Kampala rewards a thin wallet: most of its seven hills cost nothing to climb, a filling rolex runs 3,000 shillings, and the best lake views come from a fishing port rather than a hotel terrace. Three days here can stay under 150,000 UGX.
Uganda National Mosque on Old Kampala Hill, completed in 2006 as a Libyan gift to Uganda. The 304-step minaret climb opens a 360-degree view across all seven hills. Open 09:00-17:00 daily, and skirts and headscarves are lent free at the gate.
St Paul's Cathedral has crowned Namirembe Hill since 1919, its red brick fired on site by Ugandan converts. Entry is free, the lawns look straight down onto downtown, and the 08:30 Sunday service runs in English with a full choir.
The Mother Temple of Africa on Kikaaya Hill, opened 1961 and the only Baha'i house of worship on the continent. Fifty acres of gardens and pine forest are open dawn to dusk; the nine-sided prayer hall closes at 17:00.
Uganda's largest hand-dug lake, ordered by Kabaka Mwanga II in 1886 as an escape channel toward Lake Victoria and abandoned unfinished. Fishermen work the shallows at dusk and the shoreline path costs nothing to walk.
Kampala's oldest produce market has traded below Nakasero Hill since the 1920s. Jackfruit, passion fruit and matoke stack up from 06:00, tomatoes go for about 3,000 UGX a kilo and a ripe mango costs 1,000.
The rolex — an egg omelette rolled inside a chapati with cabbage, tomato and onion — was invented by stall cooks near Makerere University. Wandegeya still fries it fastest, 3,000 to 5,000 UGX, served past midnight.
A working commuter market at the Jinja Road taxi stage, cheaper than Owino for second-hand mivumba clothes and shoes. Bales are cut open most mornings, and food stalls plate posho, beans and greens for 3,000 UGX.
Ggaba Road through Kabalagala becomes an open-air grill after dark: pork muchomo by the stick, roast maize, cassava chips and beers from crates. Most plates land between 5,000 and 12,000 UGX and stalls run late.
The lakeside shrine where 32 Christian pages were executed in 1886, rebuilt in 1975 as a copper-clad hut raised on 22 pillars. Grounds, the Anglican site opposite and the lake walk are open daily and free.
Kampala's fishing port on Lake Victoria, where boats land tilapia and Nile perch each morning and women smoke the catch on the shore. A whole grilled tilapia with kachumbari eats for 10,000 to 15,000 UGX.
The Buganda king's palace compound at Mengo, and the underground cells Idi Amin's regime used in the 1970s, walls still scarred with prisoners' charcoal writing. Guides walk you the length of the Royal Mile.
St Mary's Cathedral tops Rubaga Hill, the 1925 Catholic seat that holds Bishop Streicher's tomb. The terrace in front is free to stand on and faces west over Mengo and Kasubi — Kampala's cheapest sunset.