The gorillas are three hours from Kigali. Everything else is closer.
What a trekking permit costs and how far ahead it goes. Which Akagera day gets you the lake as well as the lions. Whether Nyungwe is worth the drive south. Reviews of every tour you can book in Rwanda.
A hill above the city, a cupping table, a rope bridge and a river.
Four days that fit around the permits, priced as you would pay them, with what each one actually involves.
01The hillMount Kigali and Cultural Village Tour with SnacksMount Kigali rises straight off the back of the city, and the walk down ends in a village with snacks laid out.
02The coffeeSpecialty Coffee MasterclassRwandan beans leave the country before most people here taste them. A cupping table in Kigali is the shortcut.
03The forest1 Day Canopy Walk Adventure in Nyungwe Forest National ParkSixty metres up in Nyungwe, on a bridge strung between two ridges. The drive south takes most of the morning.
04The riverHalf-Day Mukungwa River Canoe Trip from MusanzeA canoe on the Mukungwa under the volcanoes, half a day out of Musanze and the gentlest thing in the north.
Three parks, and the one that has to be booked first.
Volcanoes in the north for the primates, Akagera in the east for plains game, Nyungwe in the south for the forest. What it costs to walk into each of them.
★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1 Day Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Tour In The Volcanoes National Park
Gorilla trekkingOne hour with a habituated family, after a climb through the bamboo.
Akagera game drivesLions, elephants and a boat on Lake Ihema, in a day from the city.
Volcanoes day tripsGolden monkeys, the Fossey grave hike and the crater lake walks.
Nyungwe forest daysChimpanzee tracking and the canopy bridge, five hours south.
All 19 national park days →
A day in Rwanda, priced from a bike hire to a permit.
Every tour on the site grouped by what it costs. The gap between the two ends is wider here than in almost any country its size.
City walks, coffee mornings, market runs and the bike that gets you up the hill.
- 1Walking Tour with a Local Guidefrom $30
- 2Kigali Walking Tourfrom $30
- 3Kigali E-Bike City Tour with Breakfastfrom $39
Full days out of Kigali: Mount Kigali, the lake, food walks and the long cultural afternoons.
- 1Kigali City Tourfrom $121
- 2Traditional Coffee Experience ( Bean to Brew)from $50
- 3Kigali City Sightseeingfrom $130
Park days, safaris and the trekking permits. This is where most of a Rwandan budget goes.
The Rwandan days out that travellers take most.
Every tour we have reviewed →What fills up first in Kigali and the parks, and what earns each of them the slot.
1
Kigali City Tour
Start at 9:30 am near Kigali Marriott Hotel for a six-hour guided circuit of markets, milk bars, street art, Mount Kigali, cafes, and the Genocide Memorial. Guides such as Desiree, Eric, and Colombe bring a personal touch, with lunch, drinks, entrance fees, and hotel drop-off included.
From · $162
Read our review →2
Walking Tour with a Local Guide
from $30
3
One-day Akagera National Park Game Drive with a Choice 4×4
from $205
4
Private Full-day Kigali City Tour with Pickup and Lunch
from $180
5
Kigali Walking Tour
from $30
6
Kigali E-Bike City Tour with Breakfast
from $39
7
Private 1 Day Akagera Big Five Safari with pick up and lunch.
from $440
8
Mount Kigali and Cultural Village Tour with Snacks
from $35
Kigali is the easiest capital in the region to walk, and the hilliest.
Ridges, roundabouts and a market you smell before you reach it. Most visitors give the city one night on the way to the volcanoes. Give it two: take a guide up the hill, through the craft workshops and around the stalls after dark.
- 1Kigali City Tourfrom $162
- 2Walking Tour with a Local Guidefrom $30
- 3Private Full-day Kigali City Tour with Pickup and Lunchfrom $180
Kigali first, then north to the volcanoes or east to the plains.
Six places carry nearly every tour in the country: the capital on its ridges, the volcano chain on the Congo border, the savannah in the east, the lake in the west, the rainforest in the south, and the hill you can climb from town.
Gorilla trekking starts in Kigali, whichever forest you end up in.
North to Volcanoes for a briefing at Kinigi soon after dawn, or over the border to Bwindi with the same airport behind you. Either way it is a climb through farmland and bamboo, then one hour with a family that has seen people before, on a permit that is dated and tied to a single group.
Lake Kivu is where Rwandans go when the week ends.
Rubavu and Karongi sit on a freshwater coast with beaches, fishing boats going out at dusk and nothing in the water that bites. It is the flat day in a country that has very few.
Every day on Kivu →
Three things Rwanda has that its neighbours do not.
Savannah and a big lake are common currency in East Africa. Habituated mountain gorillas at this altitude, a golden monkey troop in the same bamboo, and a walkway slung across a rainforest canopy are a shorter list.
The Mountain Gorillas
A dozen gorilla families are habituated on the Rwandan side of the Virungas, and each is visited by one small group for one hour a day. Trekkers are sorted at the Kinigi briefing before seven, then driven to a trailhead; the walk that follows can be forty minutes or half a day, depending on where the family slept. Hire a porter at the gate. They know the mud better than you do.
- 13 Day Gorilla Trek at Bwindi National Park via Kigali★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 32 reviews
- 21 Day Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Tour In The Volcanoes National Park★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 31 reviews
- 32 Day Gorilla Trekking Safari in Uganda via Kigali★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 26 reviews
Golden Monkeys
The golden monkey lives in the bamboo belt of the Virungas and almost nowhere else on earth. The trek is shorter, lower and a fraction of the gorilla price, and the animals never sit still, which makes the hour feel busier than it is. Most people book it for the day before or the day after their gorilla permit.
- 1One Day Golden Monkey and Cultural tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 7 reviews
- 2Private 2 Days Volcano Golden Monkey and Bwindi Gorilla Trek★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 6 reviews
- 3Golden Monkey Trekking with lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 4 reviews
The Canopy Walkway
Nyungwe is one of the oldest rainforests left in Africa, old enough to have carried its species through the last ice age, and the walkway hangs sixty metres above one of its valleys. Chimpanzee tracking leaves Uwinka before first light. Kigali is five hours north, so nobody sensible comes down here for a single night.
- 11 Day Canopy Walk Adventure in Nyungwe Forest National Park★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 32 reviews
- 21 Day Nyungwe Canopy Walk & Waterfall Tour adventure★★★★★★★★★★ 3.7 · 7 reviews
- 31 Day Canopy walk way in Nyungwe Natioinal park★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 6 reviews
Four Rwandan bookings that will not wait.
Most of this country can be arranged the evening before, over a beer in Nyamirambo. These four run on permits, park gates and boat timetables that were set long before your flight was.
- 011 Day Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Tour In The Volcanoes National ParkRwanda issues a fixed number of trekking permits per day, each one dated and tied to a single gorilla family. In the dry months they go months ahead.
- 02One Day Golden Monkey and Cultural tourThe same permit system at a fraction of the price. Fewer people chase them, but a daily cap is still a daily cap.
- 031 Day Canopy Walk Adventure in Nyungwe Forest National ParkThe canopy walkway runs on guided departures and Nyungwe is five hours from Kigali. Arriving on spec is a long drive to a closed gate.
- 04One-day Akagera National Park Game Drive with a Choice 4×4The boat on Lake Ihema leaves at set times and the park gate shuts in the early evening. A day trip from Kigali only works if the morning slot is already yours.
From March to May the hills come down the road with you.
The long rains turn the volcano trails to red mud and make any open afternoon a gamble. They also make the country the colour it is famous for. Trek early, then go somewhere with a roof: a cupping table, a kitchen, a weaving workshop, a lunch that runs long.
By place — capital, parks and lake
Kigali, Musanze, Kivu, Nyungwe, Akagera: the loop that fits in eight days.
The latest Rwandan tours to get a write-up.
More of the new ones →
2 Days Nyungwe National Park Tours -Chimp-Canopy-Waterfall
Read our review →
Three-day Nyungwe Canopy and Kivu Lake Adventure
Read our review →
3 Days Private Bwindi Gorillas and Volcanoes Golden Monkey Trek
Read our review →
3 Day Rwanda to Uganda gorilla trekking Safari
Read our review →
4 Days Gorilla Trekking, Lake Bunyonyi and Rwanda National Parks
Read our review →
Private 2 Days Volcano Golden Monkey and Bwindi Gorilla Trek
Read our review →
10 Hour Day-trip Rwanda Gorilla Trekking with Lunch
Read our review →
