Southern Region · Malawi
Blantyre travel guide
Blantyre is a city in Southern Region, Malawi, home to about 800,000 people.
- Best months
- May to September
- Nearest airport
- BLZ13 km · Chileka International Airport
- Currency
- MWKMalawian kwacha
- Time zone
- Africa/Blantyre
- Language
- Chewa, English, Tumbuka
About
About Blantyre
Blantyre is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, and its second largest city, with a population of 800,264 as of 2018. It is sometimes referred to as the commercial and industrial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, Lilongwe.
The name Blantyre originates from the birthplace of the missionary Dr David Livingston, who was born in Blantyre, Scotland. Blantyre is the main commercial city in Malawi.
Wikipedia and Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Things to do
What to see and do in Blantyre
See
- Mandala House
- Museum of Malawi
- St. Michael and All Angels Church
Do
- Record a Song
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
When to go
The best time to visit Blantyre
The most comfortable months for a city stay in Blantyre are May to September. November is the warmest month, with average highs of 31 °C; January is the wettest, with about 291 mm of rain.
Comfortable means average daytime high between 18 °C and 29 °C and under 80 mm of rain in the month. Averages for 1991–2020 over the surrounding area, a grid square about 50 km across, so a coast or a nearby mountain can make the town itself warmer or cooler. Data: CRU TS v4.10, Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia (Open Database License).
Getting there
Getting to Blantyre: airports and arrival
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Chileka International Airport (BLZ), about 13 km from the city centre in a straight line.
Getting in
Malawi airlines has flights between Johannesburg (South Africa) and Blantyre. Air Malawi also flies to Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Harare (Zimbabwe), Lusaka (Zambia), and Nairobi (Kenya). Ethiopian Airlines has flights to and from Addis Ababa (via Beira in Mozambique on the return to Addis). There are taxis to city centre or you can walk to the highways and get a bus.(kwacha).
Getting around
For the budget traveller there are basically two ways of getting around Blantyre: by foot or by minibus. By day it is quite safe to walk around Blantyre provided you don't look like a rich tourist, in which case you may be unpleasantly tailed by street vendors and beggars. It is possible to explore the entire city of Blantyre on foot within a couple of days, and unless you are travelling to Limbe or to the outer suburbs of Blantyre, then it is unlikely you'll require even the minibus.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
BLZ · Chileka International Airport
Local knowledge
Eating, drinking and staying safe in Blantyre
Stay safe
Night time muggings or robberies do occur. Private taxis are cheap and readily available. Ask around and bargain.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Questions
Blantyre: questions travellers ask
When is the best time to visit Blantyre?
The most comfortable months for a city stay in Blantyre are May to September. November is the warmest month, with average highs of 31 °C; January is the wettest, with about 291 mm of rain.
Which airport is closest to Blantyre?
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Chileka International Airport (BLZ), about 13 km from the city centre in a straight line.
What currency is used in Blantyre?
Malawian kwacha (MWK).
Nearby
Destinations near Blantyre
Sources: city facts from Wikidata and Wikipedia; airports from OurAirports; climate from CRU TS v4.10 (University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit), 1991–2020 monthly means, 0.5° grid; places to stay, guest scores and amenities from each operator's own public pages. How this guide is made.