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Lagos, Nigeria, top 10 things to do (Wimup travel guide)
▶ Video · Lagos on Foot
Video guide · 48:22
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Top 10AfricaNigeria

Top 10 Things To Do in Lagos

Country
Nigeria
Best months
Nov · Dec · Jan
Population
16–20M
Language
English
Budget / day
$110–260
Quick answer

Give Lagos four days and split them by water. Two on the islands for the galleries, the restaurants and a boat out to Tarkwa Bay, one on the mainland for the National Museum in Onikan, Freedom Park and a late night at the New Afrika Shrine in Ikeja, and one heading west to Badagry for the slave route. Traffic, not distance, decides what fits, so book the long crossings for early morning or after eight at night.

Lagos on Foot

▶ Video guide Open the film page (48:22) →

Lagos is the largest city in Africa and behaves like it. Nothing here is arranged for visitors: the galleries sit behind unmarked gates, the best music starts after midnight, and the road between two neighbourhoods can take twenty minutes or two hours. What you get in return is a city that exports its culture rather than importing it.

The 10 best things to do in Lagos

Lekki Conservation Centre, Lagos, Nigeria (Wimup)
1

Cross the canopy walkway at Lekki Conservation Centre

Nature reserve· Km 19 Lekki-Epe Expressway, Lekki Peninsula, Lagos

The Nigerian Conservation Foundation has held this 78 hectare patch of coastal swamp forest since 1990, which in a city expanding this fast is the entire point of it. The canopy walkway runs roughly 400 metres above the forest floor, long enough that the middle spans move under you. The ground trails are flat and far quieter.

Time2 hours
CostPaid entry at the gate
Best atEarly morning
TipClosed shoes. The boardwalks stay damp through the rainy season.
Map↗ Website
New Afrika Shrine, Lagos, Nigeria (Wimup)
2

Hear Afrobeat where it lives at the New Afrika Shrine

Music venue· NERDC Road, Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos

Fela Kuti's original Shrine did not survive the 1977 raid on his compound. His children built this one in Ikeja in 2000, and it is a hall rather than a club: open sides, plastic chairs, a deep stage and food stalls down the edges. The music starts late, so arrange the car home before you arrive.

TimeAn evening
CostOften no cover
Best atSunday, when Femi Kuti plays
TipCheck the line-up on the venue’s own channels: the schedule moves.
Map
3

Read the country backwards at the National Museum Lagos

Museum· King George V Road, Onikan, Lagos Island

Founded in 1957, this is the collection that holds Nigeria's deep history in one building: Nok terracottas from the first millennium BCE, Ife heads, Benin bronzes, and ethnographic rooms covering the country region by region. The presentation is old-fashioned and the lighting uneven, and it is still the most important room of objects in West Africa.

Time90 minutes
CostPaid entry
Best atWeekday mornings
TipAsk about photography at the desk rather than assuming.
Map↗ Website
4

Take Yoruba culture on its own terms at the J Randle Centre

Museum· Onikan, Lagos Island

Lagos State rebuilt the old J.K. Randle grounds in Onikan into a museum of Yoruba culture and history, opened in 2024. The galleries move through cosmology and the orisha, language, textiles, music and film, and they are built for people who already know the culture as much as for visitors. Nothing is translated down.

Time2 hours
CostPaid entry
Best atLate afternoon
TipThe National Museum is a five minute walk, so do the two together.
Map
Climb four floors of Nigerian art at Nike Art Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria
5

Climb four floors of Nigerian art at Nike Art Gallery

Gallery· 2 Nike Art Gallery Road, Ikate, Lekki, Lagos

Chief Nike Davies-Okundaye trained as an adire indigo dyer and built the largest privately owned gallery in West Africa: four floors carrying more than ten thousand works. Go up before you buy anything, because the building is arranged so that the price and the ambition both rise with the stairs. Prices below the top floor are negotiable.

Time1 to 2 hours
CostFree entry
Best atWeekday afternoons
TipCash makes bargaining simpler than a card terminal does.
Map
Take the boat to Tarkwa Bay, Lagos, Nigeria
6

Take the boat to Tarkwa Bay

Beach· Tarkwa Bay Island, Lagos Harbour

Tarkwa Bay sits behind the harbour breakwater, which is why the water is flat here and heavy on every Atlantic beach along the mainland shore. There is no road: boats run from the Five Cowries Terminal at Falomo, and the crossing takes about twenty minutes past the container ships. Vendors, loungers and a surf school on the ocean side.

TimeHalf a day
CostBoat fare
Best atWeekday mornings
TipCarry cash. Nothing on the island takes a card.
Map
Freedom Park, Lagos, Nigeria (Wimup)
7

Spend an evening at Freedom Park

Landmark· Old Prison Ground, Broad Street, Lagos Island

This was Her Majesty's Broad Street Prison, and the architect Theo Lawson turned it into a public park that opened in 2010. The old cell blocks are marked out in the paving rather than rebuilt, so the footprint is still legible while people eat under the trees. It is now the most reliable events address on Lagos Island.

Time2 hours
CostSmall entry fee
Best atAfter dark
TipCheck what is programmed before you go: the park changes character completely on an event night.
Map↗ Website
Walk through Fela’s house at the Kalakuta Republic Museum, Lagos, Nigeria
8

Walk through Fela’s house at the Kalakuta Republic Museum

Museum· 7 Gbemisola Street, Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos

Fela Kuti declared his compound an independent republic and named it Kalakuta, and this house in Ikeja is where he lived out his last years. It opened as a museum in 2012: his bedroom left as it was, the stage clothes, the record sleeves and the grave in the compound. The rooms are small and the story is not sanitised.

Time1 hour
CostPaid entry
Best atWeekday afternoons
TipAsk for a guide at the desk. The rooms mean far more with the story attached.
Map
Bargain for adire and bronze at Lekki Arts & Crafts Market, Lagos, Nigeria
9

Bargain for adire and bronze at Lekki Arts & Crafts Market

Market· Oba Elegushi Street, Lekki Peninsula, Lagos

Rows of stalls off the Lekki-Epe Expressway selling masks, bronze casting, beadwork, aso-oke and adire cloth, leather from the north and carvings from across West Africa. Quality runs from airport souvenir to genuinely good. The first price is an opening position, and walking to the next stall is part of the conversation.

Time1 to 2 hours
CostFree to browse
Best atLate morning
TipDecide your number before you start and carry small notes.
Map
Badagry Heritage Museum, Lagos, Nigeria (Wimup)
10

Follow the slave route at Badagry

Heritage· Badagry, Lagos State

Badagry, west of the city on the road to the Benin border, was one of the busiest slave-trading ports in West Africa. The route is walked in pieces: an 1840s baracoon with its holding cells, the heritage museums, and a canoe across the creek to the sand track known as the Point of No Return. A full day, and the most serious one here.

TimeA full day
CostMuseum entry plus the canoe crossing
Best atLeave the islands before seven
TipTake a guide, and ask before photographing anything inside the baracoon.
Map

5 of the 10, mapped

Lagos · 5 spots
AllLandmarksMuseumsBeachesMarkets

Lagos travel FAQ

How many days do you need in Lagos?+
Four. Two on the islands for the galleries, the food and a boat out to Tarkwa Bay, one on the mainland for Onikan, Ikeja and the Shrine, and one for Badagry or Abeokuta. Three works if you drop the day trip, and anything shorter is spent in traffic.
When is the best time to visit Lagos?+
November to March, the dry season. December is the busiest month by a distance, because the diaspora comes home for what the city calls Detty December: the concerts and the parties are at their best and hotel prices rise accordingly. The heaviest rains fall between June and September.
Is Lagos safe to visit?+
Lagos is a working megacity rather than a resort, and it rewards the same caution you would use in any large city. Book cars through an app or your hotel rather than hailing on the street, keep phones out of sight in stopped traffic, and do not walk unfamiliar areas after dark. Read your own government's advice before booking.
Do I need a visa for Nigeria?+
Most visitors do. Applications run online through the Nigeria Immigration Service, and the requirements and fees change, so check the official portal before you book flights rather than relying on a summary.
How do you get around Lagos?+
Ride-hailing apps cover almost everything and are the default for visitors. The Blue and Red rail lines and the BRT buses are cheap and fast where they go, and the lagoon ferries turn a two hour drive into a twenty minute crossing. Whatever you choose, move across the bridges early in the morning or late at night.
Restaurants

Best restaurants in Lagos (2026)

Four kitchens worth crossing a bridge for, from Nigerian fine dining to the room everyone has eaten in.
Victoria Island

NOK by Alara

Contemporary African

Contemporary African cooking in the garden of the Alara concept store, in a David Adjaye building. The room Lagos books when it wants to impress someone.

Map↗ Website
Victoria Island

Yellow Chilli

Nigerian

Nigerian classics cooked properly and served without apology: egusi, ofada rice, goat meat pepper soup, seafood okra. Two kitchens across the city.

Map↗ Website
Lekki Phase 1

Ilé Eros

West African, tasting-led

West African fine dining in Lekki Phase 1, where familiar dishes come plated and reworked rather than reproduced. Worth booking.

Map
CactusVictoria Island

Cactus

Continental, all day

A Victoria Island fixture for close to two decades, open from breakfast, with a pastry counter and a terrace over the water. The default when nobody agrees.

Map
Bars & nightlife

Best bars and nightlife in Lagos

Where the night starts, and where it runs past three.
Victoria Island

Bature Brewery

Craft brewery and taproom

The first craft brewery in West Africa, brewing on Victoria Island and pouring in the taproom beside the tanks. One of the few nights that starts early.

Map↗ Website
Victoria Island

Quilox

Nightclub

The best known club on Ozumba Mbadiwe and the one that set the standard for the Lagos big-room night. Nothing happens before midnight.

Map
Lekki Phase 1

Sailors Lounge

Waterside lounge

Built out over the water off Admiralty Road in Lekki Phase 1, with a deck section moored on the lagoon itself. Come for sunset rather than for the small hours.

Map
Oniru, Victoria Island

Hard Rock Cafe Lagos

Bar with live stage

On the ocean side at Oniru, with a stage, a pool deck and a straightforward late menu. Predictable in the way a first night in a new city sometimes needs to be.

Map
Art & museums

Best galleries and museums in Lagos

Five rooms that explain why the contemporary African art market runs through this city.
Ibeju-Lekki

Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art

Opened 2019, 1,000+ works

The first purpose-built private art museum in Nigeria, opened in 2019 out past Eleko. Over a thousand works, including Enwonwu and El Anatsui.

Map↗ Website
Ikoyi

Rele Gallery

Contemporary, founded 2015

Founded in 2015 by Adenrele Sonariwo and now in a purpose-built space in Ikoyi. Its Young Contemporaries show is where several artists were first seen.

Map↗ Website
Omenka GalleryIkoyi

Omenka Gallery

Modern and contemporary

Set in the former home of the modernist Ben Enwonwu and run by his son, which makes the building part of the argument. Modern and contemporary.

Map
Ikoyi

Kó

Modern and emerging

A quiet Ikoyi space with a dual programme: Nigerian modernists of the postwar generation, and emerging artists from across the continent.

Map
National Gallery of Modern ArtIganmu

National Gallery of Modern Art

Federal collection

The federal modern collection, at the National Arts Theatre in Iganmu. The 1976 theatre is the draw as much as the hang.

Map
Beaches

Best beaches near Lagos

The Atlantic is loud and the lagoon is flat. Pick accordingly.
Elegushi Royal BeachLekki Phase 1

Elegushi Royal Beach

Gate fee, lounges charge separately

The busiest beach in the city, on the Lekki Phase 1 shore, lined with lounges that each charge their own entry. Loud and commercial.

Map
Ibeju-Lekki

Eleko Beach

Day huts for hire

Further east along the Lekki-Epe corridor and much calmer, with private beach huts rented by the day. The drive out is the cost.

Map
Okun Ajah, Lekki

Atican Beach

Road access

A tidier stretch at Okun Ajah, reachable by road and popular with Lagos families. Ocean swimming here is still Atlantic swimming.

Map
Lagos Harbour

Ilashe

Boat access only

Boat-only, a stretch of private beach houses west of the harbour entrance, and the standard Lagos weekend if someone you know has access.

Map
Live music

Best live music and theatre in Lagos

Four rooms where the sound is played rather than streamed.
Ikoyi

Bogobiri House

Live sets and poetry nights

A small hotel and restaurant off Awolowo Road with a bar, a gallery and a stage the width of a living room. Afrobeat, highlife and jazz.

Map
Ikoyi

Jazzhole

Record shop, café and stage

Three decades of records, books and coffee on Awolowo Road, with live sessions among the shelves. The best record shop in the country.

Map↗ Website
Victoria Island

Terra Kulture Arena

Theatre, gallery, restaurant

Founded in 2003 and now the main stage for Nigerian musical theatre, alongside a gallery, a bookshop and a Nigerian kitchen.

Map↗ Website
Victoria Island

Eko Convention Centre

Arena shows, busiest in December

The big-room venue on Victoria Island, and the December address: Flytime Fest runs its multi-night line-ups here through the Christmas weeks.

Map
Markets & shopping

Best markets and shopping in Lagos

One market that predates the city as you see it, and three places to buy what the designers here are making.
Lagos Island

Balogun Market

Textiles, wholesale and retail

The textile market that sprawls across a dozen streets on Lagos Island. This is where the fabric for most of what people wear is bought.

Map
Victoria Island

Alara

Design, fashion, art

A concept store in a David Adjaye building on Victoria Island, stocking African and international fashion, design and art across several floors.

Map↗ Website
Lekki

The Palms

Mall, cinema, supermarket

The Lekki mall that opened in 2005 and changed how the city shops: chain stores, a cinema and a supermarket, with parking.

Map
Alausa, Ikeja

Ikeja City Mall

Mall

The mainland equivalent, in Alausa near the state secretariat, and the practical stop if you are staying near the airport rather than on the islands.

Map
Day trips

Best day trips from Lagos

Four ways out of the city, none of them more than a couple of hours out on a good run.
Abeokuta and Olumo RockOgun State

Abeokuta and Olumo Rock

About 100 km north

The Egba capital in Ogun State, under two hours north and reachable by train. Olumo Rock sheltered Egba fighters, and the climb ends on a granite summit.

Map
La Campagne TropicanaIbeju-Lekki

La Campagne Tropicana

Beach, river and forest resort

A resort at Ikegun built across beach, river and mangrove forest, and the answer when Lagos wants a beach day with structure.

Map↗ Website
Lekki-Epe Expressway

Lufasi Nature Park

20 hectares, open since 2016

Twenty hectares of protected farm-forest on the Lekki-Epe Expressway, with trails, birdwatching and a stand of endangered ekki trees.

Map↗ Website
Epe

Epe

About 90 km east

A lagoon town at the eastern end of Lagos State, known for its fish market and the boat traffic that supplies it. Pair it with the drive to Eleko.

Map
What's on

Festivals & annual events in Lagos (2026)

The dates the city plans its year around.
Feb

Access Bank Lagos City Marathon

A full marathon and a 10km fun run through the city on a Saturday in February, finishing in Eko Atlantic.

Apr

Lagos International Jazz Festival

Concerts built around International Jazz Day at the end of April, with Freedom Park as the main venue.

Not annual

Eyo Festival

The white-robed Eyo masquerades take Lagos Island when the Oba calls the festival, usually to honour a departed dignitary.

Oct

Felabration

A week of concerts at the New Afrika Shrine marking Fela Kuti's birthday on 15 October, run by his family since 1998.

Oct

Lagos Fashion Week

The runway week for West African design, in late October. Designers from Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and the diaspora.

Nov

Art X Lagos

West Africa's leading contemporary art fair, held over a weekend in November since 2016, with an emerging-artist prize.

Nov

Lagos Book and Art Festival

Founded in 1999 and held at Freedom Park: readings, panels, workshops and screenings, and free to walk into.

Dec

Flytime Fest

The multi-night concert series at the Eko Convention Centre that anchors Detty December. Headliners sell out fast.

Getting around

Lagos transport & airports

How to arrive, and how to move once the traffic sets in.
LOS

Murtala Muhammed International Airport

The main gateway to Nigeria, in Ikeja on the mainland, with the terminals about a kilometre apart and no walkable connection. Allow well over an hour to the islands.

Map↗ Website

Rail

Two lines run under LAMATA. The Blue Line opened in 2023 between Marina and Mile 2, and the Red Line in 2024 from Agbado to Oyingbo. Both take a card rather than cash.

Map↗ Website

Buses

BRT buses run in dedicated lanes on the main mainland corridors and are the cheapest way to cover distance. Beyond them the yellow danfo minibuses cover everything else.

Map↗ Website

Ferries

Passenger boats cross the lagoon and the harbour from terminals including Five Cowries at Falomo. A crossing that takes twenty minutes by water can take two hours by road.

Map↗ Website
Traditional food

Must-try dishes in Lagos, Nigeria

Order these before you leave.
Jollof rice, Lagos (Wimup travel guide)

Jollof rice

Rice cooked down in a base of tomato, pepper and onion. The Nigerian version is drier than the Ghanaian.

Suya, Lagos (Wimup travel guide)

Suya

Beef sliced thin, coated in a groundnut and chilli mix and grilled over wood, served with raw onion.

Egusi soup, Lagos (Wimup travel guide)

Egusi soup

Ground melon seed cooked with palm oil, greens and meat into a thick stew, eaten with pounded yam.

Akara, Lagos (Wimup travel guide)

Akara

Peeled black-eyed peas ground to a batter, whipped and deep fried into a soft fritter. Breakfast, with pap.

Moin moin, Lagos (Wimup travel guide)

Moin moin

The same bean batter steamed rather than fried, often with egg or fish folded in, and cooked in leaves.

Ofada rice and ayamase

Short-grain local rice with ayamase, the green pepper stew built on bleached palm oil and beef.

Asun

Goat meat smoked, then chopped and fried hard with onion and scotch bonnet. The thing to order first.

Puff-puff

Sweet yeasted dough dropped in oil and fried into round balls. Best within a minute of leaving the pot.

Lagos fact sheet

Lagos at a glance

The essentials worth knowing before you go.
Country
Nigeria
Region
West Africa, on the Gulf of Guinea
Population
Roughly 16 to 20 million, depending on the boundary drawn. Nigeria has not held a census since 2006.
Founded
An Awori settlement on Lagos Island, reached by Portuguese traders in the fifteenth century
Nickname
Eko, its Yoruba name. Lagos State goes by Centre of Excellence.
Language
English is official. Yoruba and Nigerian Pidgin are what the city speaks.
Currency
Nigerian naira (NGN, ₦)
Time zone
West Africa Time, UTC+1, no daylight saving
Calling code
+234, with 1 as the Lagos area code
Airports
Murtala Muhammed International (LOS), Ikeja
Power
230V, 50Hz, type D and G plugs
Emergency
112 nationally, 767 for Lagos State emergency services
Ideal length
4 days
Getting around
Ride-hailing cars for most trips, two rail lines and BRT buses on the mainland, ferries across the lagoon
Tourism board
Official site

Interesting facts

  • Lagos was the capital of Nigeria until 1991, when the government moved to Abuja. The ministries left and almost nothing else did.
  • The name is Portuguese. The city's Yoruba name, Eko, is still what people use in conversation.
  • The Third Mainland Bridge runs about 11.8 kilometres across the lagoon and was for years the longest bridge in Africa.
  • Nollywood is among the most prolific film industries in the world by releases, built on straight-to-video rather than cinemas.
  • Fela Kuti declared his compound an independent state, the Kalakuta Republic, and was raided by a thousand soldiers in 1977.

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