Copperbelt Province · Zambia
Ndola travel guide
Ndola is a city in Copperbelt Province, Zambia, home to about 528,000 people.
- Best months
- April to August
- Nearest airport
- NLA13 km · Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport
- Currency
- ZMWZambian Kwacha
- Time zone
- Africa/Lusaka
- Language
- English
About
About Ndola
Ndola is the third largest city in Zambia in terms of size and population, with a population of 627,503 (2022 census), after the capital, Lusaka, and Kitwe, and the second largest in terms of infrastructure development after Lusaka. It is the industrial and commercial center of the Copperbelt, Zambia's copper-mining region, and capital of Copperbelt Province.
The crackings and creakings of plate tectonics brought a rich vein of minerals, principally copper, to lie beneath northern Zambia, with the Katanga finger of the Democratic Republic of Congo extending south to share in this. This was loot for the colonial powers, exploiting dirt-cheap local labour in hazardous conditions for a valuable material whose profits were enjoyed far away - by Belgium for what is now the DRC, and by Britain for Northern Rhodesia which is now Zambia.
Wikipedia and Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Things to do
What to see and do in Ndola
See
- Dag Hammarskjöld Crash Site Memorial
- Copperbelt Museum
Do
- Nsobe Game Camp
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
When to go
The best time to visit Ndola
The most comfortable months for a city stay in Ndola are April to August. October is the warmest month, with average highs of 32 °C; January is the wettest, with about 287 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 Ndola: airports and arrival
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport (NLA), about 13 km from the city centre in a straight line.
NLA · Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport
Questions
Ndola: questions travellers ask
When is the best time to visit Ndola?
The most comfortable months for a city stay in Ndola are April to August. October is the warmest month, with average highs of 32 °C; January is the wettest, with about 287 mm of rain.
Which airport is closest to Ndola?
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport (NLA), about 13 km from the city centre in a straight line.
What currency is used in Ndola?
Zambian Kwacha (ZMW).
Nearby
Destinations near Ndola
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.