Victoria Falls car rental, taxis and transfers compared

Quick pick. Fastest from the airport: the Wild Horizons transfer, 20 minutes⁴ to town. Cheapest around town: walking, though the riverside path to the Victoria Falls Hotel is not safe after dark⁵. Most freedom for Hwange or Botswana: a hire car.

The route by hire car, step by step

Picking up a car at Victoria Falls Airport and driving into town is the easy part. The paperwork at the desk is where people get caught out.

1. 1

   Land at Victoria Falls Airport

   The airport is about 22 km, a 25-minute drive, from town. It also issues the KAZA UniVisa if you plan to cross into Zambia.

2. 2

   Collect the hire car

   Avis lists its airport branch as open daily 08:00–17:00. Bring a credit card and a licence valid in Zimbabwe.

3. 3

   Drive into town and park

   Most places in town are no more than 3 km from the falls, so leave the car at your hotel and walk or take a taxi.

4. 4

   Drive out for the day

   Hwange Main Camp Gate is 2.5–3 hours away; Kasane in Botswana is about 1.5 hours.

5. 5

   Return the car

   Avis offers 24-hour drop-off at Victoria Falls Airport, handy for early flights.

Do you need a car in Victoria Falls?

Not for the town itself. Victoria Falls town lies immediately next to the falls², so taxis, transfers and your own feet cover most trips:

• Taxis are plentiful, and Wikivoyage reckons a ride should cost no more than $6², a little under the operator range in the fees table.
• Wild Horizons transfers link hotels and town, with a cheaper day rate than night rate.
• Hotel shuttles: most hotels outside town have their own transfer services², and Elephant Hills runs a free shuttle into town four times a day⁶.

A car pays off once you leave town, for Hwange, Kasane or a run across to Zambia. Check where everything sits on the Victoria Falls town and park map before you decide.

What you pay

Getting around is cheap next to the activities: here are the rides, the visa for Zambia and the rainforest gate fee side by side.

Agree a taxi fare before you set off. Carry small US dollar notes for the border too, because card payments there are unreliable³.

Routes compared

Victoria Falls sits at the western tip of Zimbabwe, a few kilometres from Botswana and Namibia⁸, with Zambia across the bridge. Most drives worth a car cross a border or head south-east on the A8⁹.

Without a car, you can cross the border on foot, then take one of the blue taxis¹⁰ into Livingstone town. The Livingstone side of the river has its own page, and arrivals from further away are covered in flights, buses and trains to the falls.

Tips and common mistakes

Most problems on the road here come from the border and from taxis, not from the driving:

• Leaving no slack at the border. Queues and delays build from July to October, and Wild Horizons allows 30 minutes³ for border procedures on its own transfers.
• Walking to Livingstone. The 8 km walk is not generally recommended for tourists¹⁰.
• Getting into the wrong car in Livingstone. Official taxis are blue with a red number plate¹⁰. Yango works in Livingstone, but you pay in cash¹⁰.
• Stopping for touts. Touts around the falls are aggressive and best avoided⁵.

If you’d rather not handle the border yourself, a guided tour of the falls from both sides comes with hotel pickup. Many visitors also take a day trip to Chobe National Park³ in Botswana, such as this Chobe day trip with lunch.

Before you drive, read the foreign travel advice for Zimbabwe. Still choosing a side to base yourself? Start with the background guide about Victoria Falls.

Questions people ask