Alcohol — South Africa
What travelers need to know about alcohol in South Africa. What is legal at home can be a serious crime here — each rule links to its official source.
Alcohol in South Africa: restricted — there are real limits travelers must follow.
South Africa lets each traveller 18 or over bring in 2 litres of wine plus 1 litre of all other alcohol (including beer) duty-free. Anything above that is charged full duty and VAT on the excess quantity only. The allowance applies once per 30 days, and only after you have been out of the country more than 48 hours.
Failing to declare is an offence. SARS: it "results in the detention and forfeiture of the goods not declared and accompanying goods, imposition of an administrative penalty and/or criminal prosecutions depending on the seriousness of the offence." No rand figure is published on the SARS traveller pages.
§ South African Revenue Service (SARS) — SC-PA-01-03 Duty Free Allowances for Travellers, External Guide, Revision 8, effective 01 July 2026