Accommodation in Francistown

Francistown is Botswana’s second city and the junction that decides the rest of a northern trip. The A1 continues north from here to Ramokgwebana and the Zimbabwe border; the A3 turns west for Nata, and from Nata onward for either Kasane and Chobe or Maun and the Okavango. Anyone driving between the south of the country and the north passes through.

It is a working commercial and mining city rather than a tourist town, and the accommodation reflects that. Hotels sit in and around the centre; the suburbs carry a long list of licensed guesthouses and bed and breakfasts serving business travel, contract work and one-night highway stops.

For a traveller the useful variable is which side of the city a place sits on, because that determines how quickly you rejoin the road you actually want in the morning. Every property listed here holds a current national tourism licence, and each page states only what the register publishes.

Francistown is also the fork. The A1 carries on north to the Zimbabwean border about 90 km away, while the A3 heads north-west for Nata and, beyond it, either Maun or Kasane. It is the last city with a full range of services before the northern parks, so it is the sensible place for the main shop, a tyre check and a full tank.

Read our full Francistown travel guide for what there is to do, when to go and how the town fits a wider route.