Windhoek and the highlands

Windhoek sits in the middle of the country, between the Khomas Highland, the Auas Mountains and the Eros Mountains. For almost every self-drive trip the capital is the first and the last stop. You land at Hosea Kutako airport just over 40 kilometres to the east, then pick up the hire car in town, stock up and sleep. From here the roads fan out like spokes. The other towns in the region sit along those spokes, none of them more than a little over three hours away.

to Hosea Kutako airport

40+ km

people in Windhoek, 2023 census

486,186

of tar to Swakopmund

360 km

on July nights in Windhoek

below 0 °C

Heading north you take the motorway, 72 kilometres to Okahandja. Since November 2025 there has been a checkpoint at Okapuka on the way. At Okahandja the roads split: the B1 carries on to Etosha, 415 kilometres from Windhoek, and the B2 runs west via Karibib and Usakos to the coast. South on the B1 it is 92 kilometres to Rehoboth. East on the B6 you drive 206 kilometres to Gobabis. All of these main roads are tarred. Gravel starts only once you leave them, for instance on the C24 beyond Rehoboth towards Sossusvlei.

For the first night there are two camps. In Windhoek the supermarket, the cash machine and the car hire desk are close together, but you should not walk about after dark. If you are heading straight for Etosha or the coast, drive on to Okahandja. It is just over 115 kilometres from the airport, about an hour and a half right through the capital. That saves you an hour the next morning.

How long to stay where

Windhoek itself needs one night after you land. Two if you want to see Christ Church, the Alte Feste and the Tintenpalast. You will pass through again at the end anyway.

Rehoboth and Okahandja are usually stops rather than destinations. Fill up in Rehoboth before you turn onto the C24 into the Namib, because according to a 2021 travel report there is no fuel station after that until Sesriem. In Okahandja you stop at the carvers' market, ideally on the way back to the airport. By then you know how much room is left in your suitcase.

Further west the picture changes. Usakos and Omaruru lie by the Erongo Mountains and, strictly speaking, already belong to the Erongo Region rather than the highlands. Either works for a night between Windhoek or the coast and Etosha. Usakos is the nearest town to the Spitzkoppe, about 60 kilometres away, the last 30 or so on gravel; other sources say 50. If you want the mountain in the evening light, sleep at the community camp at its foot.

On the way north from the coast, Omaruru is the quieter choice compared with the bigger towns on the B1. Galleries, a wine estate outside town, lodges up in the Erongo. From Swakopmund via the Spitzkoppe it is about 316 kilometres, and the only gravel is the access road to the mountain.

Gobabis in the east lies off the classic loops. A night there makes sense mainly if you are carrying on to Botswana via Buitepos, 113 kilometres beyond the town. Without a permit from your hire company, the border is as far as you go.

Highlands mean cold nights

Windhoek is high up, and you feel it. In December the thermometer climbs to over 30 degrees, in June and July it reaches only about 21 by day, and on July nights it sometimes drops below freezing. So pack a jumper whatever the season. Exactly how high the city lies is not settled: German Wikipedia gives 1,650 metres, English Wikipedia 1,655.

Our tipDo not plan a long drive on the day you arrive. After the overnight flight, picking up the car, doing the shopping and sleeping in Windhoek or Okahandja is plenty.

Places in the region

• Windhoek and centreWindhoek

  The highland capital where almost every self-drive trip starts and ends.

• Windhoek and centreOkahandja

  The town at the end of the motorway from Windhoek, with a carvers' market and the graves of the Herero chiefs.

• Windhoek and centreRehoboth

  The Baster town on the B1 where you fill up before heading into the Namib.

• Windhoek and centreGobabis

  The cattle town on the B6, the last stop before the border with Botswana.

• Windhoek and centreOmaruru

  The small art town on the Omaruru River, between the Erongo Mountains, the coast and Etosha.

• Windhoek and centreUsakos and Erongo

  The railway town on the B2, close to the Spitzkoppe and the Erongo Mountains.

Worth seeing: Christuskirche and the Reiterdenkmal, Spitzkoppe, Daan Viljoen

Stages in and through the region