Bus from Kampala to Kabale

In the meantime I found out that the Holiday Express Hotel is located very close to the General Post Office where the busses start. It's in the center and probably a bit noisy, has anybody been there and can tell me about pros and cons? Is this a location considered to be more dangerous than other parts of town?

Xiangqi

Post Bus is clean, not too uncomfortable but tends to be VERY slow, they stop at the Post office in every single town (and quite a few villages too) on the way to pick up & deliver mail. Took us nearly six hours from Mbale to Kampala the one time we tried it (double what a matatu takes). Driving non-stop from Kampala to Kabale takes 7 hours minimum, so the Post Bus would take forever. I'd go down to the new taxi park on Luwum St and get a Matatu (Minibus) instead if I were you.

Regarding accommodation, if you walk down William St (between Kampala & Bombo Rds) past the Hotel Equatoria and take the first right after the Equatoria there are several hotels along there on the left. A couple of them aren't too great (someone told me the Gloria hotel doubles as a brothel) but the best of the bunch is the Samalien, which has plain but clean double rooms with bath (hot water) for about Ush45,000 including breakfast - & some of the upstairs rooms have balconies with good views across old Kla. The staff are friendly and your stuff will be safe.

Have a good trip & take Care in Kabale,

Rgds,

David

Thanks David, I will consider your hotel recommendation. About the post bus: Yes, it's slow but it also has the reputation to be safer than most competitors just because post bus drivers are not driving like hell. I read a couple of personal reports of travellers and according to these reports the bus took between 8 and 9 hours from Kampala to Kabale. That would be acceptable for us but if somebody knows for sure that the bus takes much longer we might want to reconsider.

Xiangqi

Took that postbus Kampala-Fort Portal last year. Was ok. Was indeed quite slow, but furthermore nothing to advice against.
We simply bought the tickets the day before in the post office of Kampala, exactly where the bus departed.
And slow is relative....to Fort Portal I remember another bus, don't remember the company (Jaguar can it be?) that was faster...only we met her back half an hour before Fort Portal when she had a breakdown :-)))) So hey....
Haven't slept in Kabale, passed through it to be based at Lake Bunyoni.

Thanks for your reply, koelan. I think we will take the post bus. And sorry
for the ambiguity in my question related to the hotel. I was asking for
a hotel close to the post office in Kampala and not in Kabale but after
reading your reply I realized that my question could be understood in
both ways.

Thanks again

Xiangqi

Post bus is the way to go. It may be slow (7-9 hours) but it leaves at a certain time unlike the regular busses that may take three hours to fill up before they leave. And the matatus are just too uncomfortable for such long journeys. Enjoy Kabale.

I would highly recommend using the Scandinavian bus from Nairobi to Kampala. They are more expensive than others but comfortable and reliable. Failing that, use Akamba. Don't use any of the others.

Thanks SipiMan! It was already clear to me that Akamba and Scandinavian are the two main options but so far Akamba was my favourite. Why would you prefer Scandinavian over Akamba?

Xiangqi

Purely because I have used Scandinavian, who were very efficient, and not Akamba. I think Akamba has two buses, one of which is a deluxe (more comfortable version) so I would probably take that one if you choose them. I also know that the Scandinavia bus has their office in the centre of Kampala - a good place to arrive into. Having said that I'm not sure where the Akamba office is.

I took the post bus from Fort Portal to Kampala - i think it took around 5.5 hours. It was pretty comfortable and much faster than I had expected!