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Capital city of Mwanza Region, Tanzania

Mwanza

Mwanza City, also known as Rock City to the residents, is a port city and capital of Mwanza Region on the southern shore of Lake Victoria in north-western Tanzania.

Mwanza
Mwanza · Wikimedia Commons (see file page)
The place

Mwanza City, also known as Rock City to the residents, is a port city and capital of Mwanza Region on the southern shore of Lake Victoria in north-western Tanzania. With an urban population of 1,104,521 and a population of 3,699,872 in the region, it is Tanzania's second largest city, after Dar es Salaam. It is also the second largest city in the Lake Victoria basin after Kampala, Uganda and ahead of Kisumu, Kenya at least in population size. Within the East African community, Mwanza city is the fifth largest city after Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kampala. It is slightly ahead of Kigali, Kisumu, and Bujumbura in the population of city proper limits. Mwanza city is also the capital city of Mwanza Region, and is administratively divided into two municipal districts within that Region - Ilemela and Nyamagana.

Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

What is there

Worth seeing in and around Mwanza

4 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.

  1. 01
    Saanane Island National Park

    Saanane Island National Park is a national park of Tanzania and freshwater island, with the IUCN category II located within Ilemela District of the Mwanza Region of Tanzania. It is named after the local farmer and fisherman Mzee Saanane Chavandi.

    3.3 km · Tanzanian National Park on an island in Lake Victoria · Wikipedia
  2. 02
    CCM Kirumba Stadium

    CCM Kirumba Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Mwanza, Tanzania.

    1.9 km · Football stadium in Mwanza, Tanzania · Wikipedia
  3. 03
    St. Augustine University of Tanzania

    St. Augustine University of Tanzania is a private university in Mwanza, Tanzania.

    9.7 km · private university in Tanzania · Wikipedia
  4. 04
    Catholic University of Health and Allied Sciences

    Catholic University of Health and Allied Sciences is a private university in Mwanza, Tanzania.

    1.5 km · Private university in Mwanza, Tanzania · Wikipedia

Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.

See

What Wikivoyage says to see

The shores of Lake Victoria are interesting to walk along and popular with locals. Also, climb to the top of Capri Point at the west end of Station Road for a nice view of the area.

  1. 01
    Bismarck Rock

    A fascinating natural rock formation jutting out of Lake Victoria.

From Wikivoyage: Mwanza, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.

Eat

Where to eat

Great Lake Victoria's fresh water tilapia fish is a must eat food. A good number of fish industries exist. They export Nile perch fish fillet (sangara fish) to Europe and South Africa. Street food. Oranges, bananas, pineapples, mangoes, avocados, cassava, roast maize, taro are all available on the street from vendors for TSh100-1000. Also available are mandazi, bagias, and other local fried breads in some areas.

  1. 01
    Sizzler

    Wide variety on the menu, local food, Chinese, and Indian dishes.

From Wikivoyage: Mwanza, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.

Go there

Getting to Mwanza

Airports
Mwanza (MWZ), 9 km · Entebbe (EBB), 289 km
Stations
Mwanza Airport, 8.8 km
  • Arusha → Mwanza
    431 km · quickest by air, 6h 1m · TSh169,580–261,310
    GuideToday
  • Zanzibar → Mwanza
    807 km · quickest by air, 6h 32m · TSh188,710–292,530
    GuideToday
  • Dar es Salaam → Mwanza
    853 km · quickest by air, 4h 45m · TSh195,220–302,680
    GuideToday
  • From anywhere
    The planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
    Plan a trip

Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.

Not yet researched

No local-transport research exists yet for Mwanza

Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Mwanza. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.

What Wikivoyage says about moving around
  • Get inFrom Bukoba: After several years out of service, the refurbished ferry between Mwanza and Bukoba has resumed operation under the name MS New Victoria in June 2020.
  • Get inThe timetable remains the same as in previous years: the ferry departs Bukoba every Monday, Wednesday, Friday evening around 21:00 and reaches Mwanza the next day in the morning.
  • Go nextBukoba Dodoma Tabora Kenya Uganda Rwanda There is a ferry across the Mwanza gulf that leaves from the city (the Kamanga ferry) and another about 32 km south of the city.

From Wikivoyage: Mwanza, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-03.

The nearest places where the work is done
  1. 01
    Ssese IslandsUG

    11 ways of moving, 14 sources

    243 km
  2. 02
    EntebbeUG

    9 ways of moving, 37 sources

    290 km
  3. 03
    Bwindi Impenetrable National ParkUG

    8 ways of moving, 27 sources

    390 km
  4. 04
    Diani BeachKE

    9 ways of moving, 13 sources

    768 km
  5. 05
    ZanzibarTZ

    8 ways of moving, 30 sources

    806 km

If you know how people move in Mwanza – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.

Around it

Next door to Mwanza

The place page for MwanzaAll the notesEvery note on Tanzania