Travel costs and information for Rwanda - Gisenyi, Kigali, Butare (Huye)

Note that all information in here was valid at the time (June 2009) - it may well have changed since.  It's also possible that I was ripped off, that I did some exceptional haggling, or that I accepted a price that I should have haggled over :-)  Currency indicators are £ (British pound), $ (US dollar), and RWF (Rwandan franc).  At the time, the official exchange rates were roughly RWF570=$1 and RWF910=£1.

Rwanda

• Little in the way of hassle other than people shouting "mzungu".  
• People rather stand-offish - though given recent history that's maybe not surprising.  
• Best public transport in the region running on excellent roads - the only bad journey I had was from Cyanika to Ruhengeri (Musanze), which was overcrowded (though this is another country that has a curious aversion to roofracks, meaning everyone's luggage/shopping needlessly takes up room inside the vehicle).   
• Ban on plastic bags.  
• Once a Belgian colony so more people speak French than English, however the current government seems keen to deemphasise the Francophone heritage, so no doubt French will take more of a back seat to English. When I was there, though, I needed to use French to get by.
• Like in Uganda, you may find shops closed at weekends.
• No ATMs will accept foreign cards, however you can get cash advances on a credit card in some banks (e.g. Bank of Kigali in Kigali).  Fees were 3.67% (Visa) or $25 (Mastercard).
• Note that Rwanda is relatively expensive (except for transport) so you will need much more cash per day than, say, Uganda.  A trivial example is that I couldn't find any postcards for less than RWF1,000, and they were generally of dire quality.

6th June 2009 As mentioned in my Uganda entry, change all your Ugandan shillings at the border as you'll get better rates there than in Gisenyi or Kigali.  Remember to set your watch back an hour too.  There's no charge for British citizens for a 30 day visa.

6th June 2009 RWF400 Minivan from Cyanika (the border) to Ruhengeri (renamed to Musanze but no-one seemed to use that name), taking about 45 minutes.
6th June 2009 RWF900 Minibus from Ruhengeri (Musanze) to Gisenyi, taking about 1 hour 20 minutes. I think Virunga Express is the only company doing this route and they have several departures per day - mine left at 11:20AM. Note that the luggage boys will expect a tip even if they just touch your luggage.


Gisenyi
(Slow) Internet available for RWF400 per hour.
6th June 2009 RWF10,000 Nightly rate for a private ensuite room at Auberge de Gisenye (sic).  Cold water only but you can request a bucket of hot water from the kitchen.  TV.  Decent lunch and dinner buffet - a heaped plate of veg for RWF1,500. Laundry available for RWF3,000 per load (though I inadvertently bargained this down to a more reasonable RWF2,000 due to a misunderstanding caused by my dodgy French.)  I heard good reports about the (cheaper) City Hotel.
9th June 2009 RWF2,300 Minibus (Vironga Ponctuel Express) from Gisenyi to Kigali, taking 1 hour 20 minutes to Ruhengeri (aka Musanze) then about 2 hours to Kigali.  There are many throughout the day - tickets can be bought in advance.


Kigali

• Few road signs so a bit of a pain to navigate, plus no-one seems to know where anything is (an East African trait, in my experience).
• The Post Office here supposedly offers poste restante, but a package I was expecting never showed up.  Oddly, on the two occasions I visited, I was sent to different parts of the building, leaving me wondering if perhaps my package was there but just in a (third) part of the building that no-one had sent me to.
• Bourbon Cafe next to Nakumatt seems to be the main foreigner hang-out.
• Had a good dinner at Republika Lounge, but was unimpressed by its vaunted views, and the staff made 4 separate mistakes in creating and settling my bill - pretty good going as I was the only customer in the place when I ordered.

9th June 2009 RWF10,000 Nightly rate for a private ensuite room at Auberge La Caverne.  TV.  The supposedly hot water rarely put in an appearance, even taking into account the facts that the hot and cold taps were labelled the reverse of what you might expect (i.e. red on cold, blue on hot), and that you needed to run the hot water for several minutes.
11th June 2009 RWF5,000 Haircut at the Serena Hotel.
11th June 2009 RWF400 Motorbike taxi from the Auberge La Caverne to the Genocide Memorial.
11th June 2009 RWF400 per hour.  Internet in the Internet cafe next to the Post Office - this seemed to be consistently the fastest of the places I tried.
14th June 2009 RWF2,500 Paperback of Jules Verne "Around the world in 80 days" from Nakumatt
15th June 2009 $125 Cost to DHL 3kg of stuff (plus 0.5kg of packing) back to the UK.  Paying by credit card would have incurred a further 5% commission but the link was down so I ended up having to pay in cash.  Insurance for up to $500 cost an extra $15 (I was sending my broken laptop so deemed it worthwhile), however this subsequently caused problems at UK customs, as they tried to charge VAT on a presumed value of $500!
16th June 2009 RWF1,800 Minibus (Volcano) from Kigali to Butare (renamed to Huye 3 years earlier but no-one seemed to call it that), leaving at 6AM and taking 2 hours 15 minutes.  This seemed to be the only daily bus doing this run.  There were several stops in Butare so make you sure you get out at the right one.


Butare (Huye)

• Internet available at RWF600 per hour. 
• The Ibis Hotel seems to be the main foreigner hang-out, and the food's good.

16th June 2009 RWF6,000 Nightly rate for a private ensuite room (cold water only) at the Hotel des Beaux-Arts.  Frequent water outages, so fill the provided buckets whenever you are able.
17th June 2009 RWF3,000 Entry to the National Museum.  Whatever the guidebooks might say, this is a 20+ minute walk from the centre of town.  You can't take photos inside though they're allowed in the attached botanical gardens.  You have to pay an extra RWF2,000 if you want to take photos in a mock-up traditional house.
18th June 2009 RWF6,000 Minibus (Belvedere) from Butare to Bujumbura in Burundi, leaving at ~9:40AM and taking 35 minutes to the border, 45 minutes for the border formalities, and 2 hours 30 minutes to Bujumbura (i.e. 3 hours 40 minutes in total).  Note that this minibus originates in Kigali, and you will pay the same price from Butare as if you had come from Kigali!  You need to book this in advance as normally the minibus leaves Kigali full.  The Belvedere office is next to the New Yahoo one, though the Belvedere sign is somewhat smaller.  I'd been told that Belvedere was the best company doing this run but I'd be surprised if there was much difference.


Border with Burundi at Kayanza Haut
The FX rates at the border are good so you may as well change your money here.