Red Chilli Hideaway

We love Red Chilli 🌶 We have used it as a base while exploring Uganda and nothing has been too much trouble for the staff here. It's positioned as a budget accommodation and its probably fair to say the rooms are on the more basic end but the facilities, including the pool, the bar area, the pool and table tennis tables, the beach volleyball court and the food are definitely not budget. It is a calm, friendly and welcoming place that should not be restricted to backpackers. Red Chilli put together a personalised tour of Uganda taking in several national parks, seeing Gorillas, Chimps, Rhinos, Elephants, Lions, Leopards, Hippos, Crocs, Buffalo, antelopes along the way. The sister site in Murchison is amazing too! Seriously can not recommend Red Chilli highly enough. Thank you Debbie, Anton, Katie, driver Hasan and all the staff in Kampala and Murchison for giving us a memorable experience of Uganda

I don't keep coming here by accident. I stayed at Red Chilli for the fifth time in the first week of September 2023 and it was like putting on a pair of old, comfortable shoes that you haven't worn for a long time. A slight, initial "strangeness", followed by "Ahhhh, lovely!" I've covered the major points in previous reviews, but here's thoughts arising from my most recent stay. The staff were, as always, super-friendly and helpful. I checked in and gave my details to the kind and patient young woman on the front desk. Afterwards, as I walked around afterwards, everyone in a Red Chilli t-shirt greeted me by name: "Hi Tim!", or "Do you need anything Tim?". How do they do this? It's a million miles away from the scripted, insincere US "have a nice day!", they really mean it. I stayed in a double en-suite with a patio - I think I stayed in the same one, or its neighbour before - and it was spacious, comfortable and quiet. The bed had a kind of four-poster frame supporting the mozzie nets, which gave good coverage and which were free from gaps and rips. The latter doesn't always happen in budget accommodation in the area. There was large ceiling fan - very welcome - and a fridge which is great for chilling water or beer or storing meds. The restaurant continues to provide tasty and filling meals at a very reasonable cost, and the bar has local beers at very competitive prices, and which are kept very cold. Very nice at the end of a long, hot day! It's a bit of a shame that the wood-fired pizza oven is only in use on a Friday, but maybe that makes the pizzas a special treat. The one I had could have fed two, but it was so good that I couldn't stop myself and I ate the lot. On this occasion I was staying there for a bit of a sombre and unusual reason, so I can't speak to any of the tours or excursions. But, as a base to venture further from, to mingle with fellow travellers, to relax, to rest your head, to eat and drink, I can't fault it. Unless something really drastic changes with RC, in about a year's time, I'll be writing another review: "My SIXTH stay with Red Chilli, and as I keep saying, it won't be my last..."

On the plus side: the room was comfortable enough, the setting was green, with a pool, and an opportunity to walk on non-congested streets in the neighbourhood. The food was tasty and inexpensive. On the downside, the location is not convenient if you need to commute into town as the traffic is a total nightmare. Red Chilli requires that you pay in full upfront, and they do not offer even a partial refund if you cancel - so be careful of that. Also, the room had a light and fan that weren't working - and these issues were not addressed for the first 24 hours as they did not inform me that I would have to leave the room key with them for them to either perform maintenance or clean the room.

Once again we had a great stay at Red Chilli. We visit Uganda regularly on charity (Action for Child Trauma International) business, and it is the perfect base from which to travel out and about the country. We always feel well looked by a fabulous team of friendly staff, and this year we were especially impressed by the quality of food and the service. It was great to be able to invite our contacts in Kampala to meet and share a meal with us there. This time we were also able to find time to do a few trips, including to Murchison Falls, which were great fun and well organised for us. And we even managed some relaxing by the pool! We look forward to returning to our home-from-home in a year or so. Thank you Red Chilli team.

I have spent years traveling the world and I'm always attracted to places with dorms, casual bars, great eats and fun activities (pool table, ping pong, swimming pool, etc). They bring in the best of the travelers. You get Peace Corps folk, lone travelers on a budget, families, and even the high end tourist who doesn't want to be stuck in a stuffy - library quiet - hotel. Red Chilli (or is it one L, Red Chili?) is one of these great places. It compares favorably with my favorite places in Europe, Asia, or South America. I first came as a lone traveler with nothing but a backpack and dirty clothes, now I have two kids. I first came as someone who stayed in tents and dorms, and now I get the bigger private rooms (family!). And at each iteration of my life, since 2010, Red Chili place has been wonderful to me. They have tasty gin and tonics. Wonderful fields for kids to run. Attentive and super kind staff - I can name more than a dozen - and one day I plan to return to this post and name them all. Definitely try the Chili con Carne and the Beef Stew. But don't ignore the clever options like the Breakfast Sausage Sandwich with the cool and spicy Red Chili jam. It is safe to say that when I return to my regular life in Boston, Massachusetts, I miss my life in Kampala and Red Chili. Hugs to all!

We had a great stay at Red Chili. We stayed in Kampala for a total of 5 nights and 2 more nights while on safari in Murchinson Falls at their other property. Our children loved the pool and we spent a lot of time hanging out in the restaurant playing games and sharing meals. The owner and staff were all terrific and very helpful.

Comfy Rooms with a view. Hotel is quite spacious with a swimming pool. The establishment is quite old which might need a bit of refurbishment especially the ground floor rooms. The rooms lights should be changed/fixed as well as they were very dim. Friendly staff from the front office to the security teams. Hotel was generous enough to offer us a discounted rate as we were a large group. I wouldn't mind going back to the hotel for another stay.

We stayed here for 4 nights for the end of our Uganda journey, after an exhausting safari trip. We basically chose it for 2 reasons: it had good reviews and it was cheap; and it was far away from Kampala so we thought we could rest better being noiseless. The only good points that we found are exactly those, and that has a pool where you can take a bath - for us, all the rest was quite badly managed. They provided us with “one of the best rooms” they had. We were quite disappointed because it was a small room with one bed, and a bathroom where it was almost flooded when you took a shower. We had been around the country for 10 days and we had stayed in much better places (budget level). I believe the time to receive any drink or meal was the worst part. All the times we ordered something to drink or to eat, it took them forever to give it to us. Examples (not exaggerating): one coffee and one Coke, we waited 35 min; for breakfasts where we ordered pancakes, also more than 30 min, and everything like that. One night we ordered just one dish for dinner, they took 45 min to give it to us, and to top it all off, they delivered us another different dish than the one we ordered (the correct one came after, exactly, one hour). Another example that made us very angry was that, seeing the time that took them to prepare anything, we wanted to ensure the next breakfast was ready at 8AM because we had a tour in the city and we would be in a hurry, so in the previous dinner we ordered everything that we wanted to be prepared by 8. That morning, they said they had lost the order so we needed to tell them again what we wanted and of course not making it on time for our plan - thankfully our tour had been canceled just before breakfast (maybe destiny?) Anyway, the kitchen seems a mess and we were there in very low season, meaning all the times we were basically the only people ordering things. I don't want to imagine this management in high season… The last part I wanted to mention is that we booked this place because it was far from the city and we thought it would be very silent to rest properly. Well, during the nights you can hear music quite loud during a big part of the night from somewhere that makes it difficult to sleep. And that's when you don't hear a guy with a microphone singing like a rap during one hour at 6AM. Anyway, I'm honestly surprised with the good rating of this place with all the things we had to endure, maybe it was bad just those days, who knows…

The Red Chilli Hideaway in Kampala is a great base for your exploration of Uganda. We stayed in a ensuite room. No complaints; the room was clean, the bed comfortable and the water hot. The bar, dining and recreation areas are spacious and comfortable. The staff are friendly and obliging. Red Chilli run a number of outstanding budget safaris. We participated in the Murchison Falls safari and were very happy with the program tailored to our needs. I will definitely stay again when I return to Kampala