7 Best Hotels in Botswana

This convivial tented camp offers a budget option for the Okavango Delta with comfortable no-frills en suite tents either in the campsite or (for a small premium) on raised wooden stilts overlooking the river. There's also a house that sleeps up to 10, as well as camping. All accommodation, except camping, includes breakfast. There's a decent bar, situated beside a fantastic pool, and a reliable restaurant with a wooden deck for sunset viewing. The camp offers a wide range of activities and excursions from mokoro trips to tailor-made mobile safaris. "Audi" means fish eagle in Setswana, and you can expect to see (and hear) many of these magnificent birds during your stay. 

Situated on the banks of the Thamalakane River, Cresta Maun is one of Maun's largest and most modern hotels. An impressive atrium, which successfully melds local culture with an unusual flair for design, opens out onto a covered terrace; it's a great spot for sundowners. The terrace is flanked by an alfresco bar on one side and by an enclosed restaurant that serves a variety of international food on the other. The compact rooms, tastefully decorated in neutral tones, are ultramodern, with glass-walled showers in the bedroom. Facilities are as you would expect from this caliber of chain hotel and include air-conditioning, satellite TV, a gym, and free Wi-Fi.

Built around an 800-year-old baobab tree situated among lovely private gardens on the banks of the Chobe River, you can’t fault the location of this lodge just 8 km (5 miles) from the entrance to Chobe National Park. Like several of its neighboring properties farther downstream, Mowana has more of a large hotel-feel rather than the intimate camp ambience prevalent in the Okavango. That's not to say that you still won't get your full safari experience; you'll just be a bit cocooned away from the actual wilderness. Pleasantly decorated with an ethnic African theme, all 106 air-conditioned rooms overlook the river, on which you'll probably spend a fair amount of time bird-watching and game-viewing. Morning and evening drives are available too, but because the network of tracks is limited, roads can often become rather crowded in peak season. For something different, play a round of golf, indulge in a spa treatment or take a day-trip to nearby Victoria Falls. Children under 12 stay free.

A Maun institution, this comfortable modern hotel, now under Cresta ownership and situated on the banks of the Thamalakane River, is a far cry from the seven dusty rooms built by the legendary Harry Riley in the 1930s. Harry's Bar is still going, although planes no longer taxi straight up to the bar as in the good old days, and it's frequented more by businessmen than locals. Rooms are comfortable and clean but not particularly imaginative, and Riley's Grill still serves a good meal.  

With its whitewashed walls and Iberian-style blue and white patterned azulejo tiles, there’s a refreshing mediterranean feel to Maun’s most luxurious boutique hotel, which opened its doors in 2024. Set on the banks of the (seasonal) Thamalakane river, five thatched air-conditioned villas with ornamental fireplaces, armchairs, window-seats, roll-top bath and covered veranda are chic and wonderfully cool; there are also seven smaller semi-detached cottages for those on a tighter budget. The simple but striking blue and white color scheme allied with a hint of colonial luxury creates an intriguing ambience that is unlike anything else in town. Lazing by the stylish pool surrounded by white sand and azure and white striped padded loungers, is reminiscent of a private Greek beach.  Directly below, a spiral white stone staircase descends to the lounge, library, bar and pillared dining terrace, where gourmet à la carte meals are served from a changing menu or, if you prefer, you can picnic on the lush lawns. An arched wine-cave cleverly built into the hillside doubles as a venue for private dinners and special occasions, and there is also a spa. Billed as a retreat, the focus is on recuperation and rejuvenation rather than safari activities, so it is best seen as a pre- or post-safari stopover.

If you want to escape the larger resort-type hotels on the main Kasane drag, then this small, quiet, attractive lodge on the banks of the Chobe, which prides itself on its seclusion, is an ideal choice; it has no phones or TVs in its rooms. Situated where Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Zambia meet, the 11 en suite thatch chalets are set on stilts and are unpretentiously but comfortably furnished in neutral tones with floor rugs adding a splash of color. After your Chobe National Park game drive or boat cruise, come back and take a leisurely saunter around the Kubu Lodge Nature Walk—be on the lookout for dozens of birds, warthogs and the endemic Chobe bushbuck—or go next door to the Crocodile Farm and eyeball some immense reptiles.

Situated en route to Moremi Game Reserve, this lovely lodge sits on the bank of the Thamalakane River with 32 very comfortable stone-and-thatch en suite chalets that overlook the river. Breakfast is included and there are also  two small pools. There are two Kingfisher family units, which have two bedrooms and a shared bathroom. Dinners are either à la carte or plated set menus, depending on numbers.