12 Things To Know Before Visiting Lagos Nigeria | Lagos Travel Guide

If the bustling city of Lagos is on your list here are 12 things to know before visiting Lagos, Nigeria. Let’s get into this Lagos travel guide!

The vibrant city of Lagos, which is is popularly known as the cultural capital of Nigeria may be next on your travel bucket list and within good reason. Nigeria has increased in popularity with the global rise of Afrobeats, Nollywood movies on Netflix and Prime, the food, fashion, along with the increasing popularity of Detty December. Whether you are visiting friends, family or going on a trip to connect with the motherland and your roots, here are 12 things you need to know before visiting! I hope this Lagos Travel Guide helps you to plan your next trip and helps you with what to know when visiting Lagos, Nigeria.

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1.Safety and Navigating Lagos

As much as I would love people to visit Lagos I think it’s important to talk about safety and navigating this vibrant and bustling city. I want to make sure anyone that reads my blog understands that Nigeria in general has not invested in tourism the same way some neighbouring countries have ie.Ghana. This means if you plan on visiting Lagos I recommend knowing someone in Lagos whether you personally know them, a friend at work has connected you with someone they trust etc. I always say everyone knows someone who knows a Nigerian lol and that is your starting point whether its work, your church, university, your children’s play group, connect with Nigerians!

There are tour groups that have organised trips to Lagos, Nigeria as well as local tour guides that organise trips. I personally have not used a tour company in Lagos but I know of Experience Kaabo which is owned by Tia Taylor, Authentic Travelling tours by Chris a well known travel creator and this Lagos City Tour on Viator by Lade another popular travel creator. I would recommend reaching out to them to find out more.

2.Airport

When landing at the Mohammed Murtala Airport In Lagos please note there are two terminals. Terminal 1 is the older terminal and terminal 2 is the newer terminal. The older terminal is a bit more run down and the toilets may not be the nicest so I recommend having a mini packet of tissues, mini wipes and hand sanitiser. The new terminal 2 is s a lot nicer.

Try to have some small cash on arrival for the trolley at minimum 1.5K naira if you want a porter to help you move your bags and push your trolley which you pay at the official desk. You can bring a few dollars if you can’t get naira just in case, for example 10 dollars in denominations of 1’s. Get ready, Nigeria is big on asking for extra money or should I call it tips? You may meet people asking “anything for us?” or asking indirectly or directly for money which is can be very annoying – especially at the airport when you first land.

The airport also has money exhange bureaus where you can exchange some money on arrival into naira if you really need it.

For airport pick up and aiport protocol where someone meets you and takes you through immigration I can recommend a travel concierge company FAI Lagos. I have personally used them and if you book with FAI, use the code FAI-SARAH234 get 5000 naira off your first booking!

3.Location & Where to Stay

Lagos, is split up into Lagos Island and Lagos Mainland which are connected by bridges. The Island is considered the newer and more expensive area so expect higher prices here than the mainland.

If you plan on having a very touristy trip you may have the best time on the island (Lekki Phase 1, Victoria. Island etc). You can also stay on the mainland if you have family there etc but travelling late at night from the island is not advisable so keep that in mind if you want to travel late at night. This is where most foreigners stay, there are hotels and airbnbs located here as well as a few touristy things to do.

I can personally recommend the The White Orchid Boutique Hotel and Park Inn by By Raddison as I have stayed at both and enjoyed them. Customer service in Nigeria can vary vastly and if someone is providing great service a lot of the time they probably expect some sort of tip. I recommend staying in a hotel if you want relatively good service, guarantee of breakfast etc and just a serviced stay due to some airbnb holders being hit and miss. Make sure you read all reviews for hotels on booking.com, tripadvisor etc and make sure the airbnbs have a few reviews. I don’t recommend booking any hotels airbnb’s that have no reviews or have consistently bad reviews.

4.Driving & Traffic

Get ready for traffic depending on where you are staying and when you visit Nigeria. If you visit in December aka Detty December get ready for some level of traffic as more people will be in the city visiting from abroad so traffic will increase. Keep in mind rush hour times as that can impact your movements. I recommend staying on the island if you plan on spending most of your time there and if most of your activities will be in Mainland stay there.

5.Food & Drinks

Whether you are familiar with Nigerian food or not you will enjoy! You will find Nigerian food and beyond in Lagos, you can check some recommended restaurants HERE (Blog Post Coming Soon). A few things I personally think you should put on your list to eat are suya, jollof rice, abula or some other type of swallow, chin chin and puff puff.

When driving around you will see people selling things in traffic, I don’t recommend buying open food here but they sell everything on the street so you can buy other things. Just be mindful to make sure you only wind down the window enough to pay and receive what you bought.

I recommend buying bottled water and drinks at reputable shops ie Shoprite, Ebeano etc

6.Money and Paying For Things

Nigeria uses the currency Naira and this is normally large denominations. Honestly if you are Nigerian the best thing to do is to open a Nigerian bank account, which will make it easier to take money out of ATM’s or POS. A POS in Nigeria involves people that give you cash for a rate using your local card. Normally people go to POS’s because there is no money available in the ATM or there is no ATM close by. Honestly people that do POS normally just empty the ATM’s so you have to go to them for cash, I have no clue why there is no regulation in regards to this but that is how it currently is. If you do use a POS make sure it is in a safe place and you can ask your hotel reception to call one to the hotel if needed.

If you don’t have the option to open a Nigerian account use a money/bank transfer app such as Lemfi, Opay, Africhange(use my referral code REF879446 10 points which is equivalent to £10 when you send £100 or more in your first transaction) Please note they are not banks so make sure to read up on protections for customers in regards to money!

Bank Transfer is a very popular payment method in Nigeria and will make it easier to not need a lot of cash but I still recommend trying to have some sort of cash on you in general.

Using your international cards when paying for things may work at most international based places ie hotels. shoprite, the airport etc but it may not work in some establishments. I recommend bringing more than one card and then have some of the above options as well. Don’t get caught without having a way to pay for things.

7. Tipping

As mentioned earlier people asking “anything for us”/”christmas gift” or tipping is a thing in Nigeria, there is no obligation too but if you want to be nice you can. Some people may directly ask you and honestly some people that are offering you a service are waiting for it, they just may not say. What is too small of a tip? Honestly I don’t know if I can say this but I have been told anything under 2K naira is not good but just give what you can if you want to give something.

Please be mindful that at the airport they can also try to get money from you in terms of checking your suitcase at customs etc. so you may want to have something small or just say you don’t have anything! Honestly they can be very annoying at the airport!

I personally like to tip if I can especially if I have received a great service ie getting my hair done, hotel service, restaurant service etc. There is no obligation to do this though and I don’t think you should feel pressured to do it unless you want to.

8.Getting Around

The best way to get around in my opinion is by car ride services ie Bolt Indrive t etc or having a dedicated driver. If using a ride share app etc a few important things to know is that most drivers may prefer cash payments but you can ask if they will take bank transfer and most times they will. You can choose only card payments in the app but it may limit the drivers that will accept you. Keep to normal safety measures, share your trip, make sure your driver is sticking to the route etc, check the number plate and the driver is who they are in the app (it’s happened to me where there are not who its says they are) etc and try to safe as as possible.

If you decide to hire a driver for your trip make sure it is through trusted people please don’t just accept drivers you don’t really know of! This might be be the better option as you know the driver and they are trusted, they can pick you up from the airport safely and they can take you around. I don’t recommend using Uber for airport pick up personally, maybe your hotel can help you out. FAI Lagos mentioned above can also help with general car bookings!

You may see some crazy driving and as mentioned above traffic. Just remember you are in Lagos, enjoy the chaos.

9.Sim Card and Staying Connected

Staying connected is really important when travelling especially in Nigeria. You can choose to sign up for a sim card at the airport for a trusted network such as MTN, Airtel, Glo and get a data and call package, put it in a spare phone and use it as a hotspot. You can also use an e-sim such as airalo . Research and check the one that works for you! If you would prefer you can purchase a mifi so that you can use it as a hotspot

10.Language

The official language of Nigeria is English and there are 500+ local languages. In Lagos you will hear many of those languages such as Yoruba, Igbo Hausa and more. In Lagos most people you interact with will speak English but since Lagos is native to Yorubas you may hear it quite a bit.

11.Electricity & Water

In Lagos there are frequent power cuts but if you are staying in a hotel you should be fine and won’t notice it. If you decide to go for an airbnb it’s important to ask about the electricity situation. Do they have a generator, an inverter etc to avoid major interruptions with electricity? What is the water situation like? Hotels will be fine with water but you need to make sure an airbnb will have decent water flow the airbnb. It is really important to read reviews to make judgement of what previous guests have said.

12. Vaccinations and Health

It’s important to make sure to check with your local gp/nurse what travel vaccinations and medicines you may need for your trip. This is very important as you want to protect your self against malaria etc. Remember to pack mosquito repellant!

In regards to health, make sure you also know where the closest well regarded hospital near your accommodation is as well as your closest embassy.

Overall

I hope these 12 travel tips are useful to help you when visiting Lagos, Nigeria! This is not an exhaustive list but hopefully will help you on your way. PS. Don’t forget to make sure you take some sunscreen!