Coach, bus and shuttle transfers in Zimbabwe

Your transport options between cities/parks in Zimbabwe are to go via air (article here) or by road. Travelling by road is more affordable than by air, and it often means you have more choice in where you go. Many people hire a car/4×4 and drive themselves around the country (article here). Although the roads in Zimbabwe are generally better than in many African countries, self-driving can be a daunting prospect if you haven’t done it before. There are patches of road that are heavily potholed.

There are reliable shuttle transfers and bus companies in Zimbabwe that can transport you to where you need to go. I’ll share them with you below. Also consider booking your holiday with a Zimbabwe travel specialist who can book your transport for you.

In this post, I’m not going to focus on the informal buses and commuter vehicles that traverse the region: although they are cheap, they don’t run to reliable schedules, and their extreme driving speeds can be unsafe. If you do want to be spontaneous, you can find mass transport services by going to a city’s local bus terminus and asking around (also see this external blog post which discusses public transport in Zimbabwe).

Below, I’ll discuss only the transport companies that have publicly-available information online, reliable schedules, and good safety records.

If you want information on taxis within a city or place, also look at the transport sections of the travel guides for those individual places, such as Victoria Falls, Harare and Bulawayo.

Shuttle transfers in Zimbabwe

Consider hiring a shuttle transfer to get around within a city, as well as between cities in Zimbabwe, according to your own needs. Slightly more pricey than buses, but shuttles go to a wider variety of locations and are more flexible to your itinerary.

Here’s a list of reputable shuttle companies in no particular order (with hyperlinks to their websites):

Africa Travel Vic Falls | Shumba Shuttle | Hilton Transfers |  Wild Horizons (Victoria Falls, Hwange and surrounds only) | Black Rhino Safaris (Bulawayo/Matobo area)

Larger groups can also contact: Eagle Liner Coaches | Extracity | Shumba Shuttle

Intercity scheduled bus/coach services in Zimbabwe

The coach companies below have toilet facilities on board, and they allow passengers to get off the bus for a rest stop and to buy refreshments roughly every 3 hours. There are entertainment facilities on some coaches, but I would suggest that you take a book or some form of personal entertainment with you. There’s usually no wi-fi on the coaches, but there are charging points near some of the seats. It’s always a good idea to take a bottle of dinking water with you on any journey.

City Link Coaches

One of the more established and reliable coach/bus companies in Zimbabwe.

• Connects Harare, Bulawayo, Victoria Falls, Kadoma, KweKwe, Gweru, and Chinhoyi
• Link: www.citylinkcoaches.co.zw

Eagle Liner Zimbabwe

• Connects Harare, Bulawayo, Kadoma, Kwe Kwe and Gweru
• Link here

Extracity Buses

• Connects Harare, Gweru, Bulawayo, Hwange and Victoria Falls
• Link here

International coach services in Zimbabwe

Transport between Zimbabwe and South Africa:

Intercape South Africa

• Bulawayo to Johannesburg: Departs daily.
• Intercape also serves routes to Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and additional destinations in South Africa. No refreshments are served on Intercape coaches.
• Book online here

Cross Border Xpress Zimbabwe

• Cape Town, Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare  and more
• See Facebook page here

Transport from Zambia:

Mazhandu bus company and Shalom bus company travel from Lusaka to Livingstone, and then from there you can go across the border to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe

A note on international travel: If you are travelling on a coach that crosses the border to a new country, for example from Harare to Johannesburg, remember to keep your passport readily available, as well as a pen to fill out any visa forms. The Zimbabwe-South Africa border post gets very busy so delays are likely. I would recommend a coach for journeys within Zimbabwe but would suggest a flight for journeys between Zimbabwe and South Africa, unless you’re self-driving or going via Botswana. See this post for details on flying to and from Zimbabwe.

If any of the information on the website has helped you, please consider buying me a coffee on PayPal to say thank you.

Also see my posts on related topics:

• General transport information on Zimbabwe
• Self-driving in Zimbabwe
• Internal flights in Zimbabwe

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Are you planning a Zimbabwe holiday? I can recommend Go2Africa, Africa’s Leading Safari Company (and one of our affiliates). Go2Africa has been tailor-making safari holidays for thousands of clients from across the globe since 1998. You can research African destinations, accommodation, and more. Even better, you can directly contact their safari specialists who can help you get the African experience that’s perfect for you. 

Check out the Go2Africa website, or see their Zimbabwe tours here.

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