Southern Sun Ridgeway

Bell hops will greet you at the hotel's pretty landscaped entrance. The lobby is bright and inviting with marble floors and plenty of seating. The interior courtyard contains a large garden with a pond and swimming pool surrounded by a furnished patio, and an adjacent exercise room. Musuku Restaurant offers unpretentious but refined dining inside (in a echoy dining room) or outside, on the more intimate patio. Musuku Terrace and Bar offers informal indoor and outdoor settings, tasty options like flame-grilled burgers and thick-cut chips, and local and international beers on tap. There are five spacious venues for business meetings and conferences, hosting up to 200 delegates.

Guests will sleep well in either the executive or standard room - both equipped with black-out curtains and plush mattresses. Executive rooms are spacious, with an option of a king-sized or two twin beds and a large bathroom. Standard rooms offer more contained comfort but the same bed configurations. Some rooms face the interior garden, while others look onto the city streets. They come with all the mod-cons like Wi-Fi, air-con, satellite TV and a mini-bar and 24-hour room service.

​For many, Lusaka will be a springboard to the rest of the country's spectacular wilderness areas and national parks – Kafue, Lower Zambezi, North and South Luangwa, among them. Also on the list is Victoria Falls, on its south-western border with Zimbabwe. The city itself is fertile ground for open-air food and craft markets – be sure to inquire with the concierge for the best of them.