From the airport to the city centre Ivory Coast

Hotel shuttles. All business hotels in Abidjan offer a free airport shuttle service. Mid-range hotels and guesthouses also offer this service at an additional cost.

VTC cabs. The local VTC company, Yango, is king, but Heetch also exists (more expensive). The fare is pre-paid on the app, so there's no trickery! You pay directly in cash and then add tolls (bridges and freeways). Count on 2,500 to 3,000 FCFA for Marcory or Plateau, up to 5,500 FCFA for Cocody. Make sure you leave plenty of time, as vehicles here take a long time to arrive due to traffic, and make your way to the drop-off point. They are available at the airport until midnight, and can also take you to Bassam or Assinie, or official red cabs.

Meter cabs. There are also the official (red) cabs, which are sure to beckon you from the arrival hall, as are the porters (don't let them take your luggage, or you'll have to pay them fancy prices). Check out Yango's taxi fares to get an idea of how much you can expect to pay, bearing in mind that cabs are a little more expensive, but always present, safe and easy to identify on arrival. Don't take a clandestine cab, as there's a risk that all your belongings will be stolen. Enjoy your arrival!

Sotra bus. There's a Sotra bus line that leaves directly from the airport terminal, line no. 6. It serves Marcory Bietry (Bd de Marseille), Treichville and stops at al gare sud du Plateau (platform L06).

Arrival by train Ivory Coast

Two passenger trains (express no. 11 and special passenger train no. 211, both operated by Sitarail) cross Côte d'Ivoire from south to north. They allow you to reach Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso (1,260 km) in around a day and a half. Departures are at 10:30 a.m. from Treichville station on Thursdays and Saturdays for express no. 11 (a kind of omnibus making 24 stops between Abidjan and Ouagadougou), and on Tuesdays for special train no. 211 (9 stops between Abidjan and Ouagadougou). Cost 15,000 FCFA in 1st class and 25,000 FCFA in 2nd class to Bouaké or Katiola.

Good to know. Treichville station has been renovated and is secure. This is where you should get off (and not before). Before you do anything else, don't forget to arrange your visa for Burkina Faso. We recommend that you opt for first class for comfort and air-conditioning, and book at least two weeks in advance. During certain stopovers, station platforms can sometimes become veritable markets. The bar car offers a fairly basic service and selection. The train travels at between 50 and 60 km/h, and the journey can be slowed down by herds of cattle, etc., so forget the time and take life on the African side.

Public transport Ivory Coast

Bus in Abidjan. Abidjan is served by more than 90 bus lines operated by Sotra (Société des transports abidjanais). Ticket prices range from 200 FCFA for the ordinary bus, to 500 FCFA for the Express. Interminable waiting times, random stops and timetables, crowded vehicles turning into popular hunting grounds for pickpockets. In short, the bus is not necessarily the best option. Choose cabs or VTCs instead.

Wôrô-wôrô. This is a collective cab (5 or 6 people), with a regular route and fixed fares, which travels within each of Abidjan's 10 communes, to/from specific wôrô-wôrôs stations. A color specific to the zone: blue in Treichville, yellow in Cocody, green in Marcory... Wôrô-wôrô (or "waren") is a term derived from Malinké; literally, woro-woro means "six-six", because at the time of its baptism, the fare was 30 FCFA, or 6 pieces of 5 FCFA. Many of these old jeeps, which came from France, were christened "France au revoir". As with the gbakas, a one-off experiment can be tried, but don't overdo it: the drivers revisit the highway code and, most of the time, their ageless vehicles wouldn't survive a technical inspection. Also, if possible, try to get a front seat: this will reduce the risk of having your pockets picked.

Tariffs for wôrô-wôrôs :

Grand carrefour de Koumassi, to Port-Bouët / Treichville: 300 FCFA, Adjamé Liberté / Adjamé Marché: 600 FCFA, Cocody Saint-Jean: 700 FCFA, Abobo / Riviera: 800 FCFA, Yopougon: 1,000 FCFA.

Cocody Saint-Jean, to Anono: 200 FCFA, Rue des Jardins: 250 FCFA, Adjamé Liberté / Adjamé Marché / Angré / Plateau / Riviera II and III: 300 FCFA, Gare de Bassam /Treichville: 350 FCFA, Port-Bouët: 800 FCFA.

Bassam Treichville station, to Gonzagueville: 200 FCFA, Bassam: 500 FCFA, Plateau: 300 FCFA, Cocody Saint-Jean: 350 FCFA, Adjamé Liberté: 400 FCFA, Bonoua: 600 FCFA, Aboisso: 1,000 FCFA, Noé: 1,500 FCFA.

Adjamé Liberté station, to Abobo / Williamsville: 200 FCFA, Bingerville / Cocody Saint-Jean / Plateau / Yopougon: 300 FCFA, Treichville: 400 FCFA, Koumassi / Marcory: 600 FCFA, Port-Bouët: 800 FCFA.

Adjamé Forum station, to Plateau / Cocody Saint-Jean / Treichville: 300 FCFA, Koumassi / Marcory: 600 FCFA, Port-Bouët: 800 FCFA.

Gbaka. The gbaka is an 18-seater minibus used for public transport to popular communes farthest from the center of Abidjan, such as Yopougon, Adjamé and Abobo. It's also used to travel inland, and you'll come across it very often on the roads. The name "gbaka" comes from the Malinké word for something spoiled and unsightly: the gbaka is a bit like a rolling peanut, a wreck of a vehicle, tired-fatigued. Nobody respects it, but paradoxically everybody needs it. It has much of what constitutes the essence of the country: exuberance, feverish agitation, scheming, palaver, arrangements... A concentrate of life... and sometimes (not to say too often) death, unfortunately, as the gbakas' reckless driving is the cause of many accidents and "tracassements". In addition to the driver, there's the "balanceur", or apprentice gbaka. His dual mission is to attract customers and collect money. He owes his strange nickname to the fact that he attracts the attention of potential passengers by swaying and gesticulating through the ever-open door (if you come across a gbaka with the door closed, it's full, i.e. with twice as many people as there are seats available. This is known as "superpo'": "Ya de la plaaace! In addition to one or more balancemen, the gbaka also employs (not always willingly, mind you...) nyambolos, baggage loaders who impose their services more than anything else and are often paid a togo (100 FCFA coin) here and there. More or less indirectly, everyone "eats" in the gbakas, including the police.

Abidjan's future metro. The metro construction site was inaugurated in November 2017. Line 1 was due to enter service in 2021, but will normally do so in 2028), should - eventually - handle traffic of 500,000 people a day, carried by 28 trains that will run every 5 minutes during rush hour, and make a significant contribution to relieving congestion in the Pearl of the Lagoons. Line 1 of the future urban train will run north-south from Anyama to Félix Houphouët-Boigny international airport, serving the towns of Anyama, Abobo, Adjamé, Attécoubé, Plateau, Treichville, Marcory, Koumassi and Port-Bouët. It will use some 37 km of Sitarail's existing rails (subject to rehabilitation work), while a section will be built between Port-Bouët and FHB airport. In the longer term, the second phase of the project envisages an east-west traffic axis, linking Yopougon to Bingerville.

Bus services between Côte d'Ivoire's main cities are provided by UTB, the main company offering the most comfortable buses (air-conditioned, fast, recent), although local companies also serve certain destinations. Tickets from Abidjan cost between 2,500 and 7,000 FCFA, depending on the destination. Inland, there are UTB stations in the towns of : Bouaflé, Bouaké, Daloa, Duékoué, Man, Yamoussoukro, Tiébissou, San Pedro, Méagui, Gabiadji, Soubré, Yabayo, Divo and Gagnoa. UTB also provides regional services, with buses to Noé and Accra (Ghana), Lomé (Togo), and Azové, Bohicon, Comé and Cotonou (Benin). Ticket prices for these routes range from 20,000 to 32,000 FCFA.

Good to know: If you choose to travel by bus, remember to book your ticket in advance. Comfort and safety are approximate concepts. Departure times depend on how full the vehicle is, and there is no real African timetable. The sector is very chaotic. A word of advice to avoid unpleasant surprises: lock your doors and close your windows to gain access. Because street vendors, "le Blanc, le Blanc!" on every floor and the coxers (young hawkers) of the massas (gbakas) companies serving the same destinations as the buses, will not fail to solicit you until (your) exhaustion.

With a driver Ivory Coast

VTC cabs. Over the past few years, VTCs have taken over private rides in Abidjan. Their advantages over cabs include: vehicle tracking, prices and routes calculated in advance, at prices lower than those of cabs, and the possibility of paying in cash, by credit card or mobile money. Particularly convenient for safe late-night outings! The benchmark smartphone application is Yango (you pay after the journey, the price of which is estimated beforehand, when you place your order) and Heetch, which is struggling to establish itself in the Abidjan landscape.

Metered cabs. The price (increased after midnight) will vary according to the distance to be covered and other more or less esoteric or eccentric factors, depending on the driver you come across. Here, taximen (or taximeters, "taximaîtres" in the popular jargon), contrary to their name, don't operate by meter but "by arrangement", with the price fixed before the journey. For example, a fare from the airport to the Plateau can be negotiated (with great difficulty) at 5,000 FCFA; a fare from Biétry to Les Deux Plateaux at 2,500-3,000 FCFA; a fare between Marcory residential and Biétry at 1,500-2,000 FCFA max'; a fare from Zone 4 to the Plateau at 2,000 FCFA and from Zone 4 to Yopougon at around 4,000 FCFA; an errand within Zone 4 should not exceed 1,000-1,500 FCFA, and may even drop to 500 or 700 FCFA depending on the distance. After that, it's up to you to use your negotiating skills. In any case, don't try to negotiate the same rates as the Ivorians, because your skin color will work against you from the outset: there are Ivorian prices and Toubabous prices. The main thing is not to accept " gaou" prices. Always bring "tokens" (change in coins) and/or small denominations to make up the difference, as our dear taximeters sometimes don't even have enough change. And don't forget that honking is the second language spoken in Abidjan, so it's always the same story with cabs: they honk at each other and have a hard time integrating the concept of a working white man.

A word of warning. Taxi-counter ambushes do exist in Abidjan, with the driver's accomplices patiently waiting for their prey while the driver changes route without the knowledge of customers, potentially wealthy customers, especially with suitcases. For this reason, take a VTC or an official cab.

By car Ivory Coast

You'll soon realize that the car is the most convenient way to get around Abidjan, and Côte d'Ivoire in general.

If you have the means, prefer the 4x4 off-roader to the city car, which is very practical for inland travel, especially since even in the interior of Abidjan, certain stretches of road are almost impassable, and the 4x4 has the advantage of being more reliable and safer.

If you have no experience of Africa, and still within your means, the ideal solution is to take a chauffeur-driven car, as finding your way around Abidjan is not always easy. There may also be occasional roadblocks in the city, and dialogues with the "uniforms" require a subtle dose of humor and determination (or determination at all, but it's always better with a smile), not necessarily easy to master, even for those familiar with the art.

When you rent a car, be sure to have the function and purpose of each piece of paper supplied with the vehicle explained to you in detail, so that you can easily pass any questioning the police may ask you, in order to pick up a few coins along the way.

A good alternative to renting a car is to hire the services of a cab driver for the day. Depending on the duration, distance and waiting time, the daily price can vary from 20,000 FCFA to 40,000 FCFA for a complete lap of the dial.