Mount Kilimanjaro

Located to the east of Arusha and north of the small town of Moshi, Mount Kilimanjaro is one of the most iconic sights in Africa (if the cloud is not there and if you are looking from Amboseli National Park in Kenya!). To go ahead and climb this towering peak is endurance test worthy of anyone and is the reason why many thousands of travellers flock here every year.

Roughly speaking the volcano is made up of a central cone with the slopes on its western flank running down to the Shira Plateau. On the right hand side the slopes of the crater run down and back up to the peak of Mawenzi at around 5,100m. While this peak is rarely attempted it is possible to spend a night at the Mawenzi Tarn that sits in the peak’s shadow.

Taking between 6 and 7 nights, the Machame (or “whiskey”) route is probably the most popular of the longer routes up the mountain. 

The walking is, in the main, pretty steady (around 4 hours a day) with days spent meandering to altitude in the shadow of the summit and dropping back down to overnight. This is in preparation for the second to last evening where the summit is attempted via “Stella” point.

While this is one of the busier routes up the mountain the chances of summitting are pretty high with good time to acclimatise to the altitude.

With a slightly less interesting early route around the northern slopes of the volcano, the “Rongai” route has started to become more and more popular due to its sense of remoteness and fewer trekkers (until the last few days).

As with the Machame route, the trekking is not all that arduous with the main obstacle being the quick increase in altitude. Again, with the longer climb period comes higher chances of summitting.

Do see our best camps & lodges in Mount Kilimanjaro picks for 2026/27 on this page.

As with trekking at any altitude, the weather on the volcano is changeable even in the best periods so good waterproofs and warm clothing is essential year round.

In the main, the best periods to summit are from mid-January to mid-March and again from August to mid-October. The rains between March and May make for hard work and the months of June and July are dry but particularly cold.

Do see our interactive best time to visit Mount Kilimanjaro guide on this page as well as on our parent guide to tanzania page for more in-depth information on when to go.

Or call us on +44 1525 840 149. That’s what we’re here for.

As much as AI has changed the way we all approach our lives, there is still no substitute for picking up the phone and having a chat through the options with one of us on USA +1-917-336-2937

This allows us to completely tailor the property choices, costs and itinerary length to your needs…but we also understand that this is not always possible with the busy lives we all lead.

With this in mind, we have also put together a safari finder tool that should help you to narrow down the initial stages at which point we can jump in to “round off the edges” as it were.

Alternatively please feel free to › send us an email with your timings, group size and rough likes and dislikes and we can get the ball rolling.

As much as AI has changed the way we all approach our lives, there is still no substitute for picking up the phone and having a chat through the options with one of us on USA +1-917-336-2937

This allows us to completely tailor the property choices, costs and itinerary length to your needs…but we also understand that this is not always possible with the busy lives we all lead.

With this in mind, we have also put together a safari finder tool that should help you to narrow down the initial stages at which point we can jump in to “round off the edges” as it were.

Alternatively please feel free to › send us an email with your timings, group size and rough likes and dislikes and we can get the ball rolling.