Where to stay in Gaborone

Gaborone is the capital and largest city of Botswana. It was formerly spelled as Gaberones during the colonial era, a name occasionally used in older English texts and maps.

From a dusty one-horse town in the 1960s, Gaborone has developed into a substantial city of close to 250,000 inhabitants, with 535,000 in the metro area (2022). There is a definite city centre based around the train station and the government enclave of Khama Crescent. However, numerous shopping malls are dotted all over the city, diluting the prominence of the downtown area. Gaborone's nomenclature confuses most new arrivals. Different parts of town are called blocks, extensions, phases, etc., and there can be several names for the same place.

Gaborone compares to South Africa in terms of accommodation choice and costs. There are a handful of large chain hotels costing P800+ offering conference facilities, curio shops, evening restaurants, gyms and bars - and dozens of smaller guesthouses, lodges and bed & breakfasts varying in quality, cleanliness and price. However it is difficult to go much below P400 per night for a room. For those staying for months rather than days there are a handful of relativity expensive serviced apartments, although these are often full.

Getting in

Customs is very slow, but easy to get through (as appears to be the case for most of Africa). Have an address on hand for where you will be staying and they hardly give you a hassle.

Getting around

Public taxis are generally small white cars and can be identified by their blue license plates. These cars travel designated routes, generally going to areas/neighbourhoods that combi routes do not. The fare for a taxi is P7. Since taxis can only hold a maximum of 5 passengers they also tend to be quicker than a combi in completing their route. You can catch a taxi at many combi stops and ask them to drop you off anywhere along the route. For route information simply ask the driver of the taxi.

Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.