Send a letter to Gambia from Sweden

The address consists of the recipient's name, P.O. Box number, and city name only.

Gambia does not use postcodes, so never add a postal code to the address.

Almost all mail goes to P.O. Boxes in Banjul or Serekunda, the two main postal towns.

Write each address line clearly, with the box number on its own line.

The final line must read GAMBIA in capital letters and in Swedish, because your letter is sorted in Sweden before it leaves the country—this is counter-intuitive when writing in English, but essential.

The last line is always the country name in Swedish: GAMBIA. This surprises people who write the rest of the address in English, but the letter is sorted in Sweden before it leaves the country, and Swedish sorting reads Swedish. Everything above that line should look exactly as it would if the letter had been posted inside Gambia, because a postal worker there is the one who has to read it.

Almost every letter that fails to arrive has an address problem, not a transport problem. These are the mistakes that keep coming back on mail posted from Sweden to Gambia:

Always add a sender address. A letter with a correct sender comes back to you if the address is wrong, and you can then send it again. Without one, the letter is simply gone.

Normal delivery is 12–25 vardagar, counted from the moment we hand the letter to PostNord — not from the moment you order. Order before 11:45 on a weekday and the letter is handed in the same day.

Most of the variation comes from distribution inside Gambia rather than from the flight. A letter to a major city arrives faster than one to a rural address in the same country.

A standard letter to Gambia costs 88 SEK and an express letter 128 SEK. Printing, paper, envelope, postage and hand-in to PostNord are all included. The price is the same to every country, so you never need to know which postal zone Gambia belongs to.

PostNord divides the world into seven zones if you buy stamps and post the letter yourself, which is why other services charge different amounts for different countries. The table below shows both options.

Gambia Postal Services operates a small but functional network concentrated along the coastal region. The service focuses primarily on P.O. Box delivery in the capital Banjul and the nearby commercial centre Serekunda, where the vast majority of the population accesses postal services.

Outside these two main towns, postal infrastructure is limited. Most Gambians who receive international mail collect it from boxes rather than home delivery. The coastal concentration reflects the country's geography—Gambia is a narrow strip of land following the Gambia River, with most economic activity near the coast.

Delivery times to Gambia can vary depending on customs processing and onward handling once mail arrives in Banjul. Letters sent via Posta Brev typically arrive within 12 to 25 working days from our hand-in to the postal service in Sweden.

Registered international mail (Rek utrikes) may contain documents only, weighs no more than 2 kg and carries liability up to 2,000 SEK. It can be tracked to most countries, and only one recipient may be named.

It is the right service for notices of termination, powers of attorney and legal documents where you need proof that the letter was sent. The country name still has to be written in Swedish on a registered letter — GAMBIA on the last line.

Banknotes and coins may not be sent in an international letter, in any currency and for any amount. Dangerous goods are prohibited. Goods sent in a letter to a country outside the EU require a customs declaration and a barcode that an ordinary letter does not carry.

We therefore send documents and personal letters only. That is also what keeps the service simple: no customs forms, no weighing and no questions about the contents.

You need no printer, no envelope and no international stamps. Everything happens in your browser, and the letter is handed to PostNord in Sweden by us.