that the gangs kidnapped everyone aboard the ship and stole some 10,000 sacks of rice out of the 60,000 sacks it was carrying.

The ship was headed to the northern coastal city of Cap-Haitien.

On Friday, the National police said they also confiscated a “significant” number of weapons and ammunition in Cap-Hatien, according to a Facebook post . Police announced they have issued a search warrant for the sender and the recipient of the 26 firearms and 999 cartridges being sent into the country from Miami.

A 2023 United Nations report said the U.S., particularly Florida, has been a key source for guns and other weapons being sent into Haiti.

“These weapons are getting into the wrong hands,” DHS Special Agent Anthony Solvere told NBC News in March . “They can do untold damage.”

Also on Sunday, online news site Radiographie reported that the Taliban gang used a front loader to demolish a police station in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Canaan where at least four police officers were killed in a recent attack. The station was no longer operational.

The most recent gunbattle between police and gangs comes more than a month after gunmen began targeting key government infrastructure. They have burned down multiple police stations, opened fire on the main international airport that remains closed and stormed Haiti’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.

The ongoing violence forced Prime Minister Ariel Henry to announce he would resign once a transitional presidential council is formed.

Henry was in Kenya to push for the U.N.-backed deployment of a police force from the East African country when the attacks began and remains locked out of Haiti.

The Associated Press

Michelle Garcia is the editorial director of NBCBLK

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I traveled independently through Haiti for 10 days, from Cap-Haïtien to Port-au-Prince and a few places in between, always using local transportation or hitchhiking, as well as a short domestic flight. It was a fantastic trip, and I recommend visiting Haiti to anyone looking for an unrivalled offbeat adventure in the Americas. This updated and […]
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Bank (IDB) has prepared a guide to investing in Haiti, selected highlights of which can be found below Demographics are among Haiti's biggest assets. Nearly half of Haiti's population of 10 million is younger than 20 years old Doing business in Haiti 26 Overview Haiti offers considerable business and Investment opportunities.
Things to do in Haiti in a 1-week itinerary
Accommodation. Things to do. Day 1 - Traveling from Santo Domingo to Cap-Haïtien. Day 2 - Exploring Cap-Haïtien. Day 3 - Day trip to Citadelle la Ferrière. Day 4 - Hiking to Labadee. Day 5 - Travel from Cap-Haïtien to Port au Prince. Day 6 - Port-au-Prince. Day 7 - Mirelabais and Dominican Republic.
Haiti
Haiti - Business TravelHaiti - Business Travel Includes information on acceptable business etiquette, dress, business cards, gifts, etc. Facilities for visiting business persons have improved significantly with the opening of two additional hotels in Petion-Ville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince. These hotels offer a full range of business services ...
Haiti Travel Advisory
Do not travel to Haiti due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and poor health care infrastructure. On July 27, 2023, the Department of State ordered the departure of family members of U.S. government employees and non-emergency U.S. government employees. U.S. citizens in Haiti should depart Haiti as soon as possible by commercial or other ...
Haiti: All You Must Know Before You Go (2024)
A mix of the charming, modern, and tried and true. See all. NH Haiti El Rancho. 811. from $144/night. Kaliko Beach Club All-Inclusive Resort. 531. from $179/night. Abaka Bay Resort.
Haiti Vacation Packages 2024
Expedia can make your travel budget stretch further. Bundle your hotel and flights into a Haiti Vacation Package and score amazing discounts. And with 254 hotels starting at $86 a night to choose from here, planning your getaway will be a breeze. You can also add car rental and activities to your package, like a tour of the Bassin Bleu ...
US-expelled Haitians fuel charter business to Latin America
The flights from Haiti became a lucrative business as restrictions aimed at controlling the spread of the coronavirus decimated tourism, according to the travel agents. Planes arrive empty to Haiti but return to South America full. From November 2020 until this May, at least 128 charters were rented by travel agencies in Chile and Brazil for ...
The Streets Of Haiti
First Time Travel to Haiti, I visited Cap-Haïtien to learn more about Haitian culture and its tourism industry.Cap-Haïtien or Haitian Cape typically spelled ...
Day 1: Walking Streets of Haiti (most dangerous country in world)
Flying to Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital city. This trip is going to be surreal.My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/indigo.traveller/My Patreon (a way t...
Brockton natives 'use the best sugarcane in the world' to create ...
BROCKTON—Deep in the coastal terrain of Léogâne, Haiti, is a sugarcane business so close to the ocean you can catch a whiff of the ocean breeze. Four lifelong friends from Brockton started a ...
Haiti establishes transitional ruling council amid crisis
Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, speaks to students during a public lecture on bilateral engangement between Kenya and Haiti, at the United States International University (USIU) Africa, in ...
Haitian police seize hijacked cargo ship after 5-hour shootout
Haitian police seize hijacked cargo ship after 5-hour shootout. In a separate mission, police in Haiti said they also uncovered a trove of stolen weapons being shipped from the U.S. A National ...
Carnival lists Doral headquarters for sale
According to Bloomberg, Carnival is looking for a smaller space, about 300,000 square feet. Deeds on the appraiser's site state that 3655 NW 87th Ave. was previously sold in December 1994 for $23 ...
Haiti
Haiti - Business TravelHaiti - Business Travel Includes information on acceptable business etiquette, dress, business cards, gifts, etc. Last Published: 8/2/2019. Facilities for visiting business persons have improved significantly with the opening of two additional hotels in Petion-Ville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince. These hotels offer a full ...
Haiti business trip
Haiti business trip

Haiti Country Commercial Guide

7 Key Topics for Market Success

Haiti - Business Travel Haiti - Business Travel

Business Customs

Travel Advisory

Visa Requirements

Telecommunications/Electric

Transportation

Local Time, Business Hours and Holidays

Temporary Entry of Materials or Personal Belongings

Travel Related Web Resources

More Information

Choose your language

Seven Haitian Businesses and Brands You Should Know

1. Tisaksuk

3. Makaya Chocolate

4. Kòmsi Like and Colorful Nomad

5. Vèvè Collections

6. Créations Dorées

7. Galerie Monnin

Get to Know Haiti a Little Better

Krik-krak! – The Haitian Tradition of Storytelling

QUIZ: Can You Place 12 Haitian Cities on the Map?

Meet the Locals: Travel Guide Ann-sophie Hamilton

Great Haitian charities to support (and those to avoid!)

How to Volunteer in Haiti: A Guide to Making Sustainable Change

Photo Journal: Saint-Marc

Quiz – How Many Facts about Haiti Do You Know?

Flights & getting here

The Seven Best Books about Haitian Vodou

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Paradise for Your Inbox

Business Trips to the Edge

A New Employer in Town

Seeking a Miracle

Life at the Tip of the “C”

Beyond the Rubble

Business in the developing world

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What is the best airline for business class flights to Haiti?

Top 5 airlines flying to Haiti

Flights to Haiti

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In this Haiti itinerary, you will find:

🏨 Accommodation: where to stay at the places you visit in Haiti

Where to stay in Cap-Haïtien: Habitation des Lauriers

Where to stay in Port-au-Prince: Allamanda Hotel

🛖 Things to do with Haiti in a 7-day itinerary

Map of things to do in Haiti

Day 1 – Traveling from Santo Domingo to Cap-Haïtien

Step 1: Head to the bus terminal at least one day before your intended date of departure

Step 2: On the day of departure, go to the terminal to catch the bus and pay the respective border fees

Step 3: Dominican Republic-Haiti border crossing

Step 4 – Arriving in Cap-Haïtien

Day 2 – Exploring Cap-Haïtien

Things to do in Cap-Haïtien

Half-day trip from Cap-Haïtien: Bois Caïman

Day 3 – Day trip to Citadelle la Ferrière

How to get to Citadelle la Ferrière

Day 4 – Hiking to Labadee

How to visit Labadee

Things to do in Labadee

Day 5 – Travel from Cap-Haïtien to Port au Prince

Day 6 – Port-au-Prince

Things to do in Port-au-Prince

How to visit Cité Soleil

Day 7 – Mirelabais and Dominican Republic

Step 1: Get a bus to Mirelabais.

Step 2: Get on a tap tap to Lascahobas.

Step 3: Get a final tap tap to the actual border.

Step 4: Cross the border on foot.

Step 5: Bus from Elias Pina to Santo Domingo.

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