The Best Hotels for Your Kilimanjaro Climb

Back in the day, when as yet not a great deal of thought had been given to what works best for the unacclimatised visitor, the way a Kilimanjaro climb was run was largely a product of the convenience of the local operator.

Local operators tended to be based in Moshi or Marangu Mtoni as rents are cheap there, and these towns are close to the mountain. However, there are two main drawbacks with Moshi:

a) Moshi sits at 800 metres elevation - some 600 metres lower than Arusha, and

b) the infrastructure - accommodation, restaurants, shops - is relatively basic.

Hotels for Kilimanjaro climbers

Why We Don't Use Hotels in Moshi

Moshi's low altitude has three significant negative consequences for Kilimanjaro climbers:

For every 300 metres of lost elevation, the temperature increases by around 2 degrees Centigrade. This means that Moshi tends to be some 4 degrees hotter than Arusha - uncomfortably hot for most visitors from milder climates.
Malaria-bearing chloroquine-immune plasmodium falciparum thrive at lower elevations.
On day one of most Kilimanjaro climbs, trekkers attain around 3,000 metres altitude. If, prior to trekking to that height you've been sleeping at 1,400 metres (in Arusha), your body has a much better chance of adapting safely and comfortably than if you've been sleeping at 800 metres altitude in Moshi.

Because of these three very important considerations, we only recommend and arrange hotels for our climbers in Arusha, not Moshi - unless you have a specific reason to ask us to do otherwise and are happy to forego the above advantages.

Grades of Hotel Accommodation in Arusha

All our climb prices (except Lite and Superlite) include a night's accommodation in Arusha both before and after your climb, at one of the standard grade hotels we use.

Availability permitting, we aim to book the Outpost Lodge for our trekkers, unless they request to upgrade:

Outpost Lodge

If The Outpost Lodge is not available on the required dates, we generally book one of the following hotels:

Thinking About Upgrading Your Accommodation in Arusha?

If you wish to upgrade your accommodation in Arusha, nowadays the most comprehensive tool is Booking.com. To view Arusha hotels please use this link.

If there's more material about Arusha hotels on Booking.com than is convenient for you to work through, the following are our recommendations:

Paying for Your Upgrade

If it's more convenient for you to book your own hotel on Booking.com, or they offer you a better rate than we do, we'll simply deduct the contract value of the standard accommodation we're charged from your climb price. Alternatively, if you'd prefer us to book your upgraded accommodation for you, we'll only charge you the difference between our contract rate at The Outpost and the contract rate we have at the hotel you're requesting.

The majority of our trekkers ask us to book accommodation for them, and we're very happy to do this.

💸 Tipping

costs, prices, tipping

Tipping is a universal custom on Kilimanjaro and on safari and has always constituted a significant proportion of a guide or porter’s salary. It is alleged that there are even companies operating locally that do not pay their staff any salaries and that these workers rely exclusively on tips.