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Kigongoni Lodge, Arusha | Timbuktu Travel
Arusha

Kigongoni Lodge

Travel and Leisure Worlds Best Awards for number 1 tour operator in the world 2024 and number 2 tour operator in the world 2025
We're one of the World's Best Tour Operators!
Named three years running in Travel+Leisure World's Best, including No.1 in 2024

About Kigongoni Lodge

Convenience and comfort in the gateway city to Mount Kilimanjaro
Bright and warm, this former coffee plantation welcomes guests with generous smiles and an easy-going attitude. You'll feel right at home in Kigongoni Lodge's sprawling grounds, set on a hill overlooking Arusha – the gateway city to Mount Kilimanjaro and surrounding wilderness areas like Ngorongoro and the Serengeti. Even if it's a night or two to decompress before or after overseas travel, you'll enjoy the unpretentious service from the hotel and restaurant staff. This semi-rural location is dotted with villages, flower farms and coffee plantations, and straddles a harmonious middle ground between wilderness and city.
From $90 per person/per night
Retreat
18 Rooms
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Property details

The property

Paintbrushes must have been soaked in sunshine to get the colour of Kigongoni's main area – a cheerful palette that's offset perfectly by the thatched roof and wooden floors. The delightful crew will attend to your comfort throughout the main area, with its series of interlinked rooms housing the dining area and lounge-cum-bar. The lounge is furnished with leather sofas, a piano and a stone-clad hearth. Outside, prettily overgrown pathways wind through the extensive gardens, and there's a secluded pool.

The rooms

The 18 rooms scattered across the grounds are reached via stone pathways that wind through the lush, well-tended wild garden. Built using both traditional and modern techniques, they have thatched roofs, concrete walls and sealed concrete floors, which combine to keep things cool in summer. The rooms are spacious, with four-poster beds in either twin or queen-sized configurations, and mosquito netting. All have outdoor furnished patios, and en-suite bathrooms with bathtubs and rainfall shower heads with excellent pressure.

Activities

For most travellers, Kigongoni will be little more than a stopover en route to Tanzania's wilder treasures, although its natural charms may tempt you to linger. Occupying 70 hectares in the charming, semi-rural outskirts of busy Arusha, the lodge is reached via orange dirt roads. It's surrounded by other farms and signs of village life: colourful washing lines, kids playing soccer, chickens and pigs. Soak up the serenity, enjoying a good book by the pool, delicious meals and fabulous staff.
Plan your stay

How to book Kigongoni Lodge

How do I book Kigongoni Lodge?

Kigongoni Lodge can be booked with Timbuktu as part of a tailor-made Tanzania trip, rather than as a standalone room reservation. Start online, customising one of our recommended Tanzania trips featuring Kigongoni Lodge or get advice and suggestions from one of our Tanzania specialists who will design the trip around your dates, check availability and handle every booking for you.

How much does it cost to stay at Kigongoni Lodge?

Stays at Kigongoni Lodge start from around $90 per person per night as part of a tailor-made trip. The exact price depends on your travel dates, room type and the shape of the rest of your itinerary. A Timbuktu travel specialist can give you an accurate quote for your dates.

Tanzania

Arusha

Dusty, rustic and a little bit quirky, there’s plenty to do in Arusha before or after a safari.