Why go to Ivory Coast? The 10 good reasons to go Ivory Coast

Generally speaking, in Africa and Côte d'Ivoire, daily life begins at the first light of dawn. In large cities, due to transport, shops open and close a little later than in medium-sized towns. For shops, opening and closing hours are approximately as follows: between 7:30 and 9 am in the morning, between 5 pm and 7 pm in the evening, some shops such as supermarkets remain open until 8 pm and beyond. Banks generally operate during the day (8am to 2pm or 3pm), and most services and administrations close around 4pm. An Ivorian or expatriate worker's day usually ends between 5 and 6 pm.

To get to the Taï Forest National Park, you'll need to make reservations and organize your expedition carefully. For Banco National Park, organization is directly at the entrance. For the rest, it's best to have a local guide who will call the people in charge of the small local museums to make sure they're open (as they're rarely visited, apart from Yamoussoukro and Grand-Bassam). The other parks and reserves are not easily accessible, as they are not well prepared for tourism.

Tours aren't usually very expensive - it's the guide who'll cost more - but the lack of directions and information often makes his or her presence indispensable, if not worthwhile. We therefore recommend local guides.

Traditional cultural ceremonies in the interior of the country, especially in the north, west and east, are obviously festivities that you should try to attend, and organize your stay well in advance with guides if you are to have the chance to do so. First and foremost is the tradition of poro and mask dances in Sénoufo, Baoulé or Yacouba country.