Kigali

Overview

Almost every visit to Rwanda begins and ends in Kigali. The airport sits fifteen minutes from the centre, the roads out to Volcanoes and Akagera are good, and most itineraries spend at least one night here at either end. It is worth more than a transit stop. The Kigali Genocide Memorial is the single most important place to visit in the country and the context for everything else a traveller will see; most people find half a day is the right amount of time. Beyond it, the city has a serious coffee culture, a growing restaurant scene and craft markets in Nyamirambo. Kigali is also unusually easy to move around. It is widely considered among the cleanest and safest capitals in Africa, and walking in the central districts is normal in a way it is not in most cities of comparable size.