Timetable Rwanda: time difference and opening hours

To see / To do Rwanda

Departments are open Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with 1 hour for lunch. The private sector is generally on duty Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm, with 1 hour for lunch. Many businesses also work on Saturday mornings. Banks remain open Monday through Saturday, from 8am to 5pm, sometimes later. Finally, most businesses are open from 8am to 6pm during the week. Some are also open on weekends from 8am to 5pm. The Woodlands Kigali supermarket (KG 9 Av.) is open until midnight. Some mini-markets are even open 24 hours a day. Simba supermarkets are open daily from 8am to 10pm. Museums and historical sites are open every day from 8am to 4pm.

Note: every last Saturday of the month is dedicated toUmuganda; this is community work in which the entire population is called upon to participate from 8:00 am to 11:00 am, including the President of the Republic! Most services, shops and museums remain closed. Participation in Umuganda is written into the law. A fine is foreseen in case of non-participation.

Enjoying yourself Rwanda

At the restaurant, the services are generally between noon and 3pm, then from 6pm until 10pm. Some bar-restaurants serve late into the night (Choma'd, Papyrus, Sundowner...). Others offer a continuous service from noon to 10pm. To eat on the go, from breakfast (Indabo Café, Fika Café, Now Now Rolex...), there is no real time.

Take a break Rwanda

It is not uncommon for bars to offer a happy hour from 4pm to 8pm for theafterwork of workers. These convivial moments can last until 11pm or 1am on weekdays and until dawn on Fridays and Saturdays, depending on the atmosphere and the number of people. In Kigali, on weekends, the brunch has become a common practice, Rwandans (among the urban middle class) like to get together with friends for an "early lunch", whether in certain restaurants (The Hut, Heaven, Shokola, Casa Keza, Choma'd, Pili-Pili...) or in coffee shops.

(To) please yourself Rwanda

Depending on the business, the days and hours of operation may vary, especially on Saturdays and Sundays. The major shopping centers (Kigali Heights, Kigali City Mall, Union Trade Center...) remain open on weekends.

Get out Rwanda

The nightlife in Kigali is very lively: between bars, restaurants and discotheques, one can have fun until the end of the night. Two districts act as beacons for night owls: Nyamirambo and Remera, popular, and Kimihurura, more select. Outside the capital, the evenings are much quieter, with the exception of Rubavu/Gisenyi, a border town with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which attracts residents of Goma, especially on weekends. There, a few well-known places on the shores of Lake Kivu are a delight for night owls (Chez West, Amaliza, New Tam Tam, Saga Bay, etc.).