HÔTEL PRÉSIDENT

The Hôtel Président, so emblematic of Yamoussoukro's former glory, like the Hôtel Ivoire in Abidjan, can be considered a visit in itself beyond its hotel, restaurant and leisure facilities. Olivier-Clément Cacoub, "l'architecte du Vieux", is responsible for this surprising edifice, comprising a tower (erected in 1980) and a building (dating from 1973) not necessarily to everyone's taste. You'll notice that the entrance hall, with its high ochre marble pillars and barococo chandeliers, resembles a miniature, more "modest" reproduction of the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Foundation for Peace Research. To paraphrase the poet, everything here is "luxury, calm and pleasure". Businessmen, politicians and senior executives, international civil servants, members of various NGOs and occasional tourists stroll idly through the lobby or linger over a drink in the soft armchairs of the bar, their ears riveted to their cell phones. Like many of the buildings erected after independence, the Président exudes a kind of old-fashioned charm, frozen in a time that seems to have come to a halt in the glitz and glamour of the 1970s, halfway between the kitsch aesthetics of the Shining and James Bond films. Its panoramic restaurant, on the ^14th floor in the hotel tower, offers a breathtaking 360° view of Yamoussoukro. It was completely renovated, as were some of the rooms, prior to the 2024 African Cup of Nations. A slow renaissance has begun.