Africa
Southern Africa

Malawi

Malawi is a small, landlocked country in whose eastern border mostly follows Lake Malawi, the third largest lake on the continent. It's described as the "Warm Heart of Africa", referring to the friendliness of the people.
Tap on a place
to explore it
malawi.gov.mw
Wikivoyage
Wikipedia
Photo: Rockwurm, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Essential Destinations

Top destinations include Lilongwe and Blantyre.

Photo: Bdell555, Public domain.
is the capital of Malawi. It's a very green city, to the extent that sometimes you wonder if there is a city centre at all as buildings in the new town at least are divided by patches of grassy land and trees.

is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, and its second largest city, with a population of 800,264 as of 2018. It is sometimes referred to as the commercial and industrial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, .

Photo: Rockwurm, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a small town in Malawi about 1 hr from Blantyre. It was the capital of Malawi until Hastings Kamuzu Banda, the first president, moved the capital to Lilongwe.

Destinations to Discover

Explore places such as Southern Malawi and Northern Malawi.

Photo: Rockwurm, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is the southern most region of Malawi, extending south from Lake Malawi and including Lakes Malombe and Chilwa. It is the most populated region, with the most European influence and the commercial capital of .

lies to the west of the northern half of Lake Malawi. It is the least populated region of Malawi. In addition to the lakeshore, it features extensive highlands.

lies on the southern part of the eastern shores of Lake Malawi and is home to the capital of . Its fairly flat terrain disguises the fact that it is part of the high plateau of central Africa.

Malawi

Latitude of center
-13.3255° or 13° 19′ 32″ south
Longitude of center
34.0137° or 34° 0′ 49″ east
Population
14,200,000
Area
118,480 km² (45,745 miles²)
Elevation
1,180 metres (3,871 feet)
Capital
Currency
Kwacha (MWK)
Phone code
.mw
Internet domain
265
Open­Street­Map ID
node 424311645
Open­Street­Map feature
place=­country
Geo­Names ID
927384
Wiki­data ID
Q1020
This page is based on OpenStreetMap, GeoNames, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikivoyage.
We’d love your help improving our open data sources. Thank you for contributing.

Satellite Map

Discover Malawi from above in high-definition satellite imagery.
© Stadia Maps, Airbus DS, CNES, PlanetObserver, and Copernicus

In Other Languages

From Abkhazian to Zulu—“Malawi” goes by many names.
  • Abkhazian: “Ареспублика Малави”
  • Abkhazian: “Малави”
  • Achinese: “Malawi”
  • Afrikaans: “Malawi”
  • Akan: “Malawi”
  • Albanian: “Malavi”
  • Albanian: “Malevia”
  • Amharic: “ማላዊ”
  • Amis: “Malawi”
  • Angika: “मालावी”
  • Arabic: “جمهورية مالاوي”
  • Arabic: “مالاوي”
  • Arabic: “ملاوي”
  • Aragonese: “Malaui”
  • Aragonese: “Malawi”
  • Armenian: “Մալավի”
  • Arpitan: “Malavi”
  • Assamese: “মালাৱি”
  • Asturian: “Malaui”
  • Atayal: “Malawi”
  • Azerbaijani: “Malavi”
  • Balinese: “Malawi”
  • Bambara: “Malawi”
  • Banjar: “Malawi”
  • Bashkir: “Малави”
  • Basque: “Malawi”
  • Bavarian: “Malawi”
  • Belarusian: “Малаві”
  • Bengali: “মালাউই”
  • Betawi: “Malawi”
  • Bhojpuri: “मलावी रिपब्लिक”
  • Bhojpuri: “मलावी”
  • Bhojpuri: “रिपब्लिक ऑफ मलावी”
  • Bishnupriya: “মালাবি”
  • Bislama: “Malawi”
  • Bosnian: “Malavi”
  • Breton: “Malawi”
  • Bulgarian: “Малави”
  • Burmese: “မာလဝီနိုင်ငံ”
  • Burmese: “မာလာဝီ”
  • Catalan: “Malawi”
  • Cebuano: “Malawi”
  • Central Bikol: “Malawi”
  • Central Kanuri: “Malawi”
  • Central Kurdish: “کۆماری مالاوی”
  • Central Kurdish: “مالاوی”
  • Chavacano: “Malawi”
  • Chechen: “Малави”
  • Cheyenne: “Malawi”
  • Chinese: “Mǎlāwéi”
  • Chinese: “Malawi”
  • Chinese: “馬拉威”
  • Chinese: “馬拉維”
  • Chinese: “马拉维 / 馬拉威”
  • Chinese: “马拉维”
  • Chinese: “马拉维共和国”
  • Chuvash: “Малави”
  • Cornish: “Malawi”
  • Corsican: “Malaui”
  • Crimean Tatar: “Malavi”
  • Croatian: “Malavi”
  • Czech: “Malawi”
  • Czech: “Ňasko”
  • Dagbani: “Malawi”
  • Danish: “Malawi”
  • Dhivehi: “މަލާވީ”
  • Dimli (individual language): “Malawi”
  • Dotyali: “मलावी”
  • Dutch: “Malawi”
  • Dutch: “MW”
  • Dutch: “MWI”
  • Dutch: “Republiek Malawi”
  • Dzongkha: “མ་ལ་ཝི”
  • Eastern Mari: “Малави”
  • Egyptian Arabic: “مالاوى”
  • Esperanto: “Malavio”
  • Esperanto: “MW”
  • Esperanto: “Respubliko Malavio”
  • Estonian: “Malawi Vabariik”
  • Estonian: “Malawi”
  • Ewe: “Malawi nutome”
  • Ewe: “Malawi”
  • Extremaduran: “Malaui”
  • Farefare: “Malawi”
  • Faroese: “Malavi”
  • Fiji Hindi: “Malawi”
  • Finnish: “Malawi”
  • Finnish: “Malawin tasavalta”
  • French: “la République du Malawi”
  • French: “Malawi”
  • French: “MW”
  • French: “République du Malawi”
  • Fulah: “Malaawi”
  • Fulah: “Malawi”
  • Gagauz: “Malavi”
  • Galician: “Malaui”
  • Galician: “Malawi”
  • Ganda: “Malawi”
  • Georgian: “მალავი”
  • German: “Malawi”
  • Ghanaian Pidgin English: “Malawi”
  • Ghanaian Pidgin English: “Republic of Malawi”
  • Gilaki: “مالاوي”
  • Greek: “Δημοκρατία του Μαλάουι”
  • Greek: “Μαλάουι”
  • Guarani: “Maláui”
  • Guianese Creole French: “Malawi”
  • Gujarati: “મલાવી”
  • Gujarati: “માલાવી”
  • Haitian: “Malawi”
  • Hakka Chinese: “Malawi”
  • Hausa: “Malawi”
  • Hebrew: “מלאווי”
  • Hindi: “मलावी गणराज्य”
  • Hindi: “मलावी”
  • Hungarian: “Malawi Köztársaság”
  • Hungarian: “Malawi”
  • Icelandic: “Malaví”
  • Ido: “Malawi”
  • Igbo: “Malawi”
  • Iloko: “Malawi”
  • Inari Sami: “Malawi täsiväldi”
  • Inari Sami: “Malawi”
  • Indonesian: “Malawi”
  • Interlingua: “Malawi”
  • Interlingue: “Malawi”
  • Irish: “an Mhaláiv”
  • Irish: “An Mhaláiv”
  • Italian: “Malawi”
  • Jamaican Creole English: “Malaawi”
  • Japanese: “マラウィ”
  • Japanese: “マラウイ”
  • Japanese: “マラウイ共和国”
  • Javanese: “Malawi”
  • Kabiyè: “Malawii”
  • Kabyle: “Malawi”
  • Kalaallisut: “Malawi”
  • Kalmyk: “Малавудин Орн”
  • Kannada: “ಮಲಾವಿ”
  • Kara-Kalpak: “Malavi”
  • Karachay-Balkar: “Малави”
  • Kashmiri: “ملاوی”
  • Kashmiri: “मलावी”
  • Kazakh: “Малави Республикасы”
  • Kazakh: “Малави”
  • Khmer: “ម៉ាឡាវី”
  • Kikuyu: “Malawi”
  • Kinyarwanda: “Malawi”
  • Kirghiz: “Малави”
  • Kongo: “Malawi”
  • Korean: “말라위”
  • Kotava: “Malawia”
  • Kurdish: “Malavî”
  • Kurdish: “Malawî”
  • Kurdish: “مالاوی”
  • Ladin: “Malaui”
  • Ladino: “Malawi”
  • Lao: “ມາລາວີ”
  • Latgalian: “Malaveja”
  • Latin: “Malavia”
  • Latin: “Malavium”
  • Latvian: “Malāvija”
  • Lezghian: “Мала́ви Респу́блика”
  • Lezghian: “Малави”
  • Ligurian: “Malawi”
  • Limburgan: “Malawi”
  • Lingala: “Malawi”
  • Lingua Franca Nova: “Malaui”
  • Literary Chinese: “馬拉威”
  • Lithuanian: “Malavis”
  • Livvi: “Malavi”
  • Lombard: “Malawi”
  • Low German: “Malawi”
  • Low German: “Republik Malawi”
  • Lower Sorbian: “Malawi”
  • Luba-Katanga: “Malawi”
  • Luxembourgish: “Malawi”
  • Macedonian: “Малави”
  • Maithili: “मलावी”
  • Malagasy: “Malaoì”
  • Malagasy: “Malaoỳ”
  • Malagasy: “Malawi”
  • Malay: “Malawi”
  • Malayalam: “മലാവി”
  • Maltese: “il-Malawi”
  • Maltese: “Malawi”
  • Maltese: “Repubblika tal-Malawi”
  • Manipuri: “ꯃꯥꯂꯥꯋꯤ”
  • Manx: “Malawi”
  • Maori: “Marāwi”
  • Marathi: “मलावी”
  • Mazanderani: “مالاوی”
  • Min Dong Chinese: “Malawi”
  • Min Nan Chinese: “Malawi”
  • Minangkabau: “Malawi”
  • Mingrelian: “მალავი”
  • Moksha: “Малави”
  • Mongolian: “Малави”
  • Moroccan Arabic: “مالاوي”
  • Nauru: “Malawi”
  • Navajo: “Kiniikǫʼí Dineʼé Bikéyah”
  • Nepali: “मलावी”
  • Nepali: “मालावी”
  • Newari: “मलावी”
  • North Ndebele: “Malawi”
  • Northern Frisian: “Malaawi”
  • Northern Sami: “Malawi dásseváldi”
  • Northern Sami: “Malawi”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Malawi”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Republikken Malawi”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Malawi”
  • Norwegian: “Malawi”
  • Novial: “Malawi”
  • Nyanja: “Malaŵi”
  • Obolo: “Malawi”
  • Occitan (post 1500): “Malawi”
  • Old English (ca. 450-1100): “Malawi”
  • Oriya: “ମଲାବୀ”
  • Oriya: “ମଲାୱୀ”
  • Oriya: “ମାଲୱି”
  • Oromo: “Maalaawii”
  • Oromo: “Maalaawwii”
  • Ossetian: “Малави”
  • Pali: “मलावी”
  • Pampanga: “Malawi”
  • Panjabi: “ਮਲਾਵੀ”
  • Papiamento: “Malawi”
  • Pedi: “Malawi”
  • Persian: “مالاوی”
  • Piemontese: “Malawi”
  • Pitcairn-Norfolk: “Malaawi”
  • Polish: “Malawi”
  • Portuguese: “Malaui”
  • Portuguese: “Malauí”
  • Portuguese: “Maláui”
  • Portuguese: “Malavi”
  • Portuguese: “Malávi”
  • Portuguese: “Malawi”
  • Portuguese: “República do Malawi”
  • Pushto: “مالاوي”
  • Quechua: “Malawi”
  • Romanian: “Malawi”
  • Romansh: “Malawi”
  • Rundi: “Malawi”
  • Russia Buriat: “Малави”
  • Russian: “Малави”
  • Russian: “Республика Малави”
  • Sakizaya: “Malawi”
  • Samoan: “Malawi”
  • Samogitian: “Malavis”
  • Sango: “Malawïi”
  • Sanskrit: “मलावी”
  • Sardinian: “Malawi”
  • Saterfriesisch: “Malawi”
  • Scots: “Malawi”
  • Scottish Gaelic: “Malabhaidh”
  • Serbian: “Malavi”
  • Serbian: “Малави”
  • Serbian: “Република Малави”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Malavi”
  • Shan: “မိူင်းမႃႇလႃႇဝီႇ”
  • Shona: “Malawi”
  • Sicilian: “Malaui”
  • Silesian: “Malawi”
  • Sindhi: “مالاوي”
  • Sindhi: “ملاوي”
  • Sinhala: “මලාවි”
  • Skolt Sami: “Malaaw tääʹssväʹldd”
  • Skolt Sami: “Malaaw”
  • Slovak: “Malawi”
  • Slovak: “Malawijská republika”
  • Slovenian: “Malavi”
  • Slovenian: “MAW”
  • Slovenian: “mw”
  • Slovenian: “Republika Malavi”
  • Somali: “Malaawi”
  • South Azerbaijani: “مالاوی”
  • South Ndebele: “Malawi”
  • Southern Sotho: “Malawi”
  • Southern Sotho: “Malaŵi”
  • Spanish: “Malaui”
  • Spanish: “Malawi”
  • Spanish: “Republica de Malaui”
  • Spanish: “República de Malaui”
  • Standard Moroccan Tamazight: “ⵎⴰⵍⴰⵡⵉ”
  • Sundanese: “Malawi”
  • Swahili: “Malawi”
  • Swati: “IMalawi”
  • Swedish: “Malawi”
  • Swedish: “Republiken Malawi”
  • Swiss German: “Malawi”
  • Tagalog: “Malawi”
  • Tajik: “Малави”
  • Tajik: “Моловӣ”
  • Talysh: “Malavi”
  • Tamil: “மலாவி”
  • Tamil: “மாலவி”
  • Taroko: “Malawi”
  • Tatar: “Малави”
  • Telugu: “మలావి”
  • Telugu: “మలావీ”
  • Thai: “ประเทศมาลาวี”
  • Thai: “มาลาวี”
  • Tibetan: “མ་ལ་ཝི།”
  • Tibetan: “མཱ་ལཱ་ཝི།”
  • Tigrinya: “ማላዊ”
  • Tonga (Tonga Islands): “Malaui”
  • Tosk Albanian: “Malawi”
  • Tsonga: “Malawi”
  • Tumbuka: “Malawi”
  • Tumbuka: “Malaŵi”
  • Tunisian Arabic: “مالاوي”
  • Turkish: “Malavi”
  • Turkmen: “Malawi”
  • Twi: “Malawi”
  • Udmurt: “Малави”
  • Uighur: “مالاۋى”
  • Ukrainian: “Малаві”
  • Ukrainian: “Республіка Малаві”
  • Upper Sorbian: “Malawi”
  • Urdu: “ملاوی”
  • Uzbek: “Malavi”
  • Venetian: “Małaui”
  • Venetian: “Malawi”
  • Veps: “Malavi”
  • Vietnamese: “Cộng hoà Malawi”
  • Vietnamese: “Cộng hòa Malawi”
  • Vietnamese: “Ma-la-uy (Malawi)”
  • Vietnamese: “Ma-la-uy”
  • Vietnamese: “Malawi”
  • Vlaams: “Malawi”
  • Vlax Romani: “Malawi”
  • Volapük: “Malaviyän”
  • Võro: “Malawi”
  • Waray (Philippines): “Malawi”
  • Welsh: “Malawi”
  • Western Frisian: “Malawi”
  • Western Frisian: “Malawy”
  • Western Panjabi: “ملاوی”
  • Wolof: “Malawi”
  • Wu Chinese: “馬拉維”
  • Xhosa: “Malawi”
  • Yakut: “Малауи”
  • Yiddish: “מאלאווי”
  • Yiddish: “מאַלאַווי”
  • Yoruba: “Malawi”
  • Yoruba: “Màláwì”
  • Yue Chinese: “馬拉維”
  • Zeeuws: “Malawi”
  • Zhuang: “Malawi”
  • Zulu: “iMalawi”
  • Zulu: “IMalawi”
  • “ma Malawi”
  • “Malahui”
  • “Malavis”
  • “Malawi”
  • “MAW”
  • “MW”
  • “MWI”
  • “मलावी”

Southern Africa: Must-Visit Destinations

Delve into South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Zambia.

Explore These Curated Destinations

Discover places selected for their distinct character and enduring appeal.
About Mapcarta. Data © OpenStreetMap contributors and available under the Open Database License". Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, except for photos, directions, and the map. Description text is based on the Wikivoyage page “Malawi”. Photo: Rockwurm, CC BY-SA 3.0.