Six days is the shortest sensible way to climb the Machame Route, and for the right person it works. You walk through rainforest, cross the edge of the Shira Plateau, climb to Lava Tower, scramble up the Barranco Wall and leave for the summit from Barafu on your fifth night. Prices start from $1,845 per person. The catch is that you reach high camp on the same day you climb the Wall, with only a few hours to recover before summit night.
Our recommendation is simple. If you have been above 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) recently and your holiday dates are fixed, the 6-day Machame is a reasonable choice. If this is your first time at high altitude, spend the extra $245 on the 7-day Machame climb. This page gives you everything you need to decide.
| Route | Machame up, Mweka down |
|---|---|
| Days on the mountain | 6 days, 5 nights in tents |
| Total distance | About 62 km (39 mi) |
| Start and finish | Machame Gate (1,800 m / 5,900 ft), Mweka Gate (1,650 m / 5,410 ft) |
| Summit | Uhuru Peak, 5,895 m (19,341 ft) |
| Difficulty | Hard, with little time to acclimatize |
| Best seasons | January to mid-March, June to October |
| Price | From $1,845 per person, two sharing |
The only difference is day 4. On this climb you walk from Barranco to Barafu in a single day, which means climbing the Wall, crossing to Karanga for lunch and carrying on to high camp. The 7-day climb splits that into two days, with a night at Karanga. Nothing else changes: same trail, same crew, same summit.
That one night matters more than it sounds. It gives your body a full extra night to adjust before you sleep at 4,673 meters (15,330 feet), and you arrive at Barafu by lunchtime instead of late afternoon. Operators publish very different summit figures and none are independently audited, so treat any single number with caution. Commonly quoted ranges run from about 27 to 42 percent on 5-day climbs, and from about 64 to 92 percent on 7-day climbs, with 8 and 9-day climbs reported higher still. The exact figures matter less than the pattern: more days means better odds.
This climb suits fit hikers who have slept at altitude recently, who are comfortable with long, hard days, and who cannot spare another day. It does not suit first-time high-altitude trekkers, anyone who has struggled with altitude before, or anyone who wants to enjoy the walk rather than push through it. If you want a gentler option at the same price, compare the 6-day Rongai, which has no scrambling.
Here is how the 6-day Machame climb runs from gate to gate. Distances and walking times are typical figures, and your guide will set a pace that is slower than you expect. You also spend one night in a Moshi hotel before the climb and one after it.
We collect you from your Moshi hotel in the morning and drive about an hour to Machame Gate (1,800 m / 5,900 ft), where your guide completes the park registration while the crew weighs the loads. The path then climbs steadily through montane rainforest, wet underfoot after rain and full of moss and giant ferns. Look up for colobus monkeys. Walk slower than feels natural, even on this easy first day, because the habit you set now pays off on summit night. Your crew passes you on the trail and has camp ready at the forest edge when you arrive.
The forest gives way to giant heather and open moorland almost as soon as you leave camp. The distance is short, but the path is steep and rocky in places and you gain about 800 meters (2,600 feet), so this is the first day many climbers feel the altitude. Shira Camp sits on the edge of the plateau. On a clear evening you see Kibo ahead of you and Mount Meru floating above the clouds behind you, and the temperature drops quickly once the sun goes down, so have your warm layers ready.
This is the day that does the most for your acclimatization. You climb through bare alpine desert to Lava Tower (4,600 m / 15,090 ft), a volcanic plug that is the highest point you have reached so far, and eat lunch there. Then you drop more than 600 meters (2,000 feet) to sleep at Barranco. Headaches at Lava Tower are common and usually ease on the way down, which is exactly how "climb high, sleep low" is meant to work. Tell your guide how you feel. The last hour of the descent passes through a valley of giant groundsels.
This is the day that makes the 6-day route harder. You climb the Barranco Wall in the morning, walk across the valleys to Karanga for lunch and then keep going to Barafu, with no night in between. It is a long day at altitude, and you arrive with only a few hours to eat, organize your gear and rest before the summit attempt begins. Keep your pace slow from the start and keep drinking, because tiredness and dehydration here will make summit night harder.
You leave around midnight and climb steep volcanic scree by headlamp, in temperatures that can fall to around -20°C (-4°F) with wind. It is slow and mentally tough, and most climbers find the hours before dawn the hardest of the whole trip. Stella Point on the crater rim (5,752 m / 18,871 ft) usually comes around sunrise, and Uhuru Peak (5,895 m / 19,341 ft) is about an hour further along the rim. After photos you descend to Barafu for food and a short rest, then continue down to Mweka Camp. Trekking poles help your knees a great deal on this descent.
The final morning is a walk through rainforest on tired legs, and the thick air feels wonderful. The path can be slippery after rain, so stay careful even though the hard part is over. At the gate you sign out and receive your certificate: Uhuru Peak earns a gold summit certificate, and Stella Point earns a green one. Then we drive you back to your hotel in Moshi for a long shower and your second included night.
The Machame Route is demanding without being technical. It has steeper sections than Marangu or Rongai, and the Barranco Wall needs some use of your hands, although no ropes. The hardest part is not the terrain, though. It is summit night, when you climb about 1,200 meters (3,900 feet) in the dark and the cold, after days at altitude. Fit climbers who have trained on long, hilly walks manage the walking well. Altitude is what decides most summit attempts.
The 6-day schedule makes all of this harder, because day 4 is long and it leads straight into summit night. Expect to be tired before you even start for the top.
Summit night on the Machame Route starts from Barafu, and it is the hardest stretch of the climb. You follow a line of headlamps up long zigzags of loose scree for around 6 to 8 hours, and it can be windy and very cold. Stella Point arrives around dawn and gives you the first real feeling of success. From there, the walk around the crater rim to Uhuru Peak takes about an hour, with glaciers on one side and Africa spread out on the other. Wear every layer you have and keep your water in an insulated bottle so it does not freeze.
The 6-day Machame climb starts from $1,845 per person with two people sharing. Prices differ slightly by group size because of how hotel rooms are shared in Moshi, not because of your crew, who are arranged per climber. For more than six climbers, or a different hotel level, ask us for a quote. Your final price is confirmed in your written quotation.
| Group size | Price per person |
|---|---|
| 1 climber | $1,890 |
| 2 climbers | $1,845 |
| 3 climbers | $1,880 |
| 4 climbers | $1,845 |
| 5 climbers | $1,865 |
| 6 climbers | $1,845 |
Budget separately for flights, your visa, insurance and tips. Our Kilimanjaro cost guide shows what to expect in total, so nothing catches you out.
Every climber on our Kilimanjaro climbs has one guide, five porters and one cook. A group of two therefore has two guides, ten porters and two cooks. That ratio is higher than many operators offer, and it means that if one climber needs to slow down or turn back, the other can continue with their own guide.
Our guides have worked on Tanzania tours for 7 years. They are graduates of the College of African Wildlife Management, Mweka, and the National College of Tourism, and they hold certification from those institutions. We are also a partner of the Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project (KPAP), which works for the fair treatment of mountain crews.
Mild headaches and poor sleep are normal above 3,000 meters (10,000 feet). Severe symptoms are an emergency, and the treatment is to go down. Be honest with your guide about how you feel each day, and read our guide to altitude sickness on Kilimanjaro before you travel. We carry pulse oximeters to track your blood-oxygen levels each day, emergency oxygen cylinders for emergency descents and severe altitude illness, and a Gamow bag, a portable pressure chamber used to treat advanced altitude sickness. Helicopter evacuation is available through providers including Kili MedAir and Proflight Helicopters, with fees starting from $3,500 per person. It is not part of the climb price, so check that your travel insurance covers trekking to 6,000 meters (19,685 feet) and evacuation before you buy it.
Tips are paid at the end of the climb and are not in the price. Common guidance is about $20 to $30 a day for a guide, $12 to $20 for a cook and $5 to $10 for each porter. With our crew of seven, that works out at about $340 to $600 per climber on this 6-day climb. We go through how to do this fairly at your briefing.
The driest months are January to mid-March and June to October, and these are also the busiest on Machame, especially July to September. If you want quieter trails in a dry month, January, early June and late October are good choices. Machame is wetter than the northern side in the rainy months, and the forest section gets very muddy, so we do not suggest it in April or May for first-time climbers. Our month-by-month guide goes into more detail.
Machame Gate is about an hour's drive from Moshi, so this is one of the easier starts. We collect you from your hotel in the morning and handle the registration at the gate while you get your daypack ready. The climb finishes at Mweka Gate, also about an hour from Moshi, and we drive you back. Fly into Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO), about an hour from Moshi, and we meet you there.
Start training at least 12 weeks before you travel, with long hikes on back-to-back days. Our Kilimanjaro training plan shows you how, and our packing list covers what to bring and what you can rent in Moshi. Two nights in a mid-range Moshi hotel are included by default, one before and one after the climb. If you would prefer a different standard, tell us and we will adjust your quote.
Your legs will need a day or two, and then many climbers add a northern circuit safari. We can build this into one quote.
It can be for a fit climber with recent altitude experience, and many people do summit in 6 days. It leaves less room for your body to adjust than a 7 or 8-day climb, so your chance of altitude problems is higher.
It is a steep scramble of about 250 meters (820 feet) where you sometimes use your hands. No ropes or climbing skills are needed, and most groups take one to two hours. On this itinerary, it comes on the same day as the climb to Barafu, which makes for a long day.
Tell us as early as you can. Extra park fees and crew days apply, and we confirm the change in your quotation.
Each extra day adds park fees and crew days. The 7-day climb costs $245 more per person, and we think it is worth it for nearly everyone.
We run private climbs and have no joining dates of our own. If you would like company, we can ask trusted partner companies whether one of their departures matches your dates, at the same price with nothing added.
Tell us your dates and how many are climbing, and we will send a full quote from our office on Mawenzi Road in Moshi.
Price per personFrom $1,845 USD
Request a quote