Africa Travel Guide
Fifty-four countries that get discussed as one, which is the first thing to unlearn. Morocco is a three-hour flight and a cheap week; Cape Town is a European city with mountains; the east is where the overland routes run.
Not one trip, and not one place
Africa is treated as a single destination in a way no other continent is, and it makes people plan badly. Morocco and Tanzania have less in common than Portugal and Poland. The flight between Cape Town and Cairo is longer than London to New York.
Three regions carry almost all backpacker traffic. North Africa — Morocco and Egypt — is cheap, close to Europe and easy to do in a fortnight. East Africa, from Kenya down to Malawi, is the overland corridor with safaris, lakes and Zanzibar at the end of it. Southern Africa is the most developed for independent travel: hostels, hire cars, good roads and Cape Town as the obvious base.
West and Central Africa are genuinely harder — fewer hostels, more visas, less English — and worth it for exactly that reason, but not as a first trip.
Read the full Africa backpacking guideLandscape at a scale nowhere matches
Dunes, deltas, craters and the Drakensberg. The distances between them are the trip.
The south is drivable
South Africa and Namibia on a hire car are as straightforward as Europe, at half the price.
Morocco is three hours away
The cheapest way into the continent from Europe, and a complete trip in ten days.
Start with a country
Every country page carries its cities, what a day costs there, when to go and the hostels we would book ourselves.
Morocco
Marrakech · Taghazout · Tangier · Essaouira
South Africa
Cape Town · Durban · Johannesburg · Mossel Bay
Egypt
Cairo · Luxor · Dahab · Hurghada
4 city guides
Tanzania
Zanzibar · Arusha · Dar es Salaam · Nungwi
Kenya
Nairobi · Diani · Mombasa · Watamu
2 city guides
Namibia
Windhoek · Swakopmund · Sossusvlei · Lüderitz
North Africa
Closest to Europe, cheapest to reachEast Africa
Safaris, lakes and the overland corridorSouthern Africa
The easiest region for independent travelWest Africa
Music, coastline and few other travellersThe islands
Diving, beaches and their own rhythmOr start with how you travel
Same continent, filtered by tripWhere to stay while you do it
The African hostels travellers rate most highly. Prices and availability are live on each property page.
Stork Marrakech Luxury Hostel & Coworking
Atlas Hostel Taghazout
The BIG
Socco Hostel
Miami Cairo Hostel
Riad Jennah Rouge
L'Auberge Taghazout
A Sunflower Stop
Tangier Kasbah Hostel
Freedom Hostel
Hostel Riad Marrakech Rouge
Agachill
Dry season is the season
Almost everywhere in Africa plans around rain rather than temperature. The dry months are when roads are passable, wildlife gathers at water and trekking is possible — and they fall at opposite times in the north and the south.
Cape Town at its best and busiest, Namibia hot and green, Morocco cool and quiet. East African short rains have passed.
- Book Cape Town over Christmas months ahead
- Morocco is mild and cheap
- Zanzibar is hot and dry
The wettest window in East Africa, when lodges discount heavily and some close. Morocco is at its best, and the south is cooling into autumn.
- Best prices of the year for safari
- Some camps close entirely
- Morocco perfect for trekking
The months everyone means when they say safari. Animals concentrate at water, roads are passable, the Mara migration arrives from July.
- Book safaris and gorilla permits early
- Cold nights in the desert
- Cape Town is wet and windy
Brief afternoon storms in East Africa, green landscapes and almost no other visitors. A good month for anyone who does not need guaranteed sun.
- Green season prices
- Newborn wildlife
- Rain rarely lasts all day
What a day actually costs
Daily budgets cover a bed, food, local transport and one ordinary activity. Safari is the exception that breaks every budget: a two-night park trip costs more than a fortnight of everything else, because park fees alone run to €60–100 a day.
North Africa is the cheap end and the easiest to reach. Southern Africa costs more but gives you roads, hostels and hire cars. East Africa is cheap until the moment you enter a national park.
Indicative dry-season figures for a traveller in dorms eating locally. Safari costs are per person per day including park fees, guide and transport, and are the single largest variable on the continent.
Buses, shared taxis and hire cars
Rail exists in pockets — the Tazara line from Dar es Salaam, commuter routes in South Africa and Egypt's sleeper to Luxor — but buses and shared minibuses do almost all the work. They are cheap, frequent and leave when full rather than on a timetable.
Southern Africa is the exception and the easiest place on the continent to drive yourself: good roads, left-hand traffic, and campsites set up for it. Overland trucks, which carry a group for weeks at a time, remain popular on the Nairobi-to-Cape-Town corridor and solve the border paperwork for you.
Getting around Africa overland
Morocco in a loop
Marrakech, Aït Benhaddou, the Sahara at Merzouga, Fes, Chefchaouen, Tangier. Buses the whole way, and the cheapest introduction to the continent.
The Garden Route and beyond
Cape Town, Hermanus, Knysna, Jeffreys Bay, Addo, then Drakensberg. A hire car, a tent and the most comfortable road trip in Africa.
East Africa overland
Nairobi, Masai Mara, Arusha, Serengeti, Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar. Safaris at one end, an island at the other.
Worth building a route around
These are also the dates that will triple your accommodation costs if you turn up without a booking. Both facts are worth planning for.
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Johannesburg Pride (Pride of Africa)
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Marrakech Folklore Days
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Marathon International de Casablanca
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Nairobi Marathon
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Africa guides
Written by our travel writers and the travellers who host them.
Things to do, city by city
Short itineraries you can follow as written, in the cities most routes pass through.
Guides for this are on the way. Getting around
Buses, shared taxis, hire cars and the overland routes worth taking.
Guides for this are on the way. Eating well
Tagines, braai, street food and the markets worth a morning.
Guides for this are on the way. Doing it cheaply
What things cost, where the money goes and how to afford a safari.
Guides for this are on the way. Africa travel questions
The ones we get asked most.
Where should I go in Africa on a first trip?
How much does a safari cost?
Is Africa safe for backpackers?
When is the best time for a safari?
Do I need vaccinations?
Can I travel Africa overland?
Is Morocco good for solo travellers?
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