Leaving Rwanda for Burundi

Johannesburg to Kigali

Compare trains, buses, flights and ferries from Johannesburg to Kigali. From €237.91, fastest 7h 5m, with the total price and every fee shown up front.

Johannesburg to Kigali runs about 5 times a day, with the first departure around 06:52 and the last around 07:30. One passenger pays €237.91, every fee included. The fastest door to door is 7h 5m over 2,786 km, on services run by 1 operator across 1 mode.

Checked September 18, 2026Priced for October 4, 2026One passenger, all fees included

What one seat costs

Every operator we hold on this corridor starts at €237.91, so there is no spread to show.

Typical fares · Priced for October 4, 2026

€237.91

  • 200%Moves across the booking window

When it runs, leaving Johannesburg

No operator has filed a timetable for this direction yet, so the first and last departure below follow the pattern of the corridor. Read them as the shape of the service day rather than as times to turn up for.

  • 06:52First departure
  • 07:30Last departure
  • 5Services per day
  • 20%Run direct

Fares by date

What this journey usually costs, by departure date. It shows which days run dearer.

Typical fares

  1. about €544.71Sat19
  2. about €604.89Sun20
  3. about €407.83Mon21
  4. about €374.20Tue22
  5. about €373.02Wed23
  6. about €583.06Thu24
  7. about €385.41Fri25
  8. about €410.78Sat26
  9. about €325.82Sun27
  10. about €298.68Mon28
  11. about €338.80Tue29
  12. about €373.61Wed30
  13. about €341.75Thu1
  14. about €322.87Fri2
  15. about €298.68Sat3
  16. about €237.91Sun4
  17. about €280.39Mon5
  18. about €274.49Tue6
  19. about €259.15Wed7
  20. about €296.32Thu8
  21. about €293.37Fri9

Based on what this route has cost recently. The operator sets the price on the day, and the live fare is confirmed when you book.

The flight gets you into Kigali. It does not get you a bed, and neither do we.

A hotel room

A room in Kigali for the night the flight gets in

Sort by distance from Kigali CBD Bus Station and you can see which places are ten minutes on foot and which are not.

Partner links. We do not sell accommodation. We earn a commission when a booking completes, and it never changes what you pay.

Booking window

When to book Johannesburg to Kigali

The same search run across the whole booking window, so the shape of the curve is visible rather than described.

  1. €285.1190 days
  2. €181.8660 days
  3. €203.6945 days
  4. €225.5230 days
  5. €293.3721 days
  6. €322.8714 days
  7. €385.417 days
  8. €407.833 days
  9. €544.711 days
Cheapest lead time
Fares bottom out around 60 days ahead, at €181.86.
How much it moves
The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time is 200 percent. The most expensive point is €544.71, 1 days out.
What that means
Today sits inside the cheap window, which closes about 60 days before departure. Waiting from here has usually cost money on this corridor rather than saved it.
€544.71€181.86137142130456090

Book now Fares on this route are lowest around 60 days ahead. You are inside that window.

This corridor, specifically

Facts that apply to Johannesburg to Kigali and to no other route on the site.

Clocks

Both ends keep the same time, so the arrival is the departure plus the journey.

The shape of it

2,786 km

2,705 km as the crow flies, 3% further by the route services take. The bearing runs north.

Who lives at each end

9,418,1831,132,686

Population at the departure city and at the arrival city, which is usually what decides how often anything runs.

How we know

0/2

2 of these connections were inferred from service-area overlap rather than observed in a timetable. We would rather say so.

The route

JohannesburgJohannesburgKigaliKigali
The journey

What the journey looks like

Direct or connecting, how far the route really runs, and what happens when a connection is missed.

Direct or connecting
20% of the services we sell on this corridor run through without a change. The remaining 80% involve one connection.
How far it really runs
The route covers 2,786 km against 2,705 km in a straight line, a detour of 3 percent. Track and road geometry account for the difference.
Where the change is
Connections are made at Dar es Salaam, Lusaka, Nairobi, Entebbe. The gap between arriving and leaving is 67 minutes, of which about 5 is walking.
If the connection is missed
The tightest connection we sell here has a 14 percent chance of not being made on the timetable alone. Part of this journey is a self transfer between separate tickets, so leave more time than the minimum and expect to check in again.

Kigali is large, and the road in from KGL can take longer than the last hour of the flight. Cars are not our business.

A taxi stand outside an airport terminal

A car waiting when you land in Kigali

Settled in advance, so the ride into Kigali costs what it said it would rather than what the cab stand says.

Partner links. We do not operate transfers. We earn a commission on a booking, and the fare is the same as going direct.

Who runs this route

The flight gets in hours before any room is ready. Holding a bag is not what we sell.

Left luggage lockers

Baggage storage near Kigali CBD Bus Station

Most of the points near Kigali CBD Bus Station open before the first train and close after the last one.

Partner links. We do not run these networks. We earn a commission on a booking, and the price is the same as going direct.

Questions about Johannesburg to Kigali

The questions people actually ask about this trip, answered from the same prices and times the page above is built on rather than written once and left to go stale.

How long does it take to get from Johannesburg to Kigali?

The fastest journey from Johannesburg to Kigali takes 7h 5m door to door, of which 4h 6m is spent moving, on the flight. Most services take around 7h 22m, because that average includes slower stopping services and journeys with a connection. Times include reaching the terminal and leaving it at the far end.

How much does it cost to travel from Johannesburg to Kigali?

The cheapest fare from Johannesburg to Kigali is €237.91, as of September 18, 2026. A typical fare across the next three weeks is €369.48. Both figures are the total for one passenger, including taxes, supplier fees and our service fee, so nothing is added at checkout.

What is the cheapest way to get from Johannesburg to Kigali?

The cheapest way from Johannesburg to Kigali is by flight, at €237.91 for one passenger on October 4, 2026. That journey takes 7h 16m door to door. Cheaper is rarely faster on this corridor, and the comparison table on this page shows what each mode costs against what it saves.

When should I book Johannesburg to Kigali?

Fares from Johannesburg to Kigali bottom out around 60 days before departure, at €181.86. Across the whole booking window the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive lead time is 200 percent, measured on September 18, 2026. Booking inside the last week has consistently cost more on this corridor.

Which day of the week is cheapest for Johannesburg to Kigali?

Monday is the cheapest day to depart from Johannesburg to Kigali, at €298.68. That is the median of 21 priced departure days across the next three weeks, as of September 18, 2026. Shifting a departure by one day is usually worth more than shifting the booking by one week.

Which month is cheapest for Johannesburg to Kigali?

February is the cheapest of the next 5 months to travel from Johannesburg to Kigali, at €179.50 for one passenger. Each month is priced on its fifteenth, so the comparison is like for like rather than a mix of weekends and midweek departures.

Who runs service from Johannesburg to Kigali?

No operator record names Johannesburg to Kigali directly. Rwandair Express publish service areas covering both ends and may serve it, so we list them as possible operators rather than confirmed ones.

Is there a direct service from Johannesburg to Kigali?

20 percent of the services we sell from Johannesburg to Kigali are direct. The rest connect at Dar es Salaam, Lusaka, Nairobi, Entebbe, with about 67 minutes between the two services. Both legs are sold on one booking, so a missed connection is rebooked at no charge.

Which station or terminal do services from Johannesburg to Kigali use?

Services from Johannesburg to Kigali by flight leave from Johannesburg JNB and arrive at Kigali KGL. Allow about 3h 10m in total for reaching the departure terminal and leaving the arrival one, which is already included in every door to door time on this page.

Can I change or refund a ticket from Johannesburg to Kigali?

0 of the 1 operators we sell from Johannesburg to Kigali allow a change or a refund. A change on a changeable fare costs €5.00. The operator table on this page names which is which, and the condition is shown again before you pay.

Where these numbers come from

Places, coordinates, operators, which operator serves which pair, and every distance on this page are real and come from open data. Where a corridor has a filed timetable the departure times are real too, and ferry fares are the prices the operators publish themselves.

Derived from service area No carrier record names this exact pair. The operators listed publish a service area covering both places at a distance their mode plausibly carries people, which is evidence that the corridor is served and not evidence of a specific service. Pages state which, because presenting the two as the same thing would be dishonest.

Where no operator publishes a fare for a corridor, the price here is our own estimate, worked out from the real distance and the real operator through a fare curve that follows lead time, day of the week and season. It tells you roughly what the journey costs. It is not a seat anyone has agreed to sell, and the payment step will not take it.

Defined in full at Door to door, Fares, The booking window, Carbon, Distances

On this page
Every figure above was computed for Johannesburg to Kigali on September 18, 2026: 2786 km of route against 2705 km in a straight line, 5 services a day, 1 operator a cheapest fare of €237.91, and 7h 5m door to door on the fastest mode. The return direction is computed separately and its numbers are not these numbers.

The flight is the simple part. What you do once you are in Kigali is somebody else's catalog.

A guided tour group

Day trips out of Kigali and across Rwanda

Day trips that leave Kigali in the morning and cover a good part of Rwanda by evening.

Partner links. We do not sell tours or tickets. We earn a commission on a booking, and it never changes the price.

The two ends, compared

Johannesburg reaches 104 places in 45 countries on services we hold, over distances from 41 to 13,566 km. Kigali reaches 20 places in 18 countries, from 148 to 6,590 km.

Other ways to make this journey

Leaving Johannesburg

  • 104Places you can leave for
  • 45Countries
  • 46Operators

Arriving in Kigali

Leaving Kigali

  • 20Places you can leave for
  • 18Countries
  • 7Operators

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