Where to Stay in Harare

The CBD runs along Jason Moyo Avenue and First Street Mall, where the smell of roasting maize from street vendors mingles with diesel fumes as taxis queue at the ranks. Home to Meikles Hotel, Africa Unity Square, and the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, it is the densest and most historically layered part of Harare.

A quiet grid of streets immediately north of the CBD, shaded by jacaranda trees whose purple petals coat the pavements each spring. The Avenues attract diplomats, NGO staff, and independent travelers to its colonial-era hotels and converted guesthouses, all within a ten-minute walk of the CBD but insulated from its noise.

Avondale is where Harare lingers over locally roasted coffee and eats its best meals. The suburb sits northwest of the CBD and anchors the expat social scene, with Avondale Shopping Centre, a weekend flea market fragrant with cured biltong and fresh produce, and craft stalls spilling onto tree-shaded streets.

Harare's most upscale suburb stretches north along Borrowdale Road past walled estates, the premium retail of Sam Levy's Village, and the city's finest restaurants. Streets here feel hushed, the air carries cut grass and bougainvillea, and the pace is slower than anywhere else in the city.

A leafy eastern suburb of Harare shaped by wide avenues and quiet cul-de-sacs, Highlands draws long-stay professionals and travelers who want a residential feel with proximity to Mukuvisi Woodlands. Morning birdsong from hadeda ibis and starlings is the loudest sound on most streets before 7am.

Mount Pleasant hosts the University of Zimbabwe's main campus and pulls in academics, researchers, and budget travelers to its guesthouses along tree-lined residential streets. The suburb lies northwest of Avondale and turns cooler and quieter once the university gates shut each evening.