Lilongwe – Harare buses

Buses to Harare depart once in the morning at Grand business park in Lilongwe. Arrival point in Harare is at Roadport bus terminal. Its important to ensure that you book your tickets in advance as buses are not available daily for this route.

• Distance: 737 kilometres.
• Cost: USD50.
• Travel time: 12 hours.
• Bus operators: Rimbi tours and 3 stars coaches.

Booking and Ticket sales: At the moment you can only get your tickets through office walk ins. Both operators don’t have websites that enable online booking.

Immigration control: from Lilongwe the bus head south of the M1 and exit through Dedza one stop border post. Both Malawi and Mozambique immigration use the same building. Please ensure before leaving the building your passport has two stamps one for Malawi and one for Mozambique.

You will exit Mozambique through Cuchamano border post. Just a few metres away you enter Zimbabwe through Nyamapanda border post. Ensure you sign the white papper immigration form, without it Zimbabwe immigration won’t stamp your passport.

Customs and duty: when going to Zimbabwe the bus is completely offloaded all items in the baggage compartment are searched by the Zimra officials.

When coming to Malawi the bus is completely offloaded at Dedza border post. All items are subject to be searched by MRA officials.

Please note that duty free for personal belongings for both Malawi and Zimbabwe is USD300. For commercial goods under the simplified trade agreements is USD2000 on the approved items.

Food and freshments: Both bus operators don’t serve any complementary food or refreshments on board. Ensure you pack enough snacks for the journey. Don’t forget water to keep yourself well hydrated, you may experience high temperatures in Mozambique especially in summer. Prepare warm food from home or buy before boarding the bus. Sometimes you might not find the time to buy warm food at the border restaurants and takeaways.

Bus schedule: There are only bus operators available. 3 stars coaches from Harare to Lilongwe is available on Monday and Thursday, from Lilongwe to Harare available on Wednesday and Saturday. Rimbi tours from Lilongwe to Harare is available on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. From Harare to Lilongwe is available on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday..

Departure times: Both operators depart at the same time. In Lilongwe departure is 06:00 am, in Harare departure is 07:00am.

What You Need To Know

• Valid passport with minimum validity of three months and blank pages.
• Valid yellow fever card if you have a stamp from any East African country, including a Zambia.
• Sufficient funds for the journey. Keep some Malawi Kwacha, South African rands and United States dollars. Have some small notes to avoid getting delayed because of change issues.