Nampula

Nampula is the capital of Nampula Province in Northern Mozambique, surrounded by plains and rocky outcrops. The city is connected by plane (LAM) to Maputo; it hosts the regional market and is well supplied with shops, banks, hotels and restaurants.

Get in

By plane
  • 🌍 Nampula Airport (APL  IATA) (located 4 kilometers away from town, which could be managed on foot). With several destinations in Mozambique and abroad. It's a small airport . The way from the airport passes the bus and the train stations. International connections exist to Nairobi (Kenya) and Dar-es-Salam (Tanzania). Domestic connections exist to Maputo, Beira, Pemba & Lichinga, all through LAM (Mozambique's National Airline). It is difficult to find LAM flight seats on popular e-ticketing websites, but they can be booked on LAM's website. 

By train

A daily (except Monday) train departs Cuamba (not far from the Malawi border) for Nampula. The train departs at 05:00 and takes 10-12 hours to reach Nampula.

By bus

Minibuses (chapas) from Ilha de Mocambique (Mozambique Island) depart between 03:00 and 05:00 (3-4 hours). Later, you can take a chapa/truck to Monapo, from where regular chapas connect to Nampula. The bus station is located some 5 minutes from the train station, on the way to the airport.

There are big buses going from Nampula to Beira.

Get around

By car

All of the following can be located just outside the airport.

See
  • 🌍 Our Lady of Fatima Cathedral (Catedral Metropolitana de Nossa Senhora de Fátima). Inaugurated in 1956. (updated May 2021)
  • 🌍 Museu Nacional de Etnologia. Tu-Sa 2PM-4:30PM, Su 10AM-4:30PM. Nice collection of artefacts including masks and musical instruments. At the back of the museum is a Makonde cooperative workshop where you can see Makonde wood carvers. 

Buy
  • Banco Austral. 
  • BCI-Fomento. 
  • Millennium. 
  • Standard Bank. 
  • Barclays Bank. has a master card ATM. (updated Oct 2015)

Eat

The Copacabana in front of the Tropical Hotel is recommended. Good seafood. Cold beer and wines. Picturesque settings. You'll find your NGO guys/ladies from all over the world there!

The Restaurant of Tropical Hotel is also good, but less choices than the Copacabana.

Avoid the Girassol hotel restaurant at all costs! The food there is warmed up and it's a festival of soggy fries in glassy sauces. Despite the referred unforeseen, Girassol hotel restaurant still is one of the best restaurants in town, with a good breakfast, Sunday lunch and dessert buffet. Definitely shouldn't avoid it!

The Sporting is a good place to eat if it's not raining: nice tables set outside and separated by neat little hedges. Great place to watch sport events on a telly.

Sleep

Budget
  • Residencial Karuthakka, Rue 3 Fevereiro. A new hostel, budget, good value for money. 
  • Residencia Monte Carlo, Rua cidade de Mocambique. One of the cheapest places in Nampula, but don't expect anything else but the basic necessities. 
  • Pensao Parque, Ave Paulo Samuel Kankhombe (close to the Residencia Monte Carlo), similar rooms.
  • Casa de Hospedes Mira Flor, Av. de Trabalho. A very basic two- or three-room operation located almost opposite the bus station and 5 minutes walking from the train station, on the road to the airport. An ensuite room for two costs 800 MTS per room, while one with a shared bathroom costs 650 MTS (prices as of mid 2011). Take the cheaper one, since there is no water at all and the bathroom's condition makes you want to vomit. Mosquito nets are provided. The location is perfect for early morning bus or train departures. MT650-800. 

Splurge
  • 🌍 Milenio, Av 25 September, ☏ +258 26 218877. The Milenio is the latest addition to Nampula. A very modern stylish building. 
  • 🌍 Girassol, Commercial Center, Av Eduardo. Mondlane, ☏ +258 26 216000. This is a relatively new hotel on the fourth floor of a commercial center. Comfortable rooms with A/C. Free internet access. Excellent breakfast included. In the same building you can find café Atlantico for good coffee and snacks 
  • 🌍 Tropical, Rua Macombra (Opposite Restaurant Copacabana), ☏ +258 26 212232. Getting a bit run down 
  • 🌍 Lurio, Av. Independència, ☏ +258 26 212898. Clean and modern town centre hotel. No bar, but has good restaurant that will send out for beer/wine. Internet available free on first floor MT2100. 

Connect

English (and some Portuguese) language radio transmissions are available from BBC World Service on 88.3MHz.

Go next

Nampula is the staging post for journeys further north (towards the Tanzania border) or west (towards Malawi). The only passenger railway service in the Country connects the town with Cuamba near the Malawi border.

The train to Cuamba departs Nampula daily (except Mondays) at 05:00. The journey takes 10-12 hours. Tickets must be bought the day before from a small window at the train station, between 14:00 and 17:00. The service is quick, friendly and fares are posted on the window. Apparently, you can also buy tickets on the day of departure from the same window (but this is not confirmed).

There is a 3rd class (all days) and a 2nd class (on alternate days - from Nampula on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday). There is no 1st class anymore. The 3rd class cars are simple wooden (hard) benches of 2-3 people providing for a 'real' African experience. It is not bad though, at least if you have a seat. A ticket of neither class guarantees you any seat.

The boarding of the train starts at 04:00, but in order to have even a slightest chance of getting a seat, be at the gates well before 03:00. Even then you will notice two long queues - one male and one female. The guards open the gates at 04:00 and only allow passengers with tickets. Rush to the closest car to claim a seat.

Males and females usually board separate cars, but it's more a convention than a law. Later in the journey the become mixed. If you're a solo female or a female party, queue with other women and travel in a female car. The opposite should apply to males and male parties. If your party is mixed, have females queue with females (the female queue could be shorter and move faster), then have them claim seats for all of you in a male car. Traveling males do not carry as much produce as females, and certainly no screaming babies. One thing to avoid is the first car, since the fumes from the engine are literally breathtaking.

There is no dining car, but the train company employees roam around and sell soft drinks and biscuits. Prices are low. The train also stops every several minutes, where people at stations sell all variety of food: fruit, snacks, chicken, drinks, etc. It's still wise to carry some snacks and water, though.

The whole train has no lighting (so carry a flashlight for winter departures), toilets are vomit-inciting holes in the deck, and external doors tend to be missing as well. Other than that it's a safe way of traveling.

Once in Cuamba, minibuses depart from the train station to Mandimba (on the Malawi border), Lichinga and others.


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