What a Week in Kampala Actually Costs in 2026

Most travel budgets for Uganda are written by people selling safaris, so they tell you what a gorilla permit costs and very little about what a normal week in the capital comes to. This piece is the other thing: an itemised, honest budget for seven nights in Kampala, in dollars and shillings, at three different standards.

All figures are for 2026 and are what things actually cost rather than what they ought to. The working exchange rate used throughout is 1 USD ≈ 3,900 UGX; check the live rate before you travel, because it moves.

The headline numbers

For seven nights in Kampala, per person, all in:

The thing that surprises most first-time visitors is the shape of that budget rather than the size. Day-to-day costs in Uganda are low: a good local meal is a few dollars, a litre of fuel is less than in Europe, a day with a driver costs less than a London taxi to Heathrow. Accommodation at an international standard is not low. A good room in Kampala costs roughly what a good room costs in a mid-sized European city. So the hotel line dominates and everything else is comparatively cheap — the opposite of what people expect, and the reason the accommodation decision deserves more thought than the rest of the budget put together.

Line by line

Accommodation — the line that decides the budget

Kampala's accommodation splits roughly into:

• Guest houses and small hotels: USD 30 – 70 a night. Clean, basic, breakfast usually included, service variable.
• Serviced apartments: at HMK Living, $125 a night for a Studio Deluxe, $140 for a 1BHK Suite, $200 for a 2BHK Suite and $300 for the 3BHK Penthouse — bed and breakfast, with 10 to 20 per cent off from seven nights.
• International-standard hotels and resorts: from roughly USD 200 a night for an entry room on the lakeside strip, past USD 500 for suites and well into four figures at the top.

Three things change this line more than anything else:

Length. Almost everywhere discounts a week. Ask, always; weekly and monthly rates are frequently unpublished and freely given on request.

Whether breakfast is included. At USD 15 – 25 a head in a hotel restaurant, seven breakfasts for two is USD 210 – 350. Included breakfast is not a small perk.

Whether there is a kitchen. See the food section — this is worth more than the rate difference on a long stay.

Flights and visa

Not in the weekly figure above, but plan for them:

• Visa: USD 50 for a single-entry Uganda tourist visa, applied for online in advance. The East Africa Tourist Visa is USD 100 and covers Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda — worth it if you are crossing borders.
• Yellow fever certificate: required. The vaccination costs what it costs at home; the certificate is checked on arrival.
• Departure: no separate airport tax to pay in cash; it is in the ticket.

Airport transfers

• Private pre-arranged transfer, Entebbe to Kigo or Kampala: USD 30 – 50 each way, depending on vehicle and hour.
• Airport taxi: USD 25 – 40, negotiated at the kerb.
• Ride-hailing: cheaper when available; availability between midnight and five in the morning is unreliable, which is exactly when most long-haul flights leave.

Budget USD 60 – 100 for the pair. The temptation is to save twenty dollars by arranging it on arrival. On a flight landing at 23:40 this is a poor trade.

Getting around

• Car with driver, full day including fuel: USD 60 – 100.
• Car with driver, half day: USD 40 – 60.
• Ride-hailing (Uber, Bolt) across town: 15,000 – 40,000 UGX (USD 4 – 10).
• Boda-boda (motorcycle taxi): 3,000 – 10,000 UGX. Fast through traffic, materially more dangerous than a car. If you use one, agree the fare first and insist on a helmet.
• Self-drive hire: USD 50 – 90 a day plus fuel. Not recommended for a short stay — the traffic is dense, lane discipline is informal and night driving on unfamiliar roads adds risk for no real gain.

For a business week with meetings most days, a driver for three or four of them is USD 200 – 400 and is the line most worth not economising on.

Food and drink

Per person per day:

A supermarket shop for two for a week — breakfast extras, lunches, two or three dinners, water, coffee, wine — runs roughly 250,000 – 400,000 UGX (USD 65 – 100). Set that against seven restaurant dinners for two at USD 50 – 80 a time and the kitchen has paid for a good deal more than itself.

Other costs worth knowing: a beer is 5,000 – 12,000 UGX depending where; a coffee 8,000 – 15,000; bottled water 2,000 – 3,000 from a shop and considerably more from a minibar. Treat tap water as suitable for washing and brushing rather than drinking, and use bottled or filtered for drinking and for ice.

Connectivity

• Local SIM with data: a SIM is 2,000 – 5,000 UGX, and a useful monthly data bundle 30,000 – 60,000 UGX (USD 8 – 15). Buy it in a town shop rather than at an airport kiosk, and bring your passport — registration is required.
• Roaming: varies wildly. For a week, a local SIM is almost always cheaper.
• Wi-Fi: included at any property worth staying in. Ask whether it is fibre and whether it is mesh if you will be working; "we have Wi-Fi" and "you can hold a video call from the bedroom" are different claims.

Laundry

The quiet budget killer on a long stay. Hotels charge per item — a shirt is often 8,000 – 15,000 UGX, so a week's washing for one person can reach USD 40 – 60. Where laundry is a service included or charged flat, that line largely disappears. Ask the question before the trip, not after the first bag.

Tips, and what is normal

• Restaurants: 5 – 10 per cent where service is not already added.
• Drivers: 10,000 – 20,000 UGX for a day; more for an unsociable-hour airport run.
• Housekeeping: 5,000 – 10,000 UGX a day, left at the end.
• Excursion guides: more, and agree the expectation with the operator in advance.

Budget USD 30 – 60 across a week. It is appreciated, not obligatory, and it should be cash in shillings.

Everything else

• Golf green fees at the championship course in Kigo: paid at the course, plus caddie and club hire. Confirm current rates with them.
• Spa treatments: USD 30 – 70 at a good spa.
• Craft market shopping: whatever you let it be. Bargaining is expected; start at about half.
• Travel insurance with medical evacuation: not optional, in our view, for any trip to the region.

Three worked weeks

The careful week — USD 870

Seven nights in a good guest house at USD 55, local restaurants, ride-hailing and the occasional boda, a local SIM, one excursion.

The comfortable week — USD 1,540 for one, or USD 1,900 for two

Seven nights in a 1BHK Suite at $140 with the seven-night discount applied, breakfast included, a driver on four days, dinner out four nights and cooked in three.

Note what the apartment does to the two-person column: the accommodation line does not double, and three of the dinners are a supermarket shop rather than a restaurant bill.

The resort week — USD 3,200+

Seven nights at USD 280, every meal in hotel restaurants, driver on call, spa, laundry by the item.

The four costs that catch people out

The last-minute transfer. Booked from the arrivals hall at midnight, at a premium, with a driver nobody vouches for. Arrange it in advance; it costs less and it is the safer version.

Airport data. A kiosk bundle at the terminal can be several times the price of the same bundle from a shop in town. Buy a starter bundle if you must, then replace it properly.

Per-item laundry. Fine for two nights, expensive over two weeks. Ask how it is charged before you need it.

Eating every meal out because there is nowhere to make one. This is the one that quietly adds USD 300 – 500 to a week for two, and it is a function of where you booked rather than how you behave.

The one decision that moves the number

Nearly everything else on this page is within a few tens of dollars either way. The accommodation line is within a thousand.

A week at $140 a night with breakfast, a kitchen, laundry as a service and a seven-night discount sits in a different budget from a week at USD 280 with every meal bought — and on the same road, with the same lake and the same airport run. Whether that trade is right depends on whether you will use a pool and a spa, which only you can answer.

Send us your dates and we will quote the week, with the discount already in it, so you can put a real figure in the budget rather than a guess.