Nigeria can be backpacked independently, but it’s one of West Africa’s more demanding countries, with almost no hostels and very few other travelers on the road.
Expect to stay in budget hotels at about ₦20,000 to 40,000 (US$15 to 30) a night, and to rely on Uber or Bolt in
Lagos and
Abuja. Intercity bus companies link the main cities, for example
Lagos to
Benin City in 5 to 6 hours for ₦15,000 to 25,000 (US$11 to 19). Arrange your visa before you fly, carry some cash because card machines can be unreliable, and keep to daylight travel. Avoid the northeast, especially Borno and Yobe states.
For Nigeria, plan on two weeks for a solid first trip and three to see both the south and the north properly; one week covers only the southwest.
Seven days fits
Lagos,
Abeokuta and the
Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove, with no ride longer than 3 hours. Fourteen days adds
Benin City,
Enugu,
Obudu Mountain Resort and
Calabar, but includes several 5- to 7-hour bus days. Twenty-one days lets you add
Jos,
Yankari National Park and
Kano, with one or two domestic flights of about 1 to 2 hours. Plan two to three nights per stop, because crossing Lagos alone can take 2 hours at rush hour.
Yes, you can travel Nigeria without a car by combining intercity buses, shared cars, one train line and cheap domestic flights.
Buses from motor parks link most cities, for example
Lagos to
Benin City in 5 to 6 hours for ₦15,000 to 25,000 (US$11 to 19). The standard-gauge train runs from
Lagos to
Ibadan in about 2.5 to 3 hours, and another line links
Abuja and
Kaduna, which is safer than that road. Flights such as
Kano to
Lagos (about 1 hour 40 minutes) usually cost US$65 to 130 and replace the riskiest road stretches. In cities, ride-hailing apps and keke tricycles handle short trips.
The must-visits in Nigeria are Lagos, the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove, Benin City’s bronzes, the Obudu plateau and old Kano.
Give
Lagos 3 days for the
Lekki Conservation Centre Canopy Walkway, the
Nike Art Gallery and a boat to
Tarkwa Bay Beach. The UNESCO-listed
Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove is about 2 hours from Ibadan, and
Olumo Rock in Abeokuta is 2 hours from Lagos. Allow 2 nights for the
Benin City National Museum and the casters on Igun Street.
Obudu Mountain Resort, at about 1,600 meters, needs 2 nights. In the north,
Yankari National Park’s warm springs and the walls and dye pits of
Kano each deserve 2 days.
If you’re short on time in Nigeria, skip the oil cities of Port Harcourt and Warri, and keep Abuja to a day or two.
Port Harcourt and
Warri are expensive, built around the oil industry and have few sights for visitors, so
Calabar, 3 to 4 hours further east, is the better use of your days. In Lagos, the paid party beaches at
Elegushi and
Lekki are crowded and littered, while
Tarkwa Bay is a 15- to 20-minute boat ride away. Remote parks such as
Kainji Lake and
Old Oyo each take 2 to 3 days and have limited infrastructure, which is hard to justify on a one- or two-week trip.
Yes, our itinerary-planner does exactly that. Set your trip length in days, give your interests and travel style, optionally give start- and end location and/or some mandatory stops you would like to include and the itinerary planner creates your personalized routes for Nigeria in seconds. Try it out!
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