Which means of transport to use Ivory Coast?

From the airport to the city centre Ivory Coast

Hotel shuttles. All business hotels in Abidjan provide their guests with a free airport shuttle service. Some mid-range hotels and guesthouses also offer this service for an additional fee. Please inquire and book your transfer in advance.

VTC cabs. If you don't have a personal vehicle, don't have a shuttle service, and no one is there to pick you up, you can use local VTC companies like Yango and Heetch, for which the ride is priced as a pre-payment on the app, so there's no trickery! Count 2,500 to 3,000 FCFA for Marcory or the Plateau up to 5,500 FCFA for Cocody. Take some time, because here the vehicles take time to arrive because of the traffic and go to the drop-off point. A phone store in the airport allows you to buy a chip with internet credit to start using transport applications upon arrival and be reachable by the driver to find you

Meter cabs. There are also the taxi-counters (red), which will not fail to solicit you in a very pressing way as soon as you have crossed the enclosure of the arrival hall, just like the porters (do not let them take your luggage or you will have to pay them at a fancy price). It is important to know that if you are white and have just arrived in Côte d'Ivoire, for most of them, you are the ideal pigeon. In addition to a very high minimum charge (a trip costs no less than 5,000 CFA francs, no need to negotiate), some cabs operating at the airport will not hesitate to "load the mule" for a trip across the bridges when a normal price should not exceed 5,500 CFA francs. As long as you are not overloaded (if not, you can always get a porter to help you for a few hundred CFA francs), and depending on your arrival time, one trick is to leave the arrivals area proper and walk to the scrub area (on your right when you have the airport in your back, after the parking lot), where you will find cabs at more reasonable rates. Finally, a small precision that will prove useful if you don't want to get into an argument with the police: don't linger at the drop-off point and don't stop a cab there. Have a good arrival!

Sotra bus. There is a Sotra bus line that leaves directly from the airport terminal, line n° 6. It serves Marcory Bietry (Bd de Marseille), Treichville and stops at the Plateau south station (platform L06).

Arrival by train Ivory Coast

As everywhere in the world from the moment you are not a native, the train is a unique way to meet a country and its people, the time for a timeless parenthesis along the rails. We take it for the adventure, the atmosphere, the history told by the landscapes crossed and the different people we meet along the way. Africans, for their part, take it out of necessity: among the passengers, many are travellers-traders commuting between the Ivory Coast and Burkina. Two passenger trains (the express No. 11 and the special passenger train No. 211, both operated by the Sitarail) cross Côte d'Ivoire from south to north and from north to south. They make it possible to reach Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso (1,260 km) in about a day and a half. Departures take place at 10:30 am at Treichville station on Thursdays and Saturdays for the express n° 11 (a kind of omnibus making 24 stops between Abidjan and Ouagadougou), and on Tuesdays for the special train n° 211 (9 stops between Abidjan and Ouagadougou). One is more chic than the other: as a smart kid, we'll let you guess which one. Count 15,000 FCFA in 1st class and 25,000 FCFA in 2nd class to Bouaké or Katiola, 35,000 FCFA in 1st class and 25,000 FCFA in 2nd class to "Ouaga"

Good to know. The Treichville train station has been completely renovated and is now equipped with new amenities and secure. This is where you will have to get off (and not before). Before anything else, remember to have your visa for Burkina Faso drawn up and to bring your vaccination booklet. We recommend that you travel light and opt for first class, if you wish to benefit from a certain comfort and air conditioning (second class carriages are simply ventilated). In this case, remember to take your ticket at least fifteen days, or even a month, before your expected departure date, as there are not many seats available. There are crowds of saleswomen crowding the train at each stop, offering various trinkets and regional culinary specialities. During certain stops, the station platforms sometimes turn into real markets. As the bar car has a fairly basic service and choice, you may want to bring along some food on the way. The train travels quite slowly (between 50 and 60 km/h approximately), at an inconsistent speed, and the journey may be slowed down for one reason or another (herds of cattle crossing the track, altercations in the station, or between passengers and agents...), so forget about watches, precise projects or detailed chronograms and just let yourself be carried away: the train will arrive when it does, anyway... take life on the African side

Public transport Ivory Coast

Bus in Abidjan. All of Abidjan's communes are served by more than 90 bus lines managed by Sotra (Société des transports abidjanais). The price of the ticket varies between 200 FCFA for the ordinary bus and 500 FCFA for the Express. Interminable waiting times, random stops and schedules, crowded vehicles becoming hunting grounds for pickpockets. In short, you will have understood that the bus is not necessarily the best option. You might as well take a cab or even walk within reason, as some parts of the city, such as the heart of the Plateau, Cocody and Marcory Zone 4C, can be covered on foot. The more reliable Wibus (lines 702 to 710), which run only in Cocody, are very practical. You can buy a rechargeable transport card for 1,000 FCFA and load your credit to avoid having to give change on the bus

Wôrô-wôrô. This is a collective cab (5 or 6 people), with a regular route and fixed prices, which circulates within each of the 10 communes of Abidjan, from/to the determined wôrô-wôrô stations. A color specific to the area: 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 cost 30 FCFA, i.e. 6 pieces of 5 FCFA. The massive arrival of wôrô-wôrôs on the roads of Abidjan dates from the end of the 1990s, encouraged by the liberalization of the import of second-hand vehicles (a little humorous detail that we cannot resist: many of these old jalopies, coming from France, were christened "France au revoir"), and several factors (structural difficulties of SOTRA, increase in the demand for transport induced by a strong demographic growth...) explain their rapid expansion. As with the gbakas, a one-off experiment can be tried, but do not abuse it: the drivers revisit the Highway Code in the Fangio style and, most of the time, their vehicles, whose average age is equal to or exceeds fifteen years, would not survive a technical inspection. Moreover, if possible, try to ride in the front seat: it will reduce your risk of having your pockets picked.

Indicative rates 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-seat minibus that can be used to travel to the most remote working-class communes in Abidjan, such as Yopougon, Adjamé and Abobo. It is also used for travel in the interior of the country and you will often come across them on the roads. The name "gbaka" comes from the Malinké word for something spoiled, unattractive: the gbaka is a bit like a rolling peanut, a wrecked vehicle, tired and worn out. No one respects it, but paradoxically everyone needs it, and there is probably no better reflection of Abidjan and the Ivory Coast. We find there indeed a lot 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) of death unfortunately, the gbakas being, by their unconscious driving, at the origin of many accidents and "tracassements". In addition to the driver, there is for example the so-called "balancer", or gbaka apprentice. We do not recommend this option. A key figure in the activity, he has the double mission of luring customers and collecting the money before handing over the takings to the driver. He owes his strange nickname to the fact that he attracts the attention of potential passengers by swinging and gesticulating through the door that is always open (if you pass a gbaka with the door closed, it means that it is full, i.e. that it has twice as many people as there are seats available, in the jargon of the gbakas, this is called "superpo'": superposition): "Ya de la plaaace! In addition to the weighers, the gbaka also employs (not always willingly, by the way) nyambolos, luggage loaders who impose their services more than anything else and are often paid - in addition to the commission they take from the driver - up to a togo (100 FCFA coin) here or there. In a more or less indirect way, everyone "eats" in the gbakas: drivers, mates, snitches, nyambolos, police and even the dreaded syndicates (gnambros, in which it is not uncommon to see "microbes", juvenile delinquents from the working-class neighborhoods, operating), who are supposed to be fighting against the parallel roadblocks and who take advantage of this to help themselves. Due to a lack of means, the urban population of Abidjan can live with them (prices vary according to the neighborhood and the distance traveled; to give you an example, a trip between Abobo and Adjamé costs between 250 and 300 CFA francs), but most of the time, they despise or fear the gbaka, as the drivers generally work 24 hours a day and are often exhausted, which results in numerous accidents, to the point that at one point, gbakas were even threatened with a total ban.

Warning. If you want to move around Abidjan in a somewhat efficient and comfortable way, avoid buses (except perhaps the Wibus in Cocody) and prefer cabs, VTCs or your own vehicle. Using public transport such as gbaka or wôrô is not really the best choice. Even for the sake of experience or "fun", do not use gbakas, which are hated even by local people who only use them out of obligation. You risk exposing yourself to useless waste of time and inconveniences: wrecked vehicles, frequent police checks and racketeering, pickpockets, hazardous driving leading to increased risks of accidents.

Future metro in Abidjan. The metro construction site was inaugurated in November 2017 for the African Union/European Union summit. Emblematic of the emerging Ivory Coast, the Abidjan metro, whose line 1 was supposed to enter service in 2021, but will normally be in 2023), should - eventually - ensure a traffic of 500,000 people per day, transported by 28 trains that will run every 5 minutes during rush hour, and contribute significantly to relieving congestion in the Pearl of the Lagoons, where multiple traffic jams generate a significant loss of revenue for the national economy. Financed by France to the tune of 1.4 billion euros, the project is being carried out by a consortium comprising Bouygues for the civil engineering, Keolis (a subsidiary of the SNCF group) for operations and Alstom for the rolling stock. Line 1 of the future urban train, which will run along a north-south axis linking Anyama to the Félix Houphouët-Boigny International Airport, will serve the municipalities of Anyama, Abobo, Adjamé, Attécoubé, Plateau, Treichville, Marcory, Koumassi and Port-Bouët. It will use some 37 km of existing right-of-way (although it will be subject to rehabilitation work) belonging to Sitarail - a subsidiary of Bolloré Africa Logistics - while an additional section will be built between the municipality of Port-Bouët and the FHB airport. In the long term, the second phase of the project envisages an east-west traffic axis, linking Yopougon to Bingerville.

The mainbus companybetween the main cities of Côte d'Ivoire is UTB, which offers the most comfortable buses (air-conditioned, fast, recent), although local companies also serve certain destinations. The UTB website (www.utbci.net) provides a detailed schedule of the routes taken, departure times and corresponding fares, from the stations of Abobo, Adjamé, Koumassi and Yopougon (www.utbci.net). From Abidjan and depending on the destination, the price of a ticket varies between 2,500 and 7,000 FCFA. In the interior of the country, there are UTB stations in the cities 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). For these routes, ticket prices 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, as trips are quickly booked. The concepts of comfort and safety in buses are still approximate (especially in terms of the drivers' conduct), even though the UTB fleet now has fully equipped buses for certain routes. In the interests of profitability, the departure time depends on the vehicle's occupancy rate and the time of year. So there is nothing more different than a paper schedule and a real African schedule: you don't leave when it's time, you leave when the bus is full. Don't panic though: the UTB station in Adjamé has a restaurant-glacier, a press point and a few seats where you can take your pain in patience. On the other hand, the area is so chaotic that in comparison, the streets of New Delhi or Bombay almost look like Switzerland or Singapore. If you want to avoid unpleasant surprises: lock your doors and close your windows to get there, because between the solicitations of the street vendors, the "le Blanc, le Blanc!" on every floor and the coxers (young hawkers) of the massas companies (gbakas) serving the same destinations as the UTB buses, who will not fail to solicit you until (your) exhaustion, you risk being tested even before having set foot in the bus. That's right: the journey often starts at the bus station!

With a driver Ivory Coast

VTC cabs. In recent years, VTCs have taken over private races in Abidjan. It must be said that with cabs, it's risky prices, a generally dilapidated fleet of vehicles leading to breakdowns or technical failures, drivers with borderline behavior, tiring and endless negotiations, higher fares. Among the advantages: vehicle tracking (your movements are known and tracked as well as the driver's actions), prices evaluated in advance, really lower than those charged by meter cabs, and the possibility to pay for your trip in cash, by credit card or mobile money. Particularly convenient at the airport to avoid being cheated and for late night trips in complete safety! There are three smartphone applications of reference: Yango (you pay after the trip, the price of which is estimated beforehand, when you order) and Heetch, which is struggling to establish itself in the Abidjan landscape

Taxi-counters. The price (increased after midnight) will vary according to the distance to be covered and other factors more or less esoteric or crazy depending on the driver you meet. Here the taximen (or taximeters, "taximaîtres" in the popular jargon) work with a meter (which is almost never done anymore) or what is called "à l'arrangement", with a price fixed before the race. This second solution is generally less expensive if you are familiar with the distances and prices of the races. It also allows you to avoid the "spicy meters", that is to say the tampered meters. For example, a trip from the airport to the Plateau can be negotiated (with great difficulty) at 5,000 FCFA; a trip from Biétry to the Deux Plateaux will cost 2,500-3,000 FCFA; a trip between Marcory residential and Biétry will cost 1,500-2,000 FCFA max.; a trip from Zone 4 to the Plateau will cost 2,000 FCFA, and from Zone 4 to Yopougon will cost about 4,000 FCFA; a fare within Zone 4 should not exceed 1,000-1,500 FCFA and may even be as low as 500 or 700 FCFA depending on the distance. After that, it's up to you to exercise your negotiating skills. In any case, do not try to negotiate the same prices as Ivorians, because your skin color plays against you from the start: there are Ivorian prices and Toubabous prices. The main thing is not to accept gaou prices (tourist traps). Always bring "tokens" (change in coins) and/or small bills to make up the difference, as our dear taximeters sometimes do not even have enough change. You should also know that the horn is the second national language spoken in Abidjan after French and that with the cabs it is always the same song: they rush each other with great blows of the horn and have a lot of trouble integrating the concept of the white man who works

Warning. Taxi-counters are used in Abidjan, where the driver's accomplices patiently wait for their prey while the driver changes his route without the knowledge of his clients, potentially wealthy clients, especially those with suitcases. For this reason, it is best to take a VTC whose driver and car are traced. These ambushes can happen both day and night, so if you see that your cab is taking the wrong route and straying away from your arrival, get out of the cab as soon as you can.

By car Ivory Coast

You will probably soon realize that the car is the most convenient way to travel in Abidjan, and in Côte d'Ivoire in general

If you can afford it, you should prefer the 4x4 off-road vehicle to the city models, which is very practical for travelling inland, especially as even inside Abidjan, some parts of the road are almost impassable and the 4x4 has the advantage of being more reliable and safer. However, don't worry: it is not because you are driving a Kangoo that you will die for sure!

If you have no experience of Africa, and always within your means, the ideal would be to take a car with driver, because finding your way around Abidjan is not always easy. There may also be occasional roadblocks in town, and dialogues with the "uniforms" are an art of public speaking subtly combining humour and determination (or determination in short, but it's always better with a smile), not necessarily easy to master, even for those who are familiar with it.

At the time of rental, remember to have the function and usefulness of each of the papers provided with the vehicle explained in detail, so that you can easily get through any questioning that the police may ask you to pick up a few pieces in the process

A good alternative to car rental is to hire the services of a taxi driver for the day. The fuel will of course be at your expense and, as for the actual trips, once again everything is negotiable: depending on the duration of your peregrinations through the city, the distances covered, the waiting times and the different destinations you take, the daily price could vary from 20 000 FCFA, if you do really well, to 30 000 FCFA for a full dial tour and a total mobilization of your driver's working time. Indeed, you should know that each driver must, whatever happens, give, at the end of the day, the sum of 32 000 FCFA to his boss