Arusha to Nairobi by shuttle bus

There are many ways to travel between the Kenyan capital Nairobi and the two big towns and tourism hubs in northern Tanzania, Arusha and Moshi. It should take about 4-6 hours to travel between Nairobi and Arusha, depending on border formalities and traffic. Flying the distance is not necessarily much faster, considering the time it takes to get to/from airport, and waiting time. I recently took a shuttle bus from Arusha to Nairobi, which makes a good compromise between cost, travel time and comfort compared to other means of travel.

Shuttle bus Arusha  – Nairobi

Various shuttle companies (e.g. Riverside Shuttles, East African Shuttles) provide services between Nairobi and Moshi via Arusha. Sometimes these are termed as “luxury shuttles”, which is not really what they are, but still better than most local buses and minibuses. Tickets for these shuttle buses can be booked online, at their ticket offices, or at some hotels.

Shuttle services do, to some degree, offer door to door service. For me this was an important factor in choosing to travel by a shuttle from Arusha to Nairobi. I had booked a Riverside Shuttle to leave Arusha 8:00 am, with pick up at Arusha backpackers after 7:30 am. The ticket cost 25 USD.

For once the pick up did not fail, a minibus (not the Nairobi-bound shuttle) took me and other passengers along the way to the Riverside office. The driver of this minibus was really reckless, even at local standards. He is probably a former daladala driver, although most daladalas drive nicely compared to him.

Riveside had two shuttles departing to Nairobi at the same time (in addition they have afternoon departures). These shuttles were almost full. Most passengers were ethnic Africans, some were Indians and couple of wazungu too. Legroom in the vehicle was surprisingly limited, but sideways it was spacious enough with 1+2 seat arrangement. Air conditioning worked poorly, so it was a sweaty ride.

A shuttle bus plying the Nairobi – Arusha route. Photo from Simba Paka Safaris website

Border formalities took close to an hour, most delay came from luggage being checked at Kenya arrivals immigration. Overall the Kenyan immigration was disorganised and it would have been an easy to walk past the immigration office to enter the country illegally.

Right after the border we had a short 15-minute break at a restaurant. On the way to Nairobi the shuttle dropped off some passengers at the Nairobi Airport (JKIA), so even us who continued to the town had to go through the pre-screening at the gate. The other Riverside Shuttle that had departed Arusha at the same time went straight to Nairobi city center.

Along the way to city center, I dropped off  at South C Total station, very close to my accommodation Nairobi Airport Stop Over House (which, despite its name, is not very close to the airport, just closer than most other accommodation). Therefore, I didn’t have to use taxi that day, saving a good amount of money. As usual, the first thing after entering a country was a scam attempt by taxi driver. At the fuel station he outrageously lied to me that the hotel has moved elsewhere, and offered to take me to the new location, 10 km away. Needless to say, I did not believe a word by him.

Other ways of transport

There are number of bus companies plying the route. Some of these buses depart from Arusha, others from Moshi, while some come all the way from Dar es Salaam (a very long distance to be covered in one day!). Buses are probably slower mode of transport than shuttles, but better buses may be reasonably comfortable (e.g. Dar Express, Modern Coast), yet cheaper than shuttles.

The cheapest way to travel between these cities is by taking local transport (matatu/daladala) to the border, go through immigration offices, and once on the other side of the border take another one to the destination. This is also the slowest and least comfortable option, probably not worth for saving a buck or two.

The costly way is flying between Nairobi and Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA), located halfway between Moshi and Arusha. Time saved by flying is minimal compared to shuttle buses, as Kilimanjaro Airport is relatively far from these towns, and passengers needs to be well in advance at the airport. However, flying makes much more sense when transiting at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), but even then a shuttle bus will be a good option, since they do pick up and drop off passengers at JKIA. Similarly, these shuttle buses may on request make a small detour to Kilimanjaro Airport.

Arusha has an airport close to the city, but is served only by domestic flights, otherwise it would offer a compelling option to travel between Arusha and Nairobi. AirKenya and Safarilink do fly from Kilimanjaro to Wilson Airport, closer to Nairobi city center and Karen-Langata area than JKIA, so taking a flight with these airlines may be a preferable option if money is not an issue.