Each, for three on the five-day Marangu route. You carry everything.
Budgeting for Kilimanjaro: the whole trip, not just the climb
The price of your climb, park fees and all, is on our Kilimanjaro cost page. This page covers everything else you will spend, and why the climb itself costs what it does.
- About a thirdOf a typical climb price is park fees
- 10–15%What climbers usually tip
- USD 100Tanzanian visa for US citizens (USD 50 for most others)
- USD 150Deposit to book
By John Rees-Evans, founder of Team Kilimanjaro, who first climbed Kilimanjaro on a budget of almost nothing.
All inClimb, tips, visa, flights and kit, added up
Your whole trip, added up
Choose your climb, add what you expect to spend on flights and the rest, and see the total per person. Climb prices come straight from our price tables.
Your climb
Your own costs, if you know them
Per person
| Climb | |
| Tips for your crew10–15% of the climb | |
| Visa | |
| Flights, insurance, kit, extras | |
| Your trip |
The calculator covers our four standard series. Hemingway prices are on VIP climbs; for VIP Eco and Advantage Plus, ask us.
Why the climb costs what it does
The main reason is park fees. The Tanzanian government charges every foreign climber for each day and each night spent inside the national park, and these fees are by far the largest single part of any climb price, ours or anyone else’s.
The conservation fee is charged per calendar date, not per 24 hours. Enter the park at four one afternoon and leave at seven the next morning, and you pay for two days, as well as the night in between.
On a seven-day TK Lemosho climb for two, on our Advantage series, about USD 970 of the USD 2,807 each climber pays goes straight to the park:
Park fees 35%
Everything else
Everything else covers your crew’s wages, food and cooking fuel, transport to and from the mountain for you and your crew, two hotel nights in Arusha, airport transfers, lunch in Moshi on the way back, and tents and equipment that have to be replaced often, because cold makes things brittle and the thin atmosphere does little to filter the sun.
| Park fee, per person | USD, incl. VAT |
|---|---|
| Conservation fee, per calendar date | 82.60 |
| Camping fee, per night | 59.00 |
| Hut fee, per night (Marangu route) | 70.80 |
| Rescue fee, per climb | 23.60 |
| Crater camping, per night (Excel series) | 118.00 |
| Crew entry, per crew member | about 2 |
| Seven-day TK Lemosho, each of two climbers | about 970 |
All park fees are included in our climb prices. Residents of Tanzania and the East African Community pay lower fees: see resident prices.
What makes one climb cost more than another
Three things set the price: how many days you spend on the mountain, how much support you choose, and how many of you book together.
Asking what it costs to climb Kilimanjaro is a little like asking what it costs to buy a car. It depends how many people it has to carry, and whether you want it to go off-road. Length matters most, because the park charges by the day. Then comes support: on a Superlite climb, three friends have two guides between them and carry everything themselves, while three climbers on Hemingway have a crew of fifty-two carrying beds, a bath and a mess tent. Finally, a larger booking group shares the fixed costs, so the price per person falls as the group grows.
I see two opposite trends among our climbers. Some feel they will only do this once and want to enjoy every moment of it, with a proper bed and a hot bath at the end of each day. Others have had enough of clutter and complication, and are drawn to the simplicity of carrying what they need and little else. Both are perfectly good reasons to climb, and most people, about six in ten, settle somewhere comfortably in between, on our Advantage series.
Each, for four on six-day TK Rongai. Minimal, almost self-sufficient.
Each, for three on seven-day TK Lemosho. Fully supported; our most popular.
For one climber on eight-day TK Lemosho, with beds, a bath and luxury hotels.
The cost to climb Kilimanjaro on every route, length and group size 👉
The cheapest way to climb Kilimanjaro
When I first climbed Kilimanjaro, on 27 March 2000, I was very poor by Western standards. My shoestring tour of East Africa was nearly over, my money nearly gone, and I could not afford the park fees for a climb of normal length.
I had just climbed the three summits of Mount Kenya and the three of Mount Stanley in the Rwenzori, so I was already well acclimatised. I went from Marangu Gate to the summit and back in a single day, paying USD 45 in park fees, a dala dala from Arusha, my superfit guide Rogath Ephrem Mtuy, and a patch of Mama Happy’s garden by the park boundary for my tent.
The park no longer allows a summit on a one-day permit. Today, the cheapest way to climb with us is to gather some friends and book our Superlite series on the five-day Marangu route: USD 1,362 each for three of you.
But please be careful. Unless you are already acclimatised to 3,000 m or more, which is usually far cheaper to do elsewhere, five days is too short, and you are likely to turn back with altitude sickness. A failed climb is the most expensive climb of all.
Everything else to budget for
Every series except Superlite includes airport transfers, two hotel nights in Arusha and transfers to and from the mountain. These are the costs that sit outside the climb.
Tips for your crew 10–15% of the climb
15 to 20% on our VIP series, where crews are much larger. Given together to the chief guide as you leave the park, in USD 50 and 100 notes. How tipping works, with our guide’s calculator
Visa USD 100, or 50
USD 100 for US citizens, USD 50 for most other nationalities. Visas for Tanzania
Flights Varies
Fly into Kilimanjaro International (JRO), 47 km from Arusha. As you’ll know, fares move a great deal, and our tests of the booking sites showed some charging well over USD 100 more for the same seats. Finding the best fare
Travel insurance Varies
Make sure it covers trekking to 6,000 m and helicopter evacuation. Insurance for Kilimanjaro
Kit Buy or hire
Many climbers hire a sleeping bag and summit jacket from us, saving both money and luggage space. Kit hire and the packing list
Health Varies
Vaccinations and anti-malaria tablets, depending on your doctor’s advice and where else you travel. Vaccinations
Extra nights and day trips From USD 80
Day trips from Arusha, to waterfalls, coffee farms or Lake Duluti, from about USD 80 each for four or more. Ask us about safaris and Zanzibar. Day trips
Superlite Hotels extra
Superlite doesn’t include hotel nights or airport transfers. Ask us and we will book them for you.
To book, a USD 150 deposit per person holds your climb; the balance is due 28 days before you arrive. Card payments carry no surcharge. How payment works
Questions about the cost of Kilimanjaro
Why is climbing Kilimanjaro so expensive?
Mainly because of park fees, which are charged per person for every day and night you spend on the mountain.
On a typical climb, about a third of what you pay goes straight to the national park: on a seven-day TK Lemosho climb for two, about USD 970 of the USD 2,807 each. The rest pays for your crew’s wages, food and fuel, transport to and from the mountain, hotel nights in Arusha, airport transfers and equipment that has to survive high altitude.
How much are the Kilimanjaro park fees?
USD 82.60 a day, plus USD 59 a night camping, and a USD 23.60 rescue fee.
Per person, including VAT: a conservation fee of USD 82.60 for every calendar date in the park, a camping fee of USD 59.00 a night (USD 70.80 in the Marangu huts), a rescue fee of USD 23.60, and USD 118 for a night in the crater. All of them are included in our climb prices.
How much should I budget for the whole trip?
For a typical seven-day climb, around USD 3,188 to 3,328 each for US citizens, before flights, insurance and kit.
For two people on seven-day TK Lemosho, that is the climb at USD 2,807 each, tips of 10 to 15% (USD 281 to 421) and a USD 100 visa for US citizens (USD 50 for most other nationalities, which brings the total down by USD 50). Add your flights, insurance and any kit you need to buy or hire. The calculator on this page adds it up for your own climb.
How much should I tip?
Usually 10 to 15% of what you paid for the climb; 15 to 20% on VIP climbs.
The tip is collected together and handed to the chief guide as you leave the park, and he divides it among the crew. Tipping in detail, with our guide’s calculator 👉
What is the cheapest way to climb Kilimanjaro?
Our Superlite series: from USD 1,362 each for three on the five-day Marangu route.
Superlite is for experienced, fit climbers who carry their own kit and are already partly acclimatised. For anyone else it is a false economy: five days is too short to acclimatise, and an unsuccessful climb is the most expensive one of all.
Want an exact figure?
Tell us your dates, group size and the route you’re considering, and we will confirm the price and what’s included, and help you choose the series that suits you and your budget.
Ask us