The Zambezi drops about 100 metres into a basalt gorge along a front 1,700 metres wide, and the volume varies by a factor of roughly fifteen across the year. That single fact should decide when you go, and almost no one checks it before booking.
February to May is high water. The falls are at their most powerful, the spray rises hundreds of metres and can be seen from far away, and you will be soaked. It also means that from certain viewpoints you cannot see the falls at all, because the spray fills the gorge. Photography is difficult.
June to August is the balance: strong flow, good visibility, and the most reliable time for a first visit.
September to December is low water. The eastern cataract on the Zambian side can reduce to a trickle or dry entirely, and the Zimbabwean side holds water longest. This is also when Devil's Pool opens — a rock lip at the edge of the drop that you can sit in with a guide.
Neither extreme is wrong. But someone who books in October expecting a wall of water, or in April expecting a clear photograph, will be disappointed, and it is entirely avoidable.
Two countries, one waterfall
The falls sit on the border. Zimbabwe holds roughly three-quarters of the frontage and the classic panoramic views along the rainforest path opposite the drop. Zambia gets you closer to the edge, including Knife Edge Bridge and Devil's Pool, and has less water in the dry months.
The Victoria Falls Bridge links them and day crossing is straightforward with the right visa. The KAZA UniVisa, covering both countries, has been available to many nationalities and its status has changed at times, so check current arrangements before travelling.
Victoria Falls town in Zimbabwe is walkable and has most of the hotels. Livingstone in Zambia is ten kilometres from the falls and more spread out.
The nine below are grouped by side.
Zimbabwe
Three-quarters of the frontage and the panoramic views.
The Victoria Falls Hotel occupies an Edwardian building opened in 1904 to house railway workers building the bridge, with a terrace looking down the gorge at the bridge itself, a formal dining room and a long colonial history. It is the historic hotel of southern Africa.
The Victoria Falls Hotel
Zambezi, Zambia · 4★ · $$$
Shares the falls access at a lower rate
Check availabilityIlala Lodge Hotel sits closest of any hotel to the falls entrance, a short walk away, with a garden, a pool and the spray visible from the grounds.
Ilala Lodge Hotel
Victoria Falls town · 4★ · $$$
The closest hotel to the falls entrance
Check availabilityVictoria Falls Safari Lodge occupies a ridge above a waterhole in the national park outside town, with a deck where elephant and buffalo drink and a vulture feeding programme each afternoon.
Victoria Falls Safari Lodge
Above a waterhole, Zimbabwe · 4★ · $$$
A deck over a waterhole where elephant drink
Check availabilityPalm River Hotel sits on the Zambezi upstream of the falls in a recent property with a pool over the river, gardens and a quiet stretch of water.
Palm River Hotel
Zambezi upstream, Zimbabwe · 5★ · $$$$
A pool over a quiet stretch of the river
Check availabilityAnantara Stanley & Livingstone Victoria Falls Hotel occupies a private game reserve outside town with a restored colonial house, a small room count and rhino on the property.
Anantara Stanley & Livingstone Victoria Falls Hotel
Private reserve, Zimbabwe · 5★ · $$$$
A restored colonial house with rhino on the property
Check availabilityBatonka Guest Lodge sits in Victoria Falls town with a garden, a pool and the best value at this standard.
Batonka Guest Lodge
Victoria Falls town · 4★ · $$
Garden and pool at the best value in town
Check availabilityZambia
Closer to the edge, and Devil's Pool.
The Royal Livingstone by Anantara occupies a position on the Zambezi directly upstream of the falls, with zebra and giraffe wandering the lawns, a terrace over the water and private access to the Zambian side of the falls.
The Victoria Falls Hotel sits beside it as the larger and less expensive sister property, sharing the falls access and the river frontage.
Livingstone Lodge occupies a stretch of the Zambezi upstream of Livingstone with cottages and houses under trees on the riverbank, a long-established operation and a boat for sundowners.
Livingstone Lodge
Upstream of Livingstone · 4★ · $$$$
Riverbank cottages under trees with a sundowner boat
Search hotels in Victoria FallsWhat we have left off
The tented camps along the Zambezi are excluded, and several are very good. They are tents and this is a hotel guide.
What to do
See the falls from both sides if you can, and time your visit to the water level as described above.
Walk the Zimbabwean rainforest path early, before the day trips, and take a poncho in high water. It does not help much.
Do Devil's Pool in low water, from the Zambian side with a guide, which involves swimming across a channel to a rock lip at the top of the drop.
Take a sunset cruise upstream, which is the standard evening and is genuinely good: hippo, elephant on the banks and the light.
Go into Zambezi National Park or across to Chobe in Botswana for a day, which is 90 minutes and has the highest elephant density in Africa.
Practical notes
Victoria Falls airport in Zimbabwe and Livingstone in Zambia both have regional connections through Johannesburg, Nairobi and Addis Ababa.
Check visa arrangements for both countries and for crossing between them before travelling, since the rules have changed repeatedly.
The dry season, May to October, is also the best game viewing in the surrounding parks. November to April is the wet season and green.
Explore 4 & 5 Star Victoria Falls Hotels
Questions people actually ask
When is the water highest?
February to May, when the spray can obscure the view entirely. June to August is the best balance of flow and visibility.
Zimbabwe or Zambia?
Zimbabwe for the panoramic views and more reliable water. Zambia for getting closest to the edge and for Devil's Pool in low season.
When does Devil's Pool open?
Low water, roughly September to December, and it depends on conditions each year.
How many nights?
Three. Both sides, a cruise and a day into a park.