Best Things to Do in Kampala

Kampala's highlights span centuries-old Buganda royal architecture, hilltop cathedrals and mosques with sweeping views, lakeside fish markets on the Equator's largest lake, and some of the liveliest cultural performances in East Africa.

1. Climb the minaret of the Uganda National Mosque (Gaddafi Mosque) on Old Kampala Hill. Ascend the 304 spiral steps of the 50-metre tower for the single finest 360-degree view across all of Kampala's historic hills down to Lake Victoria.
2. Visit the UNESCO-listed Kasubi Royal Tombs. Step inside the sacred burial grounds of four Kabakas (Kings of Buganda), centred on the vast thatched dome of Muzibu Azaala Mpanga supported by bark-cloth pillars and woven reed rings representing the kingdom's clans.
3. Walk the Royal Mile from Bulange (Buganda Parliament) to Mengo Palace. Follow Kabaka Anjagala Road lined with clan totems and the eternal ceremonial flame down to the hilltop Lubiri palace compound, then see nearby Kabaka's Lake, the largest hand-dug lake in Africa.
4. Taste a freshly griddled Kampala rolex and browse Nakasero Market. Watch a street vendor roll a hot chapati around a cabbage-and-tomato omelette, then wander through the stacked pineapples, matooke bunches and spices of historic Nakasero Market.
5. Spend an evening at the Ndere Cultural Centre in Ntinda. Watch the Ndere Troupe perform high-energy traditional dances, polyphonic songs and percussion from across Uganda's dozens of ethnic groups in a leafy open-air amphitheatre while dining on a Ugandan buffet.
6. Pair Namirembe Cathedral and Rubaga Cathedral on twin western hills. Compare the red-brick Anglican St Paul's Cathedral on Namirembe Hill with the twin-towered Roman Catholic St Mary's Cathedral on neighbouring Rubaga Hill.
7. Explore the Uganda Museum and the Bahá'í Temple on Kikaya Hill. Play traditional xylophones at East Africa's oldest museum in Kitante, then drive north to Kikaya Hill to sit in the tranquil gardens around the only Bahá'í Mother Temple on the African continent.
8. Eat whole grilled Nile tilapia on Lake Victoria at Ggaba or Munyonyo. Head down to the lakeshore to watch painted wooden fishing canoes land their catch, or take a late-afternoon boat cruise across Murchison Bay from Munyonyo.
9. Shop for bark cloth, baskets and beadwork on Buganda Road Craft Market. Meet artisans selling UNESCO-recognised Baganda bark cloth (lubugo) beaten from mutuba fig trees, alongside woven Ankole raffia baskets.
10. Take a canoe trip into Mabamba Bay Wetland to spot the shoebill stork. Combine a morning boat ride across Lake Victoria from Entebbe or Nakiwogo into the papyrus channels where prehistoric-looking shoebills hunt lungfish.