Accommodation in Angola

Most travellers arriving in Luanda do so either for business, journalistic or diplomatic reasons, and as a consequence Luanda has a small selection of world class hotels with a much wider choice of local hotels that might not be to everybody’s taste. These are mostly clustered in the city centre, around the Banco Popular high-rise, and although they are more often than not full, they are all to be found within a limited area, so shuttling between them is not particularly difficult.

There is in fact a chronic shortage of hotel rooms in Luanda across the board, this due to the rapid economic expansion experienced in the aftermath of the war, and even the lowliest establishments are booked several months in advance. This can be quite a problem, so do make a point of securing your bookings well in advance of your trip.

Outside the capital accommodation is very thin on the ground. Expatriate and diplomatic staff usually utilise in-house arrangements, so the for the traveller it is an extremely uncertain business. However in all the main towns with substantial population some kind of hotel options can be found, but standards are haphazard, and usually as a rule of thumb look for where the local expatriate community congregate. There at least the food and drink will be of a palatable standard.