#1. Palapye
One of the most important provincial towns in Botswana's east, Palapye, the birthplace of Festus Mogae, the country’s former president, lies close to the halfway point between Gaborone and Francistown.
As such it's an important crossroads town connecting the east with northern and central Botswana as well as to one of the busiest border crossings with South Africa at Martin's Drift. It's a good place to overnight if, for example, you're driving between Johannesburg and Maun.
Beyond that, and despite its name coming from the word phalatswe, which means 'many impalas' in Sekgalagadi or 'Large Impala' in Setswana, there's little reason to linger. This is not Botswana's most attractive town – not for nothing is Palapye known as the ‘powerhouse of Botswana’, thanks to the massive coal-burning power plant that operates in nearby Morupule.