Getting around
Getting Around Malawi: One Long Road Beside the Lake
Malawi is long and narrow, stretched down the western shore of its lake, and it is travelled by road. Most visitors land at Lilongwe, the capital, and move between the lake, the wildlife parks and the mountains in a car with a driver, on drives of a few hours at a time. The classic trip through the south links the lake, the parks of the Shire valley and the highlands around Blantyre by road from the capital in about ten days, while the far north is a journey of its own.
Updated 2026-10-05
Arriving by air or overland
Kamuzu International Airport at Lilongwe is the main gateway, used by most international flights. Chileka International Airport, north of Blantyre, is the smaller of the two and the nearer one for a trip that begins in the south, at Zomba, Mulanje or the wildlife parks of the Shire valley. Overland, the main crossings are at Mchinji, west of Lilongwe on the road from Zambia, and at Songwe in the far north beyond Karonga, on the road from Tanzania; Mozambique, which borders Malawi to the east and south, has several crossings of its own.
The main road and the lakeshore road
The M1 is the backbone of the country: it runs from the Tanzanian border by Karonga through Mzuzu and Lilongwe to Blantyre, and most journeys use it for at least part of the way. A second road follows the lake for much of its length, from the south of the lake up through Salima and Nkhotakota to Nkhata Bay, and climbs from there to Mzuzu. Mzuzu, the main town of the north, is where the two roads meet and the starting point for the Nyika plateau and Livingstonia.
A car with a driver, or a hire car
Most visitors travel with a driver, hired together with the car through a lodge, a hotel or a tour company, often for the whole trip. The driver knows which roads are passable after rain and how long a stretch really takes, and the same car can meet a flight and wait at a lodge while its passengers are out on the lake or on a game drive.
Hire cars are available in Lilongwe and Blantyre for those who drive themselves. Traffic drives on the left, the licence a visitor may drive on is settled with the hire company when booking, and journeys between towns are made by daylight.
Fuel and cash on the road
Fuel shortages are frequent, with long queues at the filling stations, so a tank is filled wherever fuel is to be had rather than left for the next town; a driver hired with the car plans for it. Fuel, coach tickets and minibus fares are paid in Malawian kwacha, mostly in cash.
Coaches, minibuses and pick-ups
Coaches run between the main towns on the M1 — Lilongwe, Blantyre and Mzuzu among them. Minibuses and pick-up trucks go almost everywhere else, setting off from each town's bus station once they are full; they are often in poor condition and overloaded. For the last stretch from the main road to a lodge, at Cape Maclear or a park gate, the lodge can often arrange a pick-up from the nearest town.
Boats on the lake
At Cape Maclear, boats from the beach at Chembe village take snorkellers out to the islands of Lake Malawi National Park, arranged through a lodge or with a boatman on the beach; the fare is agreed before setting off, and the nearest island is within reach by kayak.
The Ilala, the lake's old passenger and cargo steamer, works out of Monkey Bay in the south and calls at lakeshore ports, Nkhata Bay among them, and at the islands of Likoma and Chizumulu on its way north. Its sailings are confirmed locally before a plan is built on it.