10 Best Hotels in Gaborone, Botswana (2026) — Safari Gateway Picks

Avani Gaborone Resort & Casino is the 5-star flagship of Minor Hotels (the same group as Anantara) in Botswana's capital, sitting right in the CBD next to the Government Enclave and the national conference centre. The drive from Sir Seretse Khama airport (GBE) runs about 20 minutes. Rather than a single tower, the hotel spreads across a wide resort campus — 196 rooms and 8 suites wrapped in lawns and big shade trees, with a large outdoor pool, the 24-hour Gaborone Sun Casino, several restaurants, a spa, a gym and a tennis court. Rates run roughly $91 to $186 a night, and real guest reviews land it at 8.4/10. It suits business travelers in for meetings in the capital, families who want room for kids to run, and anyone using Gaborone as a base before heading out to the wildlife parks nearby.

Hilton Garden Inn Gaborone is the Hilton-brand outpost in Gaborone's New CBD — the city's newest business district, where glass office towers, several countries' embassies, the High Court and the Three Dikgosi Monument all sit in one spot. The hotel runs about 153 rooms in warm grey-and-brown Garden Inn tones, each with a Keurig coffee maker, a full-size work desk, free Wi-Fi, a 24-hour gym and an outdoor pool. Reviewers agree on two things: the generous breakfast buffet, and Together & Co., the restaurant known for Botswana beef steaks raised to export grade. Rates start around $100 a night, embassies and corporate offices are minutes away on foot, and the airport is a 15-minute drive. With an overall 8.6/10, it suits business travelers and anyone who wants a familiar international standard in Botswana's capital.

Protea Hotel by Marriott Gaborone Masa Square is a 4-star Marriott-family hotel embedded inside the Masa Square mixed-use complex in the heart of Gaborone's CBD. It opened in 2013 and runs 152 rooms plus 30 long-stay apartments. What sticks with guests is the rooftop pool and the high-up Gin Bar, which looks out over the Gaborone skyline with nothing in the way. The same building holds a cinema, several restaurants and shops, so you can fill an evening without ever leaving the complex. The CBD location puts you next to offices, banks and embassies, and Sir Seretse Khama Airport (GBE) sits about 14 km away. Rooms start around $83 a night, and the hotel lands an 8.3/10 overall — a solid pick for business travelers, couples who want an easy stay downtown, and families who value the Marriott standard.

Phakalane Golf Estate Hotel Resort is a 4-star resort tucked inside Phakalane Estate, an upscale area roughly 25 km north of Gaborone. What sets it apart from the in-town hotels is the 18-hole championship golf course — widely rated the best in Botswana, designed by Peter Matkovich to USGA standard and laid out across a private estate of several hundred hectares of homes, a clubhouse and green space. Around 78 rooms and suites face the fairway or the pool deck, decorated in contemporary South African resort style and noticeably bigger than the in-town norm. There's a large garden pool with sun loungers, the seafood-focused Cape Town Fish Market restaurant, and a calm, almost safari-lodge mood. The trade-off is the distance: without a car you'll lean on taxis every time you want to go into town. Overall 8.2/10 — best for golfers, couples dodging the bustle, and travelers in for a North Gate meeting or an airport layover.

Peermont Mondior Gaborone is a premium aparthotel run by Peermont, the South African group behind the Metcourt and Walmont brands. It sits in the middle of Gaborone's New CBD — the newer business quarter that packs office towers, embassies, CBD Mall and Square Mall all into walking distance. What sets it apart from a regular hotel is the rooms: each is apartment-style with its own small kitchen, including a fridge, microwave and stove, so business travelers parked here for weeks feel more at home than they would in a standard room. Guest scores line up across platforms at 8.7/10 on both Agoda and Booking, with location rated a strong 9.2 and cleanliness scoring high. Rates start around $77 a night and include the free breakfast buffet. The airport, Sir Seretse Khama (GBE), is roughly 15 minutes away by car. It suits long-stay business travelers and anyone who likes having a kitchen where they sleep.

Cresta Lodge Gaborone is the flagship of Cresta Hotels, a local Botswana brand most travelers here know by name. It sits on Samora Machel Drive in Gaborone West, just 2 km from the central business district and about 13 km from Sir Seretse Khama Airport (GBE) — a 15-20 minute drive. What sets it apart is the half-resort feel in the middle of a capital city: wide green gardens, an outdoor pool, and red-brick South-African-style low-rise buildings that make you briefly forget you're downtown. There are 154 modern rooms, the Cresta Front Page restaurant serving breakfast buffet plus African-international plates, and the Coachman bar that business guests favor in the evening. Mokolodi Game Reserve, only 10 km away, means you can drive out to see giraffe and elephant in a single morning. Reviewers rank it #1 on Tripadvisor in Gaborone. From $54 a night, it scores 8.0/10 — a solid pick for business travelers, couples starting a safari trip, and first-timers in Southern Africa.

Peermont Walmont at the Grand Palm is a 5-star, 188-room hotel sitting at the heart of the Grand Palm resort complex on the west side of Gaborone — a Las Vegas-style compound that packs the Mondior Casino, a theatre, a conference centre, tennis and volleyball courts, a gym and a spread of restaurants behind one fence. Open your door and you walk straight to the big garden pool, or hop the in-house shuttle bus over to sister properties Grand Palm and Metcourt. Rooms start around $97 a night and run to roughly $177. The location, Gaborone West, is about 4 km from the centre, right off the A1 highway, and a 25-minute drive from Sir Seretse Khama Airport (GBE). Guests rate it 8.2 on Agoda, 8.1 on Booking, praising the all-in-one setup, the garden grounds and a generous breakfast. It suits families who want kids in the pool all day, business groups and anyone happy to never leave the gate.

Cresta President Hotel is a 4-star business-meets-traveller spot in Botswana's Cresta Hotels chain, sitting on Queens Road next to Main Mall — the pedestrian square that has been the trading heart of Gaborone since the capital was newly founded in the 1960s. The 5-floor building holds roughly 110 rooms in warm earth tones, many with a small balcony looking down over the pool courtyard. Reviewers keep circling back to the location: step outside and you hit shops, local restaurants, and a few-minute walk to the Three Dikgosi Monument, honoring the three chiefs who founded the country. The airport, Sir Seretse Khama International (GBE), is about a 20-minute drive. Rooms start around $63 a night, and you get an outdoor pool with a pool bar, a gym, a restaurant, and free parking on site. It scores 8.1/10 — a solid fit for business travelers, budget-minded couples, or anyone who wants to wake up in the middle of town.

Travelodge Gaborone is a 115-room, 3-star midscale hotel on Belabela Road in the Block 3 district, and plenty of people pick it because it is the best-value option among the Botswana capital's midscale hotels — rates open around $69 a night. It sits just 4 km from the CBD and about 15 km from Sir Seretse Khama International Airport, with a free shuttle. The detail reviews keep mentioning is the Pool Bar & Grill, which turns out real wood-fired-oven pizza, plus an outdoor pool to cool off in after meetings and a conference centre that seats up to 600 people. That mix makes it a first pick for business travellers and event crowds. Staff are friendly and speak good English, the bar runs late, and breakfast is a full buffet. A combined 8.3 on Agoda and 8.2 on Booking points to solid satisfaction in the midscale tier.

Grand Aria Hotel & Conference Centre is a contemporary 4-star property with around 100 rooms, planted in the middle of Gaborone's New Central Business District in Botswana. The location is the real draw for working travelers — it's a few minutes' walk to the SADC (Southern African Development Community) headquarters and the Gaborone International Conference Centre (GICC), while Sir Seretse Khama Airport (GBE) sits about 15 km away, an easy 20–25 minute drive. The headline feature is the conference centre and ballroom inside the same building, sized for everything from a small workshop to a several-hundred-guest gala, plus a restaurant and bar that non-guests can use too. Rooms start around $66 a night and climb to roughly $120 at peak — good value next to the international-brand hotels in the same district. Real reviews give it 8.0 on Agoda and 7.9 on Booking, praising friendly staff, clean rooms, and the everything-under-one-roof convenience. Our overall score: 8.0/10.