Tripadvisor gives a Travelers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travelers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Tripadvisor gives a Travelers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travelers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
EDWARDIAN STYLE HOTEL Established in 1904, The Victoria Falls Hotel overlooks the magnificent Batoka Gorge with the Victoria Falls only a 10 minute walk away through the hotel’s path, 22km from Victoria Falls Airport. FACILITIES – This gracious Edwardian – style hotel is set in lush gardens, with three restaurants, a swimming pool, spa, hair salon, gym, mini golf (putt putt), in addition assortment of local art throughout the hotel grounds. The hotel epitomises the romance of grand travel with total relaxation. The highlight is traditional High Tea on the terrace and dinner at Jungle Junction offering a view of the Victoria Falls Bridge and Batoka Gorge, displaying the spectacular African show at night. ACCOMMODATION - The 161 en-suite bedrooms and suites are fully air conditioned, with telephones, complimentary Wi-Fi and satellite television.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
HOTEL STYLE
Classic
Historic Hotel
Languages Spoken
English, Afrikaans
Location
1 Mallet Drive, Victoria Falls Zimbabwe
The Victoria Falls Hotel
3,526 reviews
Getting there
Somewhat walkable
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travelers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
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The Victoria Falls Hotel garners appreciation for its exceptional cleanliness and beautifully maintained gardens, with guests frequently noting the spotless environment. Its picturesque location near natural wonders and local attractions is a highlight for many visitors. While the hotel's colonial ambiance and historical charm are celebrated, there are mixed feelings about the need for updates and the colonial decor.
Travelers report a blend of warm service and moments of unresponsiveness, and the value proposition receives mixed reviews, with some guests finding it overpriced. The amenities, offering both historical appeal and modern comforts, are well-regarded, especially the dining options and views. However, opinions on the rooms vary, with some praising their spacious charm and others pointing out maintenance issues and dated elements.
Location
Picturesque
Atmosphere
Charming
Rooms
Dated
Value
Expensive
Cleanliness
Immaculate
Service
Inconsistent
Amenities
Outstanding
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It’s an old hotel in restored condition. We enjoyed our three day stay at Victoria Falls. Our room was clean, will maintained, and the grounds were beautiful. From the back of the hotel, you can see the railroad bridge and the water vapor from the falls.
Our room had netting over the bed, but we didn’t see or notice any mosquitoes. One afternoon, a family of Warthogs crossed our paths while going to dinner.
Each morning and evening, freshwater was left in our room, but we were always looking for more water. We were advised to use bottled water to brush our teeth.
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Date of stay: January 2020
Location
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Sarah M, Operations Team at The Victoria Falls Hotel
Responded Feb 5, 2020
Dear Garry T Your comments regarding your stay at The Victoria Falls Hotel is highly appreciated. We are pleased to learn that you loved the cleanliness of the room and that it was well maintained. We will agree with you that our grounds are beautiful as the Estates staff take their work very seriously. It is always a pleasure to receive positive feedback. Our team will certainly be very encouraged by your remarks. It is our hope that you will give us the opportunity to better serve you in the future. Sincerely Eny Maodzeka Qualityco@victoriafallshotel.com
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Sitting with a drink on Stanley's terrace, looking out at the bridge over the gorge and the mighty cloud that thunders is a sublime experience. This is a great hotel with a great history in its corridors. It is not to be compared with some glitzy Las Vegas palace and any slight imperfections in decor only add to its charm. Dining alone one can sometimes feel pushed to one side but not here. I received excellent service as I enjoyed the Degustation menu and its accompanying wines and for a very reasonable price. The staff were very attentive but I want to single out Sharon on the Activities desk who went out of her way to see that i made the best use of my time. Arriving at the desk half an hour after the pickup time she fixed a driver to get me to the white water rafting just as they were about to go down into the gorge. An awesome experience. The next day her advice and arrangements were invaluable as I visited the only quadripoint in the world (the 'four corners of Africa') 80Km to the west of Victoria Falls, where I went on the rickety old ferry from Kasane to Kazungula. (note this trip will only be there for a few more months as the new bridge is due to open by autumn)
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Date of stay: March 2020
Rooms
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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This is more than a hotel, it is a page in the history of colonial Africa and a chapter in the history of human explorations and adventure. it is not easy to keep standards high in the current situation in Zimbabwe, but the Victoria falls Hotel and its amazing staff do it, with a smile. I recommend the cocktails; (especially the Singapore Raffles Sling) made by there very knowledgeable Phineas at the Stanley Bar. But a chat at the restaurant with Philip James who has clocked 51 amazing years at the hotel si worth the trip. Not to mention the falls, simply spectacular. despite the false rumours about lack of water, it is the same impressive sight that welcomed the first, incredulous explorers. The manager Farai Chimba is doing a very good job: I don't know how he finds the special gins that he stocks... Spending a couple of days at the VFH is like entering a gentle, polished, polite world far away from the glitzy and fake "luxury" of many modern hotels. Here, rom the views to the history, the the maps and paintings at the walls to the older staff, you have something that money cannot buy. 5 stars bathrooms of the modern type come and go, and never stay too long in your mind. But the amazing, old-fashioned atmosphere of the Victoria Falls Hotel has a very long shelf life and a deep emotional impact. Thank you all at VFH, we'll be back.
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Date of stay: January 2020
Location
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We spent 2 nights at The Victoria Falls Hotel to break up the Botswana and Tanzania parts of our African safari holiday. This hotel has a lot of history and staying there makes you feel like you’ve stepped back in time into a movie. If you’re into history and want to get a taste of what it might have been like surrounded by historic artwork, furniture and grounds with colonial style service then it’s worth a stay. It’s fairly close to the falls and you can literally see the mist from the grounds. There is a path directly to the falls but it was closed off. The town centre is a short walk from the hotel too if you want to look around there and buy some souvenirs from local businesses.
On site, there are three options for food. The Jungle Junction buffet restaurant provides a decent selection of food and was good but not great, and at dinner time has entertainment (which we found a little touristy). There were enough options for us vegetarians (and my wife who has no dairy too).
Our room and bathroom, although spacious and colonial, needed some maintenance to match the expected quality of similar priced/rated accommodation. The AC system was fairly noisy but we did appreciate the mosquito net over the 4 poster bed which made it feel cosy (but it inconveniently only opened on one side!). Our room on the ground floor must have been next to the Stanley Terrace bar/kitchen area which was a little noisy at times. I think some other rooms have already been renovated.
We found the staff to be friendly, but being a bigger hotel, we missed the intimate personalised service we were spoilt with at the smaller private safari camps on our trip.
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Date of stay: March 2020
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Victoria Falls Hotel is as gorgeous as everyone says. It’s also as gracious as everyone says. We did not have the chance to stay here overnight, but we were in transit through Victoria Falls twice traveling between Zimbabwe and Zambia, and each time we stopped in at the hotel for a meal on the Stanley Terrace. It doesn’t get much better than this. The view from the Terrace is stunning looking out over the beautiful green lawn to the bridge over the gorge and the falls behind it. And our food was absolutely delicious and very reasonably priced. The cocktails were heavenly. Try the Devil’s Cataract. Our waiters Elia and Trymore were both delightful making sure we had gorgeous views of the Falls.
Although we did not stay overnight, everything that we saw was in tip top shape and spotlessly clean. We are very seasoned travelers on all continents, and there was nothing shabby or tatty about this place as suggested in a few of the reviews. Every aspect of the place was beautiful.
For those with Covid concerns, Africa is the place to be. They have taken things very, very seriously. All the staff at the camps we visited were fully vaccinated, and the Victoria Falls Hotel was no exception. It is very spread out with more than enough room for social distancing. Our temperature was taken when we arrived. Hand sanitizer was plentiful, and the staff all wore masks. Africa is ready for visitors again!! They are waiting with open arms, socially distanced of course.
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Date of stay: May 2021Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Make no mistake this a a very expensive hotel. We stayed 5 nights in Victoria Falls. But split our stay into 3 nights at the Ilala Lodge and two at the Vic Falls. We simply could not afford more than 2 nights in this Colonial Masterpiece. We loved BOTH hotels but entirely in different ways. I must admit I have never checked out of one hotel and walked with the concierge to my next hotel. But thats exactly what we did. Crazy as it sounds. If we had been to the Victorai Falls and NOT stayed at the Falls Hotel I must admit that I would have eternally regretted it. You simply MUST stay here. For the history, the galmour, the grandeur, the style, the food, the wonderful gin trolley experience. But not the rooms. Yes, it was built in 1904 making it the oldest Hotel in Africa. But the rooms date from 1904 too. And the steam driven aircon must be 40 years old. When they get replaced the rooms will be 20% larger! We loved our stay at the Victiora Falls and feel a part of history for having done so. Stay ONE night then stay elsewhere to save money. Choose a night when the steam railway comes to the hotel entrance to transport you to the Zambian border with a 4 course meal. The staff can be a little distant. More training needed? And there was never any drinks service at the elegant 25m pool where we spent most of the day. Silly because at these prices they are seriously missing out on income. The visiting General Manageress who was not a direct employee but a consultant did a grand job papering over the cracks in service. But in general the Hotel suffers form a lack of professionally trained staff accoustomed to 5 star guests paying 5 star prices. I have thought long and hard.....but you still get 5 stars. But only just.
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Date of stay: January 2020
Location
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:Â Book the steam train
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I had the most memorable time staying at The Victoria Falls Hotel in Zimbabwe in February last year. I experienced the true Zimbabwean hospitality at its best and I cannot compare it to other tourist destinations in Zimbabwe. I stayed 2 nights in the Stables wing and the customer service was par excellence. The welcome was fantastic, and I cannot fault a single interaction I had with the staff. The hotel was very impressive both in architecture, I love old legendary colonial style hotels and the facilities were just what I expected.
The location was perfect for me, as it was a walking distance to the Falls and you also have the amazing views of the bridge from the gardens.
The only downside, February is the rainy season, so it was very wet. Helicopter rides were cancelled on short notice. However, I took advantage of the dry moments and took amazing photographs of the Falls. It was amazing to see the falls at their best and most powerful when full of water.
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Date of stay: February 2019Trip type: Traveled solo
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Very sad to see a grand lady who is loosing her eyesight. Rooms are clean neat and tidy, staff friendly and helpful and understand the covid impact, but simple things can be maintained, compared to previous experiences, The legend of a hotel is simply loosing its grandeur, small cables not secured neat and tidy, fresh paint being applied onto old without any prep work ect. Just Looks tatty.
Breakfast as another example, boiled eggs were served in coffee cups?? They managed to find a few after 3 days.
Fine dinning in the grand Livingston room, music does not suit the grandeur or essence of the room. Lastly, Management simply cannot spell “quotation. “
All in all, was very disillusioned and very sad.
I hope they can get on top of these small issues as these types of issues tend to develop into larger problems in future.
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Date of stay: March 2021Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Our original booking was for two nights in a standard room. This was a ground floor room facing the courtyard which separates the 2 main buildings. While it was perfectly comfortable, it was a bit stuffy and gloomy, even with the vintage air-con on! A medical emergency made it necessary for us to extend our stay by an extra three night and we chose to move to a deluxe room. The hotel kindly chose us a lovely room on the first floor with a wonderful view over the lawns to the falls. While the second room was larger, the furniture, decor and bathroom were the same as in the first room. The rooms and bathrooms will benefit from the planned upgrade. Even before we faced a problem, the friendliness of the staff was evident. Everyone offers a greeting and a smile. Their concern during and after our drama was genuine and touching. One of the joys of being a hotel guest is access to the hotel corridors which are a visual history of the region over the last century. The other delight of being more housebound than the usual guest was the animals on the front lawn, warthogs, mongoose, baboons, monkeys all use the lawns as a pathway. Wilderness Safaris, based in the foyer, were also very helpful and considerate in helping us re-arrange things (and unfortunately, cancel our onward travel to Botswana) so please use them if you want to organise local excursions.
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Date of stay: March 2020
Value
Cleanliness
Service
Room Tip:Â First floor rooms facing the falls have great views
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We stopped here for afternoon tea at approx $25 pp plus extra for some fizzy wine. The scones and cakes were nice, but the sandwiches were a little dry. The real highlight was sitting on the terrace overlooking the lawns with the bridge and falls in the distance.
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Date of stay: December 2019
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
It has been quite awhile as our trip was last January 2024. My husband did our booking and we booked through the hotel. We booked about 6 months in advance. We also communicated with them directly regarding transportation, tours etc. It could be that they have not opened up the other room types and are only offering 2 types at this time. We have had that happen with other places around the world.
It’s time consuming and frustrating, but I would keep trying to communicate directly with them.
I would suggest contacting them directly regarding your plans. All the room types and packages were on their site They handled our transportation from the airport to their hotel as well. They were not the easiest people to reach, but they did respond usually in a day or 2. Hope this helps…good luck
That’s an excellent question. Our room was on the ground floor but we did have to take steps at a couple of different places to get to our room. I also think the area between the front lobby and the back part has steps. This would be where you enter the hotel to getting back to Stanley’s Terrace or the bar and the other restaurant. Also going down to have breakfast at the Jungle Junction. It is a walk from the hotel and the only option for breakfast. Stanley’s Terrace which is right off the lobby does not serve breakfast. It is convenient for lunch and dinner but doesn’t serve breakfast which would really be nice since it’s much closer than the Jungle Junction.
I also am not sure about room service. This is a nice place, and the staff was helpful with emails before our trip. I would not hesitate to get in touch with them. I just remember steps we had to take at different areas of this hotel.
We did not venture out at night. Transportation was not reliable and we did not want to get stuck without a way back. There are a lot of baboons all over ! Hope this helps.
I would contact them and ask these questions. I cannot say I saw an elevator, but we did not do much walking around.
There are more places to choose from in the Victoria Falls area.
PRICE RANGE
₱31,703 - ₱44,455 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
victoria falls hotel
LOCATION
ZimbabweMatabeleland North ProvinceVictoria Falls
NUMBER OF ROOMS
161
Prices are the average nightly price provided by our partners and may not include all taxes and fees. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Please see our partners for more details.
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THE VICTORIA FALLS HOTEL - UPDATED 2025 Reviews & Price Comparison (Zimbabwe) - Tripadvisor
Frequently Asked Questions about The Victoria Falls Hotel
Which popular attractions are close to The Victoria Falls Hotel?
Nearby attractions include The Victoria Falls Theatre (0.7 km), Mosi-oa-Tunya / Victoria Falls National Park (0.8 km), and Victoria Falls Snake Park (0.6 km).
