Choosing Your Kilimanjaro Route
Safari at a Glance
Six Routes Up Kilimanjaro, and How to Tell Which One Is Yours
🏆 TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice 2024, 2025 & 2026 · ✅ Kenya TRA Licensed No. TRA1/47/C01/25895 · 🏛️ TOSK (Tour Operators Society of Kenya) Member #0082 · 🇹🇿 Operated in Tanzania by our TALA-licensed partner — licence 037480. Certificate available on request.
Six routes · 13 itineraries · 5 to 8 days · All Kilimanjaro National Park fees included
Every route on this mountain ends at the same place. What changes between them is how many nights you sleep on the way up, how steeply you gain height, how many other people are on the path, and whether you sleep in a hut or a tent. Those four things, and not much else, are what you are choosing between.
The honest short answer for most first-time climbers is seven days on Machame or Lemosho. The honest long answer is below.
📋 The Six Routes
| Route | Lengths we sell | From | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marangu | 5 days · 6 days | $1,580 pp | The only route with huts instead of tents. Up and down the same path. |
| Machame | 6 days · 7 days | $1,700 pp | The most walked route on the mountain, and the one most first-timers are sold. |
| Lemosho | 7 days · 8 days | $1,740 pp | Walks in from the west through every vegetation zone, then crosses the Shira Plateau. |
| Rongai | 5 days · 6 days · 7 days | $1,550 pp | The northern side, in the mountain's rain shadow. The quietest of the six. |
| Shira | 6 days · 7 days | $1,700 pp | Drives you onto the plateau instead of walking you up to it. Starts high. |
| Umbwe | 6 days · 7 days | $1,900 pp | The steepest and most direct line. Genuinely not a first Kilimanjaro. |
Prices shown are the group rate from three people. Each route page carries both the private and the group price in full.
🫁 The One Thing That Matters Most
More nights on the mountain means more time to acclimatise, and acclimatisation is what decides whether most people reach the summit. It is the single relationship that everyone who works on this mountain agrees on. If you are weighing a shorter itinerary against a longer one on the same route, the extra day is the most useful thing you can buy.
We do not publish a summit success rate, on this page or any other. No operator's figures are independently audited, so the numbers you see quoted elsewhere cannot be compared with each other or checked by you. The last official figures came from the national park authority in 2006. We would rather explain what actually decides the outcome than print a number we cannot stand behind.
🛏️ Hut or Tent
Marangu is the only route with huts. Every other route on this page sleeps in tents, which the crew carries and pitches. If sleeping under canvas at altitude is the thing that would stop you enjoying the climb, the six-day Marangu is the itinerary to look at first.
👍 Where to Start
First time at altitude, no strong preference: the seven-day Machame or the seven-day Lemosho. Both give you seven days, a proper climb-high-sleep-low day, and a well-worn path.
You want the quietest mountain: the six-day Rongai. The northern side sees a fraction of the traffic and sits in the rain shadow.
You want a bed: the six-day Marangu.
You have the extra day and want the best odds you can buy: the eight-day Lemosho.
You are an experienced mountain walker and want the hardest line: the seven-day Umbwe — but read that page's warnings before you book it.
All thirteen itineraries are on the Kilimanjaro climbs page. If you are adding days in Moshi before or after the mountain, the Moshi day trips work well either side.
📞 How to Book
A 50% deposit confirms the booking. The balance is due 14 days before departure. Booking inside 14 days: full payment confirms it. Cancel with 14 days' notice for a full refund, or reschedule within 12 months. The group rate applies from three climbers.
We accept M-Pesa and bank transfer. Payment details are sent with your written invoice.
We never request payment through social media, personal phone numbers, or any account or link not confirmed in writing by our office. If in doubt, call us before paying anyone.
Tell us your dates and group size. We confirm availability, your departure date and the arrangements in writing before you pay anything.
📱 WhatsApp / Call: +254 729 257 317 · +254 734 417 496
🇦🇹 Austria: +43 650 702 1313 · +43 676 676 8130
Booking and payment stay with us in Nairobi. Talk to us before you decide.
Operated in Tanzania by our TALA-licensed partner — licence 037480. Certificate available on request.
Prices shown are for non-resident climbers. East African citizens pay lower national-park fees — see our East African citizen rates.
Where You Will Visit
This safari explores the following regions in Tanzania
- Mt. Kilimanjaro
