Tanzania Distance Calculator
How far is it from Dar es Salaam to Arusha, or Dodoma to Mwanza? This tool reads the distances off TANROADS' own road distance chart: 26 towns, every pair, measured between town centres along the main routes. It also turns a distance into a driving time using an average speed you choose — not a timetable, because traffic, stops and roadworks are yours to decide. If your route is not between two of the 26 towns, the journey price calculator takes a distance you enter yourself.
Filed under Travel & Transport
Key facts
- Dar es Salaam to Arusha is 646 km by road on the TANROADS chart; to Dodoma it is 451 km.
- The chart covers 26 towns across mainland Tanzania and was published in March 2017 — the latest edition TANROADS has issued.
- These are road distances between town centres on the main routes, not straight-line distances: the straight line from Dar es Salaam to Arusha is about 490 km.
- Driving time is the distance divided by the average speed you enter, so it excludes stops, traffic and roadworks.
- Mapping apps will usually show a different figure, because they route to a specific address and account for current roads.
How the distance is worked out
TANROADS publishes the chart as a single table: one row and one column per town, and a cell holding the kilometres between them. The table is symmetric — Dar es Salaam to Arusha and Arusha to Dar es Salaam are both 646 km — which is why the tool reads one value rather than adding a route up. The chart measures between town centres along the main road network, so it matches the route a bus or a lorry would take rather than a turn-by-turn navigation instruction. The driving time row is the reader's own arithmetic: the tool divides the distance by the average speed entered, and nothing else is assumed about the trip.
Road distance = the value at the intersection of the two towns in the TANROADS chart. Driving time = distance ÷ the average speed you enter.Common Tanzanian road distances
| Route | Road distance | About, at 60 km/h |
|---|---|---|
| Dar es Salaam – Arusha | 646 km | 10 h 46 min |
| Dar es Salaam – Dodoma | 451 km | 7 h 31 min |
| Dar es Salaam – Mbeya | 822 km | 13 h 42 min |
| Dar es Salaam – Mwanza | 1,152 km | 19 h 12 min |
| Dar es Salaam – Tanga | 354 km | 5 h 54 min |
| Arusha – Moshi | 80 km | 1 h 20 min |
| Arusha – Dodoma | 425 km | 7 h 5 min |
| Dodoma – Mwanza | 701 km | 11 h 41 min |
| Mbeya – Songea | 466 km | 7 h 46 min |
| Mwanza – Bukoba | 416 km | 6 h 56 min |
Why this is not the same as a straight line
A great-circle distance is the shortest path across the earth's surface, and it is almost always shorter than the road. Dar es Salaam to Arusha is 646 km on the chart and roughly 490 km as the crow flies, because the road runs through Morogoro, Chalinze and the Usambara foothills rather than across the Ruvu plains. The chart is the more useful number for a driver, and the straight line is only useful for comparing two places on a map.
What the March 2017 date means
TANROADS' chart is dated March 2017. Distances on the trunk network change slowly — a new bypass can shave 10 or 20 km off a route, but the corridors between major towns are the same ones. The date is on the page so a reader can weigh it. If TANROADS issues a new chart, the matrix in this site's source is replaced and the date moves with it; until then, the 2017 edition is the authoritative published table.
How to use the driving-time estimate
The time row exists because a distance alone does not plan a day. Enter a speed you actually expect to average: 60 km/h is realistic for a long intercity run in daylight with a couple of stops, while 40 km/h suits a loaded lorry or a road with roadworks. The tool does not add a lunch stop, a police checkpoint or a fuel break — those are yours to add. On the Dar es Salaam to Arusha run, 646 km at 60 km/h is about 10 hours 46 minutes of driving before any stops.
Routes the chart does not cover
The chart is a town-to-town table, so it cannot answer a door-to-door question inside one city, a village on a feeder road, or a cross-border trip to Nairobi or Lusaka. For those, the journey price calculator accepts a distance you enter from your own odometer or route planner. Keeping this page to the 26 chart towns means every figure on it is a published one rather than an estimate dressed as a measurement.
Tanzania Distance worked examples
Dar es Salaam to Arusha
Neema drives from Dar es Salaam to Arusha for a workshop and wants the distance before she plans the day.
Dar es Salaam to Arusha is 646 km by road on the TANROADS chart — about 10 h 46 min at an average 60 km/h.
Dodoma to Mwanza
Baraka is posted from Dodoma to Mwanza and is working out how long the drive takes.
Dodoma to Mwanza is 701 km by road on the TANROADS chart — about 11 h 41 min at an average 60 km/h.
Dar es Salaam to Tanga at 50 km/h
Grace drives to Tanga on the coastal road and expects to average 50 km/h with a stop at Chalinze.
Dar es Salaam to Tanga is 354 km by road on the TANROADS chart — about 7 h 5 min at an average 50 km/h.
Tanzania Distance: assumptions and limits
What it assumes
- The distance is between town centres on the main routes, as TANROADS' chart measures it, not from your door to your destination.
- The chart is the March 2017 edition; TANROADS has not published a newer one.
- The driving time is the distance divided by the average speed you enter, with no allowance for stops, traffic, roadworks or checkpoints.
- No detour, bypass or route choice is modelled — the chart records one distance per pair.
Where the result does not apply
- Routes that do not start and end in one of the 26 chart towns — use the journey price calculator's distance field instead.
- Door-to-door distances inside a city, and any route on a feeder or rural road that is not part of the main network.
- Cross-border journeys to Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Malawi or Mozambique.
- Live traffic, road closures and seasonal conditions, none of which a static chart can carry.
Tanzania Distance FAQs
How far is Dar es Salaam from Arusha?
646 km by road on the TANROADS chart, measured between the two town centres. At an average 60 km/h that is about 10 hours 46 minutes of driving before stops.
Is this road distance or a straight line?
Road distance. The chart follows the main road network between town centres. The straight-line distance from Dar es Salaam to Arusha is roughly 490 km, which is shorter and less useful for planning a drive.
Why is this different from what Google Maps shows?
A mapping app routes to the exact address you enter, uses the current road network and may pick a different corridor. The TANROADS chart is a fixed town-centre table published in March 2017. Either can be right for its purpose; this one is consistent and citable.
Can I calculate a route the chart does not cover?
Not here — this page only answers the 26 chart towns. The journey price calculator accepts a distance you type in, so a route outside the chart can still be priced for fuel.
Does the chart include Zanzibar?
No. The chart covers mainland Tanzania's road network; Zanzibar is reached by ferry or air, so a road distance does not apply.
This page is provided for general information only. Figures come from the sources listed and may change; verify anything you rely on with the organisation that sets it.
Maintained by David M at Delta Tech Solutions · Figures last checked 27 October 2026 · Next check due 27 April 2027
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