Things to do in Goma
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Goma
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
The main dry season, July driest, and the best future window for trails and lake trips. No month makes Goma safe at present.
The short dry season, less reliable and still fairly wet, and the historic February home of the Amani Festival.
The long rains, with April and May among the wettest months, hard trails and deteriorating roads north.
The short rains and the wettest stretch of the year, October and November, the least good time for trekking or lake travel.
Best things to do in Goma
Lake Kivu
The Goma lakefront at sunset, fishing boats and fast boats below the hills, is the first walk of any future visit.
Rond-Point Tchukudu
The roundabout monument to the tchoukoudou wooden scooter, the human powered hauler that symbolises Goma.
Cathédrale Saint-Joseph de Goma
Goma's Catholic cathedral, the landmark church of a deeply Christian city, to visit quietly outside services.
Marché Birere
Goma's dense main market in Birere, rebuilt on the 2002 lava, and the best hour of pure city life here.
Where to stay in Goma
Lake Kivu shore
all stays in the city itself
The lakeside strip holds the Serena, Ihusi, Lac Kivu Lodge and Cap Kivu, with the restaurants and boat landings alongside.
Rumangabo, Virunga park headquarters
gorilla trek bases when the park is open
The park village about an hour north of Goma where Mikeno Lodge and the Senkwekwe Centre sit in the forest.
Central Goma
bottom budget rooms
The central districts hold the city's thin cheap tier, represented here by Linda Hotel.
Think twice about
- All of Goma and North Kivu, at present
The city is under M23 control in an active conflict. There is no safe district to substitute.
- Roads north to Rutshuru and west to Sake
These corridors have seen repeated fighting and armed group activity and were front lines in the 2025 offensive. They are not excursions in any current window.
- Goma International Airport and its perimeter
The airport has been closed and held by M23 since January 2025. Do not plan air travel into or out of it.
- Displaced persons camps and their surroundings
Camps around Goma have been shelled and hold very large displaced populations in a humanitarian emergency. They are not places to visit, photograph or pass through as a sightseer.
Best restaurants in Goma
Le Chalet
The best known independent restaurant in Goma, wood fired pizza and lake fish on a deck over Lake Kivu.
Il Rasentino
Goma's Italian table, pasta and pizza serving the European and aid community the city long hosted.
Salt and Pepper
The Indian and Asian kitchen of pre-war Goma, curries and vegetarian dishes at mid range prices.
Pili Pili
Indian food and barbecue at local prices, the cheap end of Goma's international eating scene.
Au Bon Pain
The bakery cafe of pre-war Goma, bread, pastries, sandwiches and coffee for a cheap breakfast or lunch.
Village Fatimata
Congolese food cooked for Congolese customers, goat ribs, grilled chicken and lake fish at honest prices.
Outdoor things to do in Goma
Virunga National Park
Mountain gorilla trekking in Africa's oldest park, closed to tourists since March 2020 until further notice.
Mount Nyiragongo
The overnight crater rim climb above Goma, closed since the park shut and unsafe since the 2021 eruption.
Tchegera Island
The park run tented island camp 15 to 30 minutes by boat from Goma, for kayaking and a quiet swim bay.
Idjwi Island
The big, war untouched lake island of coffee farms and fishing villages, reached by the Goma to Bukavu boats.
Senkwekwe Centre
The orphaned mountain gorilla centre at the Rumangabo park headquarters, visited as part of a Mikeno Lodge stay.
Best hotels in Goma
Goma Serena Hotel
The 110 room lakeside flagship opened in 2020, Goma's splurge stay on its pre-war standing.
Mikeno Lodge
The park's own forest lodge at Rumangabo, the intended base for gorilla treks, closed with the park since 2020.
Ihusi Hotel
The older big lakeside hotel from 2002, gardens, pool and tennis courts running down to the water.
Lac Kivu Lodge
A small garden lodge on the lake with a good kitchen, the pre-war best value comfortable stay in Goma.
Cap Kivu Hotel
A mid sized lakeside hotel long used by regional business travellers, with rooms facing the water.
Linda Hotel
The simple central budget option in a city with a thin cheap tier, basic rooms at the bottom of its range.
Is Goma expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | $50 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | $130 a person |
| Splurge | $320 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Virunga National Park: months ahead
- Mount Nyiragongo: months ahead
- Tchegera Island: weeks ahead
- Idjwi Island: weeks ahead
- Senkwekwe Centre: months ahead
- Goma Serena Hotel: weeks ahead
- Mikeno Lodge: months ahead
- Virunga gorilla permits and Nyiragongo packages were always booked months ahead through the park, and the park is closed until further notice.
- Visas were arranged in advance, commonly a park arranged tourist visa collected at the border, with a yellow fever certificate required.
- Lakeside hotels at the top tier filled with official and aid travel and needed direct confirmation even before the war.
Is Goma safe?
- Do not travel now: Goma is under M23 control in an active conflict, with no normal tourism or consular protection.
- Emergency consular services are unavailable in North Kivu, and consular support in eastern DRC is severely limited.
- An Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak with cases in North Kivu is a second, independent reason to stay away while transmission continues.
- Nyiragongo remains an active volcano over the city, and Lake Kivu holds large dissolved gas quantities monitored by scientists. Follow the Goma Volcanology Observatory and local authorities in any future window.
Goma travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Any operator selling Virunga gorilla permits, Nyiragongo climbs or Goma tours as currently available is out of date or dishonest.
- Any itinerary that treats the Rwanda border crossing or Goma airport as guaranteed, when both have been closed or restricted since January 2025.
- Cash fixers offering visas or park access outside an official process.
Getting around Goma: public transport and more
- In the future window, Goma is driven, not walked, beyond the lakefront and centre, using hotel arranged cars and drivers.
- The historic entry was the drive from Kigali to the Grande Barriere crossing at Gisenyi, a route subject to short notice closure since January 2025.
- Lake boats linked Goma with Bukavu and Idjwi Island, and fast boats from the Ihusi operation crossed the lake in about three hours.
Who Goma suits
| Solo travellers | Not ideal |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Not ideal |
| Couples | Not ideal |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Not ideal |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Goma your trip
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