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Photo by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Best time to visit Mount Kilimanjaro
Tanzania · Africa
All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.
The year in Mount Kilimanjaro
Tap a month for its page
- JanJMount Kilimanjaro in January: sweet spot
- FebFMount Kilimanjaro in February: sweet spot
- MarMMount Kilimanjaro in March: good
- AprAMount Kilimanjaro in April: avoid
- MayMMount Kilimanjaro in May: ok
- JunJMount Kilimanjaro in June: sweet spot
- JulJMount Kilimanjaro in July: good
- AugAMount Kilimanjaro in August: good, busy
- SepSMount Kilimanjaro in September: sweet spot
- OctOMount Kilimanjaro in October: sweet spot
- NovNMount Kilimanjaro in November: sweet spot
- DecDMount Kilimanjaro in December: good, busy
- Sweet spot
- Good
- OK
- Avoid
- Busy
Dry season: Jun–Feb, 6 or fewer rainy days a month.
Plan this trip
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Travel insurance
Check whether your bank card or home insurance already covers this trip.
If the trip needs a visa, the travel agent or visa centre usually sells the cover it asks for.
Mobile data (eSIM)
Your own plan's EU roaming may already cover this.
Renting a pocket Wi-Fi is the other common way to stay connected.
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Month by month
No fare history for this route yet, so this ranking is climate and crowds only — the price column will fill in as the scanner collects.
| Month | Max °C | Rain days | Humidity | Sun h/day | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 31° | 2d | 53% | 11.2h | sweet spot | 31C max, 2 rainy days |
| Feb | 32° | 2d | 53% | 11.1h | sweet spot | 32C max, 2 rainy days |
| Mar | 30° | 9d | 63% | 10.5h | good | 30C max, 9 rainy days |
| Apr | 27° | 18d | 78% | 9.2h | avoid | monsoon: 18 rainy days, 272mm |
| May | 25° | 11d | 78% | 8.4h | ok | 25C max, 11 rainy days |
| Jun | 24° | 2d | 71% | 8.5h | sweet spot | 24C max, 2 rainy days |
| Jul | 24° | 2d | 66% | 8.8h | good | 24C max, 2 rainy days |
| Aug | 26° | 2d | 63% | 9.7h | goodbusy | busier than usual |
| Sep | 28° | 1d | 60% | 10.3h | sweet spot | 28C max, 1 rainy day |
| Oct | 30° | 3d | 61% | 10.6h | sweet spot | 30C max, 3 rainy days |
| Nov | 30° | 5d | 65% | 11.0h | sweet spot | 30C max, 5 rainy days |
| Dec | 29° | 4d | 61% | 11.0h | goodbusy | busier than usual |
Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.
Weather read at Moshi, where the climbs start, 31 km from the airport (JRO): ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.
A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.
How busy it gets
Then and now
Mount Kilimanjaro's October days now average 30.0°C, 3.6°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 12 of 12 months are clearly warmer.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981–90 | 27.4° | 28.5° | 27.8° | 25.5° | 23.5° | 22.5° | 22.2° | 22.9° | 24.8° | 26.5° | 26.4° | 26.6° |
| 2017–26 | 30.5° | 31.5° | 30.2° | 26.8° | 24.7° | 23.9° | 24.3° | 26.2° | 28.3° | 30.0° | 29.5° | 29.3° |
| Change | +3.1° | +3.0° | +2.4° | +1.3° | +1.1° | +1.4° | +2.1° | +3.4° | +3.6° | +3.6° | +3.1° | +2.7° |
The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.
Getting there
How far Mount Kilimanjaro is, and what it costs, depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.
- from Johannesburg
- from Riyadh
- from Doha
- from Abu Dhabi
- from Dubai
- from Cairo
- from Lagos
- from Cape Town
Open in Rome2rio for every way from to Mount Kilimanjaro, flying or not.
Before you go
Type G plugs at 230 V. Drives on the left. The currency is the Tanzanian shilling. UK Foreign Office: avoid all but essential travel to parts. Global Affairs Canada: Exercise a high degree of caution (with regional advisories). US State Department: Level 3: Reconsider Travel. Everything for Tanzania: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.
Being there
On arrival
- Paying — Since 2025 the law says prices must be in Tanzanian shillings: change money only at banks or bureaux de change, or pay by card, though some visitor services, such as the Zanzibar ferry, still price in US dollars. ATMs in the main towns take foreign debit cards but can run out of cash, and cards are not widely accepted in rural areas.
- UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
- Tipping — Not required but welcome, and often expected in tourism: 5-10% in restaurants unless service is included; for taxis, rounding up is enough.
Getting around Mount Kilimanjaro
- Apps — Rides: Bolt. Maps: Google Maps.
Help
- Emergency — 112 (any emergency).
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.
- Hospitals near Mount Kilimanjaroa search on Google Maps
- Pharmacies near Mount Kilimanjaroa search on Google Maps
Your embassy — : how to reach your embassy or consulate abroad. A guess from your city, : a city is not a passport.
Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 7 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.
Sources (15)
- gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/tanzania/getting-help
- gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/tanzania/safety-and-security
- travel.gc.ca/destinations/tanzania
- bot.go.tz/Adverts/PressRelease/en/2025050221310087.pdf
- azammarine.com
- azammarine.com/rates
- azammarine.com/general-booking-terms-and-conditions
- bolt.eu/en/cities/zanzibar
- bolt.eu/en/cities
- roughguides.com/tanzania/travel-tips
- en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Tanzania
- en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Zanzibar
- developers.google.com/maps/coverage
- pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2286608
- rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/AnnualReport/PDFs/09PAYMENT290526C6588B796E664822A2BD0DEB6452CAD4.PDF
Mount Kilimanjaro in pictures
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Sergey Pesterev, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Amoghavarsha JS amoghavarsha.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Altezzatravel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Lee R. Berger, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
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Altezzatravel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What Mount Kilimanjaro is like
Mount Kilimanjaro is an inactive stratovolcano in northeast Tanzania, near the border with Kenya. At 5,895 m (19,340 feet) above sea level, Kilimanjaro is Africa's highest peak and the world's highest free-standing mountain. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth doing
- If you do not want to reach the summit but still want to experience a hike at Kilimanjaro, you can do a one-day hike from Marangu Gate to Maundi Krater. The hike is easy and you will cross the forest of Kilimanjaro. More on Wikivoyage
- Getting in
- The closest International Airport is Kilimanjaro (JRO IATA) and, if coming from Europe, KLM has a daily non-stop flight from Amsterdam to JRO. More on Wikivoyage
- Staying safe
- Kilimanjaro is a high risk destination for altitude sickness due to its height, technical ease and usual rapid ascent. More on Wikivoyage
- Staying healthy
- Several immunizations are recommended for yellow fever, tetanus, typhoid, polio, and hepatitis. An anti-malaria prophylactic is also needed. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Mount Kilimanjaro, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.
Around Mount Kilimanjaro
Also in Tanzania
Nearby
- Nairobi Kenya · 235 km
- Seychelles Seychelles · 2,012 km
- Johannesburg South Africa · 2,719 km
- Réunion Réunion · 2,761 km
Kind of place
Mount Kilimanjaro is in Tanzania, Africa. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.
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