Bulawayo is the easiest Zimbabwean city to navigate and one of the most pleasant to stay in. The colonial planners laid out streets wide enough to turn a full span of oxen, and the result is an unhurried grid of low buildings, broad avenues and a city centre you can read at a glance. It is also the gateway to the Matobo Hills, so a good number of travellers pass through on the way to the granite and the rock art.
This guide groups the city's beds the way a visitor actually experiences them: the historic hotels, the working conference trade, and the suburban guest houses out towards Hillside and the Matobo road.
The grand old hotels
Bulawayo wears its history well, and a few of its hotels are part of that history. The Bulawayo Club is the most characterful address in the city, a Victorian members' club in the centre that now takes overnight guests, all dark wood, high ceilings and a library that has not changed much in a century.
The Bulawayo Rainbow Hotel is the larger, full-service landmark in the heart of the grid, the default choice for travellers who want a recognisable city-centre hotel within walking distance of City Hall and the main streets. Out on Matopos Road, at the corner of Moffat Avenue, Cresta Churchill keeps the old-world note going with its mock-Tudor frontage and garden, and it has the added advantage of pointing you in the right direction for a day trip to Matobo National Park.
The CBD and the conference trade
Bulawayo is Zimbabwe's second city and the commercial capital of Matabeleland, so a steady stream of business and conference travellers keeps a tier of practical, central hotels busy.
Holiday Inn Bulawayo is the reliable mid-range chain option, well set up for meetings and a short drive from the centre near the Ascot grounds. The N1 Hotel Bulawayo is the budget-business standby, plain and central, while the Lalani Hotel and Conference Centre is built for exactly the function-and-bed combination its name promises. Any of the three works for a trip measured in meetings rather than sightseeing.
Suburban guest houses
For a quieter and usually cheaper stay, Bulawayo's suburbs are full of small, owner-run guest houses, most of them in the green residential belt around Hillside and Burnside. These are the places to choose if you want a garden, a home-cooked breakfast and a residential street rather than a hotel lobby.
Padandaro Guest House, Motsamai Lodge, Sondela Guest House, Jules Place, Parrot Lodge, Glen Lodge and Tours, Ginger Lilly Villa and Bhedu Berry Lodge all sit in this suburban band. They vary in size and style, but share the same basic offer: a handful of rooms, personal service and a calmer base than the centre, usually within a short drive of town.
Bulawayo's airport is north of the city and the centre is compact, so almost anywhere on this list keeps you within easy reach of both. Check current availability on the hotels and guest houses above in the carousel below.
