CNN just named it a must-visit. Now Arusha is throwing a party to prove why

• Arusha is set to host second Cape to Cairo Arusha International tourism and cultural festival.
• Dr. Jane Goodall Centre to open in August in the city on the foot of Mt. Kilimajaro.
• Arusha only one of two Africa cities on CNN “Best places to visit” 2026 list.

Arusha is commanding the spotlight again. Fresh off its crowning as one of CNN’s ‘Must Visit Places for 2026,’ Tanzania’s safari capital is gearing up to host the second edition of the Cape to Cairo Arusha International festival. From the majestic heights of Mount Kilimanjaro to the endless plains of the Serengeti, this city already serves as the gateway to Africa’s most iconic landscapes. Now, from May 28 to June 3, 2026, it will transform into the continent’s cultural heartbeat, welcoming over 5,000 participants for a week-long celebration of Pan-African sports, culture, and unity.

“The marathon itself will take place on Sunday, May 31, 2026,” a press release issued earlier this week details, adding: “It is a strategic event that among other things, will boost intra-African tourism, promote cultural exchange and strengthen East Africa’s profile as a unified travel and investment destination.”

“The idea is to spur intra-East African Community tourism trade and help leapfrog other economic sectors,” commented Tim Mdinka, Chief Executive Officer of the Sports and Tourism Events Organisation (SATE) the brainchild of the event.

Mdinka, a veteran tour operator at Land Africa Safaris said the event is unique in that it brings together sports, culture and tourism and encompasses the entire East African Community.

This year, the Cape to Cairo Arusha International tourism and cultural festival will feature an international marathon that will be held at the Sheikh Amri Abeid Stadium, the city’s sporting gem.

Mdinka also highlighted that Arusha will be one of the city’s that will host the much anticipated Afcon 2027 soccer matches. “Arusha’s growing sports infrastructure is giving the city an international profile beyond tourism and we want to capitalize on this,” he detailed.

For the Afcon games, Arusha has among other things constructed a mega soccer stadium with the capacity to hold over 30,000 and which is named after the country’s first female President Samia Suluhu Hassan Stadium.

Other than the main attraction, the marathon, the week-long festival will also feature cultural performances, sports tourism activities and a high-level summit that is expected to bring together business leaders and policymakers from across the region and around the world to explore opportunities for expanding intra-EAC tourism and investment.

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Arusha, ‘Must visit 2026’ – CNN

What’s more, for adventure lovers, there is another rare reason to visit Arusha, as cited under CNN ‘Must visit cities 2026.’. In the January 2026 CNN article titled ‘Where you should — and shouldn’t — travel in 2026’, the author Lilit Marcus reaches back to her December 2025 piece in which CNN listed 20 locations on its ‘Where to travel in 2026: The best places to visit’ list, featuring Arusha.

On the CNN list of places to visit in 2026, Arusha is highlighted as the tourist city at the foot of volcanic Mount Meru, a gateway to numerous safari adventures. Additionally, CNN cites the opening of the Goodall Centre for Hope as a reason why you should pay a visit to Arusha.

“Come fall of 2026, there will be another reason to stick around Arusha — Dr Jane’s Dream: The Goodall Centre for Hope is opening its doors.”

Located at the Arusha Cultural Center, the Dr Jane’s Dream: The Goodall Centre of Hope is “an innovative space that will serve as a beacon of conservation, education and empowerment.”

The center, due to open in August 2026, celebrates the legacy of the world renowned  primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall. “This attraction hopes to educate, inspire and wow visitors through a series of interactive exhibits exploring wildlife and how we can protect our planet’s animals,” CNN highlights.

According to the center’s administrators, Dr. Jane’s Dream, The Goodall Centre Of Hope has been realized thanks to the funding in cash and kind by Saifuddin and Zahra Khanbhai.

“Their deeprooted commitment to conservation, education and community empowerment in Tanzania has helped turn this vision to reality,” the administration notes on the center’s site.

The two philanthropists donated land and funding for the construction of the centre; “a testament to their dedication to the rich cultural and environmental heritage of Tanzania for future generations,” the web article notes.

Not to horde all the credit, the only other African city on the CNN list is Alger about which the articles reads; “…you could lose yourself in the sandy infinity of the Sahara, in a country whose intense and silent natural landscapes have been unseen by tourists for decades.”

The article points out that Algeria only opened up to international visitors in 2023 at which point it introduced an easy to acquire 30-day visa for tourists.

The CNN piece calls to tourists to visit Algiers for it’s high-plateaus “the sandstone moonscapes of Tassili n’Ajjer National Park, home to a veritable Louvre of prehistoric art,” it reads in part.

Yes, it’s remote and overnight camp facilities are a little rough, but that cell-phone-signal-free peace is its own five-star luxury nowadays.

“There are direct flights to capital Algiers from several major European cities,” reads the article, a notable point that many African destinations, including Arusha can learn from i.e. securing direct flights to the city from major cities where tourists hail from.

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