Kampala – spread across seven hills and popularly known as the “Rome of Uganda” – rewards a guided city tour with layers of history, faith, royalty, and everyday hustle. After breakfast we pick you up from your hotel in Kampala or Entebbe and explore the following highlights.

The Uganda Museum

Founded in 1908, the Uganda Museum displays the country’s cultural heritage through ethnological and natural-historical exhibitions – traditional culture, archaeology, history, science – and regularly presents performances of traditional music. A vivid reminder of Uganda’s colourful past.

Kasubi Tombs

The burial place of the fallen kings of the Buganda Kingdom embraces almost 30 hectares of hillside. At its core stands the former palace of the Kabakas, built in 1882 and converted into the royal burial ground in 1884; four royal tombs lie within the circular, domed Muzibu Azaala Mpanga – a major architectural achievement in wood, thatch, reed, wattle, and daub whose deepest significance lies in its values of belief, spirituality, continuity, and identity.

Nakasero and Owino Markets

Nakasero Market traces its history to 1895 and brims with fresh fruits and vegetables indigenous to Uganda, with a lower market of spices, legumes, grains, and hand-made household items across the street. Owino Market is one of the largest in the region – endless booths in chaotic alleys selling everything from homemade irons to second-hand clothes and an amazing array of African foods, where everything starts cheap and gets cheaper with bargaining. For souvenirs, try the craft markets on Buganda Road or behind the National Theatre.

Rubaga and Namirembe Cathedrals

Rubaga Hill – site of Kabaka Muteesa I’s main palace until lightning struck it – became home to Uganda’s first Catholic missionaries in 1879 and today seats the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kampala, with St. Mary’s Cathedral built between 1914 and 1925. Neighbouring Namirembe Hill hosts St. Paul’s Cathedral (1915–1919), the mother church of the Anglican Church of Uganda, adjacent to Mengo Hill, seat of the Buganda Government.

Kabaka’s Lake

The largest man-made lake of its kind here, dug on the orders of Kabaka Mwanga as both an escape route and a place for water sport beside his kingdom headquarters at Mengo.

The tour runs year-round and fits perfectly at the start or end of any safari package. Add a Kampala city tour to your itinerary.