Photo: Dylan Walters · CC BY 2.0
Kampala
Uganda's lively capital of seven hills — markets, history, food and nightlife.
About
Kampala is energetic and warm, spread across hills near the shore of Lake Victoria. Visit the royal Kasubi Tombs, the Uganda Martyrs Shrine at Namugongo and the Uganda Museum, ride a boda boda through busy markets, and taste rolex, luwombo and fresh tilapia. Most international visitors arrive through nearby Entebbe.
Highlights
- Kasubi Tombs
- Uganda Martyrs Shrine
- Street food tours
- Nightlife
Things to book in Kampala
4 operators we know of working in Kampala. They set their own prices — contact them directly, or ask Zuri to.
Safaris · Kampala
Churchill Safaris
A Ugandan operator based in Wakaliga, Kampala, which says it has been trading since 2000. It arranges tailor-made Uganda and Rwanda itineraries built around gorilla trekking in Bwindi and chimpanzee tracking in Kibale, alongside wildlife and cultural tours.
Ask them directly, or ask Zuri to
Safaris · Kampala
Great Lakes Safaris
A Kampala tour operator running tailor-made wildlife and primate itineraries across Uganda and Rwanda, including mountain gorilla trekking. The company also owns and runs its own lodges, the Great Lakes Collection, near several national parks, and keeps a second office in Kigali.
Ask them directly, or ask Zuri to
Safaris · Kampala
Kagera Safaris
An owner-managed Kampala operator arranging safaris in Uganda, Rwanda and the wider region. Its programmes cover mountain gorilla trekking in Bwindi, other primate tracking, big-game viewing, birding and cultural tours.
Ask them directly, or ask Zuri to
Culture & food · Kampala
Kampala Walking Tours
Guided walks through central Kampala taking in historical monuments, markets, places of worship and a palace, in two-, three- and six-hour options. Also runs neighbourhood walks, street food tours, a coffee experience and a traditional medicine experience, plus day trips to Jinja and Ngamba Island.
Ask them directly, or ask Zuri to
Where to stay in Kampala
Banda Inns
Listed for reference — book direct
Fat Cat
Listed for reference — book direct
Grand Imperial Hotel
Listed for reference — book direct
Imperial Royale Hotel
Listed for reference — book direct
Kampala Hilton Hotel
Listed for reference — book direct
Kampala Serena Hotel
Listed for reference — book direct
Lake Victoria Serena Golf Resort & Spa
Listed for reference — book direct
Nyumba 591
Listed for reference — book direct
Sheraton Kampala Hotel
Listed for reference — book direct
Speke Hotel
Listed for reference — book direct
The Hash Tag Guest House
Listed for reference — book direct
Partner inventory
Check live prices for Kampala
Hotels sold through our booking partner, with real availability for your dates. Separate from the Zuri operators and directory listings above.
Stories from Kampala
Kampala
Fire, Faith, and a Nation's Memory: Namugongo's Sacred Ground Still Draws the World
The road into Namugongo does not announce itself as holy ground. Boda-bodas weave between market stalls, roadside vendors fan charcoal fires, and the ordinary clatter of a Kampala suburb fills the air — until, quite suddenly, the crowd noise falls away and two shrines rise out of the trees, one crowned with a great cone of copper-toned tiles said to evoke a traditional reed hut, the other a plain brick chapel standing exactly where, on a June morning in 1886, a young page named Charles Lwanga and twelve companions were bound, wrapped in reed mats, and burned alive on the orders of a teenage king. Nearly a century and a half later, this quiet patch of earth on the northeastern edge of Uganda's capital has become one of the largest annual pilgrimage sites on the African continent, drawing more visitors in a single day each June than most national parks welcome in a year.
Torch Media Africa · 19 Sept 2026 · 5 min read
Kampala
Where Fire Became Faith: Namugongo's Sacred Ground
Twelve kilometres northeast of Kampala's roar, the traffic thins, the roadside stalls give way to jacaranda and flame trees, and a quiet settles over Namugongo that visitors say arrives before they even see the twin white domes rising above the trees. This is the ground where, between 1885 and 1887, Kabaka Mwanga II of Buganda ordered dozens of young men in his royal court — pages, chiefs-in-training, servants — executed for refusing to renounce the Christian faith they had newly embraced. On 3 June 1886, the most infamous of these executions took place here: a group of Catholic converts led by Charles Lwanga were wrapped in reed mats and burned alive on a pyre at Namugongo, alongside Anglican converts killed by the same order. Twenty-two Catholics and twenty-three Anglicans are now venerated as the Uganda Martyrs, canonised by Pope Paul VI in 1964, and Namugongo has become one of the most visited pilgrimage and heritage sites in East Africa.
Torch Media Africa · 19 Sept 2026 · 3 min read
Kampala
Fire, Faith, and the Making of a Nation: Namugongo's Long Vigil
Thirty minutes northeast of Kampala's roar, past the roadside stalls of Jinja Road and the low hum of boda-bodas threading traffic, the land opens onto lawns so green and so still that visitors often lower their voices without being told to. Two basilicas rise here — one Catholic, one Anglican, facing each other across a stretch of grass like old adversaries who have long since made peace. Between them lies a lake whose waters pilgrims still carry home in bottles, believing them to hold something that ordinary water does not. This is Namugongo, and the story it keeps is not a comfortable one, but it is, unmistakably, the story of how modern Uganda came to understand itself.
Torch Media Africa · 19 Sept 2026 · 4 min read