Mutare
Situation
Mutare (former name Umtali) is named the most beautiful town in Zimbabwe. The rather small city ceneter with large avenues and flowering trees leave you unaware of the more than 200'000 habitants. Mutare, the third largeset town in Zimbabwe, is situated in the East of the country, only a few km form the border to Mozambique.
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Highlights
- Beautiful situation (best view from Christmas Pass)
- Entrance gate of the Vumba Mountains
- Good shopping facilities
Activities
There are only few touristic activities in Mutare. Except of the interesting Museum of Mutare, people prefer to resort to the Vumba Mountains for all kind of activities.
Accomodation
There are some hotels of good international standard in town, and also some privately owned rather basic Lodges. But many visitors prefer to stay in a lodge in the Vumba Mountains (a 20 to 30 minutes drive from Mutare).
Food
The culinary situation in Mutare is the same as in most bigger towns of Zimbabwe: there are Fastfood Restaurants of Western style for snacks, while hotels serve international food of quite good quality in their restaurants. If you prefer authentic African dishes, you best go for an African lunch or a snack to "The Eastern Dinner" (low-budget, Corner Second-Street/B-Avenue). And for a tasty African Dinner you can book at Kwayedza-Lodge in the Vumba-Mountains (25 min from Mutare).
Car
Mutare is a 3 1/2 hours drive from Harare, on excellent tar roads. There is an airstrip at Mutare, but currently no regular passenger flights are scheduled.
Train / Bus
Railway connections from Harare to Mutare are offered several times a week by night trains with sleepers. Unfortunately the level of service and the reliability are on a rather low level. There are some long-distance buses from and to Harare and Bulawayo. The prices for the train and the buses are low.