Neither Bulawayo nor Victoria Falls has a direct flight from the UK. Every route connects through a hub airport — most commonly Johannesburg, Harare or Addis Ababa — and which one makes sense depends on where you're starting from and what else is on your itinerary.
The most commonly used routing for both cities is via Johannesburg, connecting onto a regional flight with Airlink, Fastjet Zimbabwe or another Southern African carrier. If you're already planning to use the direct Gatwick-Harare service, connecting onward through Harare on a short domestic hop is often the simpler option. A third route, via Addis Ababa with Ethiopian Airlines, works well for travellers outside London. Because these are genuinely multi-leg journeys - often on more than one ticket, with connections that aren't always protected against each other - this is exactly the kind of routing where booking through an agent rather than piecing it together yourself tends to pay off.
Last checked: 29 September 2026. Schedules, frequencies and operating carriers on regional African routes change more often than long-haul schedules, so always confirm the current timetable before booking.
Is there a direct flight from the UK to Bulawayo or Victoria Falls?
No. Air Zimbabwe's direct London Gatwick-Harare service is currently the only nonstop flight between the UK and Zimbabwe, and it doesn't extend to Bulawayo or Victoria Falls. Travellers heading to either city need to connect, either through a Southern African hub or through Harare itself on a short domestic leg. For the full detail on the Gatwick-Harare service - schedule, safety record and the wet-lease arrangement behind it - see our guide to flying from the UK to Zimbabwe.
How do you get from the UK to Bulawayo?
Via Johannesburg (the most common routing)
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic both fly direct from London Heathrow to Johannesburg, a flight of around 11 hours. From O.R. Tambo International Airport, Bulawayo's Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport is a further 1 hour 20 minutes away, served by Airlink (around 21 flights a week) and Fastjet Zimbabwe (around 9 a week). This is generally the routing with the widest choice of connection times, since Johannesburg has by far the busiest onward schedule to Bulawayo of any hub.
Via Harare
If you're already flying the Gatwick-Harare direct service, Bulawayo is a short domestic hop away - roughly 45 to 55 minutes - operated by Fastjet Zimbabwe and Air Zimbabwe, with dozens of flights a week between the two cities. This routing avoids Johannesburg entirely and can work well if your dates line up with the three-times-weekly Gatwick departure.
Via Addis Ababa
Ethiopian Airlines flies direct from Addis Ababa to Bulawayo, a route it has operated since late 2022, connecting onto its network from London Heathrow. This can suit travellers outside London, or anyone who prefers a single-carrier itinerary from the UK all the way to Bulawayo rather than switching airlines at a Southern African hub.
How do you get from the UK to Victoria Falls?
Via Johannesburg
The same London-Johannesburg direct flights (British Airways, Virgin Atlantic) connect onward to Victoria Falls Airport, which has one of the busiest regional networks in the country - Airlink, Fastjet Zimbabwe, South African Airways, CemAir and FlySafair all fly the Johannesburg-Victoria Falls sector. With several airlines competing on the route, this hub generally offers the most flight-time flexibility.
Via Harare
Fastjet Zimbabwe and Air Zimbabwe fly Harare to Victoria Falls directly, taking around 1 hour 10 minutes, with roughly 16 flights a week between the two. As with Bulawayo, this only makes sense if it lines up with the Gatwick-Harare schedule, but it keeps the whole trip on Zimbabwean domestic carriers rather than routing back out through South Africa.
Via Addis Ababa
Ethiopian Airlines also flies direct between Addis Ababa and Victoria Falls - at around 4 hours 40 minutes, it's the longest non-stop route out of Victoria Falls Airport - connecting onto Ethiopian's London Heathrow service.
Flying into Livingstone instead
Victoria Falls Airport sits on the Zimbabwean side of the falls; Livingstone's Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula International Airport sits on the Zambian side, roughly half an hour away by road. Livingstone is also reachable from the UK only via connections, mainly through Johannesburg (Airlink, FlySafair, CemAir) or Nairobi (Kenya Airways) - there's no meaningful journey-time advantage either way. The choice usually comes down to which side of the falls your accommodation and activities are on, and how you want to handle the Zimbabwe-Zambia border crossing. The KAZA univisa and cross-border day-trip details are covered fully in our Zimbabwe and South Africa visa guide rather than repeated here.
Routings at a glance
| Destination | Hub | Typical connection | Airlines on the onward leg | Rough total journey time from London |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bulawayo (BUQ) | Johannesburg | JNB-BUQ, about 1h20m | Airlink, Fastjet Zimbabwe | Roughly 14-16 hours |
| Bulawayo (BUQ) | Harare | HRE-BUQ, about 45-55 min | Fastjet Zimbabwe, Air Zimbabwe | Gatwick-Harare (~10h40m) plus the domestic leg and layover |
| Bulawayo (BUQ) | Addis Ababa | ADD-BUQ, direct Ethiopian service | Ethiopian Airlines | Typically 15-plus hours, single carrier |
| Victoria Falls (VFA) | Johannesburg | JNB-VFA, roughly 1h50m-2h | Airlink, Fastjet Zimbabwe, South African Airways, CemAir, FlySafair | Roughly 14-17 hours |
| Victoria Falls (VFA) | Harare | HRE-VFA, about 1h10m | Fastjet Zimbabwe, Air Zimbabwe | Gatwick-Harare (~10h40m) plus the domestic leg and layover |
| Victoria Falls (VFA) | Addis Ababa | ADD-VFA, direct Ethiopian service, about 4h40m | Ethiopian Airlines | Typically 16-plus hours, single carrier |
| Livingstone (LVI), Zambia | Johannesburg | JNB-LVI | Airlink, FlySafair, CemAir | Comparable to the Victoria Falls via-Johannesburg routing |
Journey times above are rough totals and depend heavily on your specific connection and layover length - treat them as a guide for comparing routings, not a quoted itinerary time.
How long does it take to fly from London to Bulawayo or Victoria Falls?
There's no single answer, because both journeys depend on which hub you connect through. As a rough guide: routing via Johannesburg, expect somewhere around 14 to 16 hours door to door once you add the roughly 90-minute to two-hour regional flight to the 11-hour direct London-Johannesburg sector, plus your layover. Routing via Harare on the Gatwick direct service adds a domestic hop of under an hour and a half to the roughly 10 hour 40 minute nonstop, plus a Harare layover. Routing via Addis Ababa with Ethiopian Airlines tends to run longer overall, generally upwards of 15 hours, but keeps you on one airline for the whole trip. None of these figures are fixed - they move with the specific flights, dates and layover lengths you book - so a live search or a quote from us for your actual dates is the only way to get an accurate total.
What about connecting through Harare or Bulawayo domestically?
If your plan involves flying into one Zimbabwean city and out of another - a common pattern for travellers combining a Victoria Falls holiday with visiting family in Bulawayo or Harare, or attending a family event in one city before heading to the falls - the domestic network makes this straightforward. Fastjet Zimbabwe and Air Zimbabwe between them run dozens of flights a week linking Harare, Bulawayo and Victoria Falls, each leg under 90 minutes. The practical question isn't whether the domestic connection exists, it's whether your international arrival and domestic departure (or vice versa) are timed closely enough, and whether they're protected on one itinerary if something runs late - which is exactly where booking the whole trip through an agent rather than as separate one-way tickets makes a real difference.
Is Air Zimbabwe reliable on the Gatwick-Harare leg?
If your Bulawayo or Victoria Falls routing depends on connecting onto or off Air Zimbabwe's Gatwick-Harare service, it's worth going in with clear eyes. The route relaunched in July 2026 after more than 14 years away, operated under a wet-lease arrangement with the Spanish carrier Plus Ultra, and it had a handful of publicly reported disruptions - delays and at least one cancellation - in its first few weeks of operation. We haven't found reporting confirming how it's performing closer to the present. Our UK to Zimbabwe flights guide and our comparison of UK-Harare airlines cover this in more detail. If your itinerary has a tight domestic connection either side of this flight, we'd recommend building in some buffer, or routing via Johannesburg or Addis Ababa instead where the onward connection isn't dependent on a single new, thin-margin service.
When should I book?
Inventory on the regional legs into Bulawayo and Victoria Falls is generally more plentiful than on the long-haul UK sector, since several airlines compete on the Johannesburg routings in particular. That said, the UK-to-hub flight is the tighter part of the journey - whether that's the three-times-weekly Gatwick-Harare service or the daily London-Johannesburg flights, which still sell out on peak dates. Zimbabwe's dry season, roughly May to October, is the busiest period for Victoria Falls travel in particular, when wildlife viewing and waterfall flow both tend to be at their best, and December is consistently the busiest period for diaspora travel to Zimbabwe generally. For either season, booking 8-12 weeks ahead gives you the best combination of route choice and fare, and longer - 10-14 weeks - for December travel. For a fuller seasonal breakdown of the UK-Zimbabwe corridor, see our guide to the cheapest time to fly London to Harare.
Why book a multi-leg itinerary with a travel agent
A UK-to-Bulawayo or UK-to-Victoria Falls trip is rarely a single flight - it's two or three legs, sometimes on two different tickets and two different airlines, with a layover in between that needs to actually work. This is precisely the kind of routing where a travel agent adds real value over booking each leg separately online: we can check whether your connection is protected if the first flight runs late, compare the Johannesburg, Harare and Addis Ababa routings against your actual dates, and build in realistic buffer around Air Zimbabwe's still-new Gatwick service if your plans depend on it. If you're travelling home for a family event in Bulawayo, combining a Victoria Falls trip with visiting relatives, or bringing the family out for a safari holiday, we can also fold flights and accommodation into one financially protected booking.
Flights and flight-inclusive holidays booked with Travel Orbit are financially protected via our licensed ATOL supplier partners, and we're IATA accredited - full detail on our about page. We also work with travellers heading to South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana alongside Zimbabwe, which helps when a Victoria Falls or Bulawayo trip is part of a wider family itinerary. For more on flying with family commitments generally, see our Zimbabwe diaspora flight guide, and if you're travelling for a family emergency, our urgent flights to Zimbabwe guide covers what to expect on short notice. Travellers carrying goods home should also check our guide to ZIMRA duty-free allowances.
If you'd like a real quote for a Bulawayo or Victoria Falls routing - via Johannesburg, via Harare, or via Addis Ababa - message us on WhatsApp or use the form below with your dates. We'll compare the options that actually fit your trip, not just the cheapest single leg on a fare site. You can also start on our Zimbabwe destination page for more on travelling to the country generally.