When visiting the southern part of Africa, it is really common to add on a few days to Victoria Falls. Nearly everyone we met while on our trip in Botswana had already been to Victoria Falls or was ending their trip there. The pictures that you see online or in nature shows highlight a magnificent spectacle of rushing falls dropping 350 feet.  That is TWICE the height of Niagara Falls in North America.  Victoria Falls creates a border between Zimbabwe and Zambia on the African continent. Most of the people we met decided to stay in Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwe side of the falls and that’s where we stayed as well.

Maybe we were a bit rusty on our travel savviness after our time in Botswana, but we ran into a few road bumps and surprises during our short stay in Victoria Falls so we thought we’d share our learnings below.

Getting There

Many people like us try to maximize our trips when we fly so far.  So, it is probably fair to say that if you are going to Victoria Falls, you are probably coming from somewhere else in Africa; maybe from South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, or Botswana.

Driving to Victoria Falls

Since we ended our time in Botswana in Kasane, we were within 2 hours travel time to Victoria Falls by car so we used the land border.  The border is more like a stop-off to check or purchase your visa (see below) and do your Covid vaccine health check.  It can seem quite chaotic because you will be sharing the same queues with tour buses and truck drivers that may not already have a visa.

However, the long story short is that you can drive into Zimbabwe.  You just need to be aware that it is not an automated border by any means. Our drive into Victoria Falls was arranged as part of our trip to Botswana and we’d recommend hiring a driver to transfer you across the border as it was really helpful to have a local tell us what to do and where to go.

Zimbabwe Visas

When we travel we always look at visa requirements before going anywhere.  Luckily, we have an American passport, so we are fortunate enough to have only a few places where we need a visa ahead of time.  Zimbabwe visas can be purchased at the border and in most cases for tourists that is your best option or only option.

Single-Entry vs. Multi-Entry Visas

Some countries divide the prices and types of visas provided based on how many times you plan to leave and come back through their borders.  Zimbabwe is one of those countries.

When going to Victoria Falls, this is even more important to know.  As we established earlier, the falls themselves create the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia.  So, many of the activities or things you may want to see could be on either side of the border.  About 75% of the viewing of the falls is on the Zimbabwe side however, top attractions like Devil’s Pool and Angel’s Pool are on the Zambian side.

With that being said, you may opt to buy the multi-entry visa which will cost you USD$20 more (total of USD$50/person) if you carry a US passport.  This will make it easier to cross back into Zimbabwe if you decide to cross the bridge to Zambia at any point in your visit to Victoria Falls.

Alternatively, if you are pretty certain you won’t be looking to do any activities on the Zambia side, a single-entry visa costing about USD$30/person will do the trick.

Zambia Day Tripper Visa

It is worth mentioning that a Day Tripper visa into Zambia will still need to be purchased at the border into Zambia.  They have this special Day Tripper visa specifically for people only visiting during the day without staying a night.  So, even with a multi-entry visa purchased for Zimbabwe, you still need to pay a small fee to cross into Zambia.

So, in short, if you plan to go to Devil’s Pool and/or Angel’s Pool, you should factor in the cost of a multi-entry visa (USD$20/person extra for US passport holders) and a Zambian Day Tripper visa (~USD$10/person).

Accommodations and Transport In Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls, the town, is pretty small.  There are a lot of different accommodations that are right in town and close to the entrance to Victoria Falls National Park.  This park is where you can see the falls from the Zimbabwe side.  Many Get Your Guide activities and hotel pickups mention Kingdom Hotel as their pickup location which is pretty close to the entrance.

But, if you are like us and want to save some money by booking somewhere a little further out, you will need some type of transport.  The easiest and cheapest way we found to get to the park or to places to eat in the city was by taxi.  Many of the hotels or guesthouses help you by calling a taxi for you.  The most important thing to know is the price you should be expecting.  The general rule we were given is that it should cost you USD$5 into town and USD$5 back.  

In addition, there are some general guidelines for transportation from the city to the airport or to Zambia. You should expect to pay between USD$20 and USD$30 for each direction.  The drive to the airport is quite lengthy which warrants the cost.

Food in Victoria Falls

At our guesthouse, they provided an option for us to have all three meals on-site.  This may vary from accommodation to accommodation, but we have stayed at a couple of places in Africa and this has been the case.  You pay for the meals separately (many bookings may include breakfast in the original price) or as part of your room bill and the menus are pretty simple.

If you want to venture out into Victoria Falls Town, we were given a couple of recommendations that worked out quite well.  The first is a great dinner spot with a variety of different food and drink.  The restaurant is called Three Monkeys and is pretty much right in the middle of town.  The prices are maybe a little expensive, but their portions are huge!  The indoor-outdoor feel is really nice as well.  They even have water misters for the hotter parts of the day.
The next place we experienced after being recommended was the Lookout Cafe.  This is a unique place in Victoria Falls because it looks over a portion of the canyon breaking off from the falls.  You can sit and eat your meal and watch people ziplining or whitewater rafting below.  They offer food for all meals of the day and even have some brunch specials.  The plus is that it is within walking distance from the entrance to the Victoria Falls National Park.  Be aware that you may be approached by a vendor or two between the entrance and the Lookout Cafe if you decide to walk it.

The Victoria Falls National Park

When you research Victoria Falls and the activities to do, you may come across a “guided experience of Victoria Falls National Park”.  Coming from the U.S. and the National Park system there, we had a couple of assumptions about the experience.  The truth is that the park is pretty small.  We saw people with guides walking from lookout to lookout of the falls.  The majority of the park is just a long walkway where you can see Victoria Falls from a different angle or maybe a different portion of the falls.

So, our conclusion was that getting a guide to take you through Victoria Falls National Park was probably not worth it.  We saw it all and we were out of the park within an hour.  It is already a pretty expensive park to enter (about USD$30/person), so having to pay a guide as well didn’t seem that worth it.  But, if you want to learn more about the falls and the habitat around them, taking a guided tour may be worth it to you.  It just didn’t seem worth it to us, so we skipped it.

The other activity that is touted a lot when you talk to people who have traveled to Victoria Falls is the helicopter ride above the falls.  From what we heard, the trip over the falls lasts between 15 and 30 minutes all in depending on the company you go with.  The prices range from USD$190/person to over USD$300/person.  This is another experience we felt wasn’t the right price for us.  But just like the guided tour of the falls, this might be something you find worth it to you.

The Short

All in all, Victoria Falls is pretty expensive for the value.  From our experience, it only really warrants 2-3 days of activities but you could fit a lot into just 1-2 days and the price of the activities can balloon with the addition of transport, visa, and park fees.  It definitely is a cool thing to see and it is the largest waterfall in the world, but don’t expect to spend a week or more here and feel like you have new things to do.

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Read about where else we have been!

• New Zealand: A Little Bit of Everything
• Vietnam: North to South
• Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia: New Year’s 2023
• Thailand: Temples, Food, and So Much More
• Australia: The East Coast of Natural Wonders