The capital of Tanzania

The capital of Tanzania is Dodoma. Parliament sits there and so does the government. Many people think it is Dar es Salaam, and you can see why: Dar es Salaam is the largest city, the main port and the economic heart of the country.

Why Dodoma

Dodoma lies in the middle of the country. After independence Tanzania chose a capital in the interior, at an equal distance from every region, rather than a port city on the edge. The decision was taken in the 1970s, and moving the ministries took decades after that.

Dar es Salaam is bigger

	Dodoma	Dar es Salaam
Role	capital, parliament and government	largest city, port, trade
Location	in the middle of the country	on the Indian Ocean
For a traveller	rarely part of a trip	international airport, ferry to Zanzibar

More about the city on our page about Dar es Salaam.

What it means for your trip

Very little. Dodoma lies far from the safari parks and far from the coast, and it almost never appears in a traveller's itinerary. If you are heading for the parks in the north, you land at Kilimanjaro and start in Moshi or Arusha. If you are going south or to Zanzibar, you come through Dar es Salaam.

One thing worth knowing: around Dodoma they make wine, in one of the few wine regions in East Africa.

Where your trip begins

Our trips usually begin at the foot of Kilimanjaro, in Moshi, where we live. How a trip unfolds from there, you can see in each of our itineraries.

View our itineraries