Things to do in Kitwe
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Kitwe
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Cool and dry, the best months: dry dirt roads, peak golf and the Zambia Open and Trade Fair season.
Hot and dry, with October the hottest month; sightsee early and use pools and malls at midday.
Warm and wet, the worst months for dirt roads to Chimfunshi and Nsobe, with localised flooding and most mosquitoes.
Chembe birding peaks with migrant species in and after the rains, at the cost of muddier access.
What's on
- ZIMEC Zambia International Mining and Energy Conference March, dates vary by year
The Copperbelt's big mining week at the Garden Court: the city fills and hotel rooms vanish.
- Mopani Zambia Open Usually May to June, check the Sunshine Tour calendar
Sunshine Tour golf at Nkana Golf Club; the course closes to casual play across tournament week.
- Zambia International Trade Fair Late June to early July
The country's biggest trade fair in Ndola, a festive day out 45 minutes from Kitwe.
- Independence Day 24 October
Zambia's independence anniversary, a public holiday with a festive long weekend feel in the hottest month.
Best things to do in Kitwe
Chisokone Market
Kitwe's commercial heart since the mining decades, best for a morning of grazing, bargaining and people watching.
Copperbelt Museum
A small museum in Ndola that explains the mining, geology and cultures of the whole Copperbelt in one visit.
Dag Hammarskjöld Crash Site Memorial
A solemn memorial garden and small museum where the UN Secretary General died in 1961, with excellent local guides.
Nkana Stadium
A home match for Nkana FC is drumming, singing and civic passion, the most fun cheap ticket in Kitwe.
Arthur Davies Stadium
Home of Power Dynamos and the other half of the Kitwe derby, a top flight matchday with a huge local following.
Mukuba Mall
The Copperbelt's biggest mall and a genuine local leisure institution, with the city's best cluster of chain restaurants.
ECL Mall
The city centre mall beside Kitwe City Square and the Garden Court, the practical heart of a business stay.
Nkana East and Nkana West
Tree lined mine era suburbs to walk or drive slowly, the closest Kitwe gets to a historic district.
Where to stay in Kitwe
Parklands
first trip, all-round base
Leafy and established, with Mukuba Mall, the better restaurants and the Sherbourne properties.
Kitwe city centre
business and one-night stops
The Garden Court and ECL Mall quarter, most convenient for meetings and early starts.
Greater Kitwe
garden lodges and value stays
Garden properties outside the centre trade walkability for calm, space and lower rates.
Think twice about
- Chisokone Market and central trading streets
No real visitor accommodation, chaotic by day and deserted and poorly lit by night, with petty theft around market and bus crowds. Visit in the morning, sleep in Parklands.
- Wusakile, Chamboli, Mindolo township and Buchi as a base
Residential mining townships with no visitor accommodation and little street lighting. Go to Wusakile for a match in daylight with the crowd, not as a place to stay or wander alone.
Best restaurants in Kitwe
Marigold Restaurant
Kitwe's best regarded restaurant, an Indian kitchen in a calm garden, famous locally for its naan and hot curries.
Social Kitwe
The city's newest shaped night out inside ECL Mall, with platters, cocktail towers and late lounge energy.
The Hut Restaurant
A big open air restaurant famous for its Sunday buffet, spit roasts, shisha lounge and weekly karaoke and trivia.
Havmore Restaurant and Bar
A local family favourite for Indian food, praised for consistent curries and the best naan habit in town.
Indish
A smaller Indian fusion room with scores level with the city's best, and the quieter alternative when Marigold is full.
Mozambik Mukuba Mall
Afro Portuguese seafood and peri peri chicken in Mukuba Mall, the best seafood bet this far from the coast.
Copper Eagle Spur
The family steakhouse institution in Mukuba Mall, most practical for small children even if it is nobody's food highlight.
After Ten
Cheap chicken, chips and shawarma on Kanyanta Avenue, open when much of Kitwe has shut for the night.
Outdoor things to do in Kitwe
Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage
One of the world's largest chimpanzee sanctuaries, worth the long drive and an overnight for the viewing windows.
Nkana Golf Club
Zambia's tournament course and host of the Zambia Open, a serious parkland test with a welcoming guest policy.
Mindolo Dam
Kitwe's weekend water for boating, fishing and braai picnics, with a club pool because the dam is not for swimming.
Chembe Bird Sanctuary
Miombo woodland around a small lake with about 300 recorded bird species, lakeside camping, boats and fishing.
Mwekwera Falls
A small scenic waterfall and lake with fish farms, walking paths and picnic spots, 20 minutes from Parklands.
Nsobe Game Camp
The Copperbelt's closest game camp, with giraffe, zebra and antelope, a lake, self drives and a well praised restaurant.
Nchanga Golf Club
The Copperbelt's other classic round in leafy Chingola, an easy second golf day paired with the mine town itself.
Best hotels in Kitwe
Garden Court Kitwe
The city's top business hotel, with a pool, conference rooms and the most predictable service in Kitwe.
Sherbourne Hotel
The locally owned top tier alternative in Parklands, a Kitwe institution used for weddings and visiting executives.
Sherbourne Lodge
A pool, garden and sauna lodge in Parklands that suits families and longer stays better than the conference hotels.
Mist Gardens
A calm mid range garden hotel with a bar, priced well below the conference hotels and popular with visiting groups.
Lifesong Lodge
A value lodge with warm small sample reviews, built around church, NGO and family groups on longer stays.
Rosewood Place
A small Parklands guesthouse praised by guests who stayed for weeks, with home cooking and helpful hosts.
Is Kitwe expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | ZMW 900 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | ZMW 2,400 a person |
| Splurge | ZMW 6,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage: weeks ahead
- Nkana Golf Club: a few days ahead
- Nsobe Game Camp: a few days ahead
- Nchanga Golf Club: a few days ahead
- Garden Court Kitwe: a few days ahead
- Sherbourne Hotel: a few days ahead
- Marigold Restaurant: a few days ahead
- Email Chimfunshi ahead for viewing, meals and rooms, and carry cash in kwacha because card payment depends on its internet.
- Mining conference weeks such as ZIMEC fill the Garden Court and Sherbourne, so book the hotel first if dates collide.
- Book Nkana Golf Club tee times ahead, especially around the Zambia Open, and check current football fixtures in the week you travel.
Is Kitwe safe?
- Do not walk at night, even for short hops; take a taxi door to door.
- Keep phones low key in markets and bus areas and leave nothing visible in a parked car.
- The Copperbelt is malarial year round: use prophylaxis as advised, repellent and nets, and drink bottled or purified water.
- Emergency numbers are 991 police, 992 fire and 993 ambulance, with slow response times.
Kitwe travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Kitwe sold as a safari stop: Nsobe is a pleasant game camp, not a national park.
- Mall hopping as an itinerary: one mall session is local colour, three is a wasted Chimfunshi day.
- Expecting the old chimp walk at Chimfunshi: interaction is prohibited now.
- Swimming in Mindolo Dam: local guidance says use the boating club pool instead.
- Unarranged mine tours: the mines are working industrial sites with no walk up tour product.
Getting around Kitwe: public transport and more
- You need wheels: use a hotel arranged car and driver for Chimfunshi, Chembe, Nsobe and Ndola days.
- Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport is in Ndola, roughly 60 to 70 km away, so arrange the transfer through your hotel before landing.
- Agree taxi fares before setting off and carry small kwacha notes.
- Do not drive at night outside the city, and plan dirt road days to be back on tar before dark.
Who Kitwe suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Kitwe your trip
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