The Rwandan capital, among the safest, friendliest and cleanest of African cities, was the recipient of the 2008 Habitat Scroll of Honour, presented by the UN Human Settlements Programme. It is blessed with moderate high altitude climate belying its equatorial location, and is conveniently located within three hours drive of most of the country's main tourist sites. As such, it forms a comfortable and welcoming introduction to the Land of a Thousand Hills, and an ideal springboard from which to explore this magical country.

Kigali boasts a range of hotels catering to all tastes and budgets, and a cosmopolitan assortment of fine restaurants that embrace international and Africa fusion cuisines. Recent years have also seen the emergence of a booming night life in this otherwise sedate city, epitomised by the lively dance floors or the New Cadillac, fair Place, Pasadena, and Planete Nightclubs, or more relaxed atmosphere of the Heaven Restaurant, Virunga Sport Bar, Papyrus Lounge, Sundowner, Republica Lounge and the outdoor Executive Carwash.

Despite these concessions to modernity, Kigali retains the feel of a garden city, its satisfying organic shape dictated by the verdant slopes over which it sprawls. The neat and compact city centre can easily be explored on foot, and it is studded with small shops and stalls displaying a wide range of lovingly executed handicrafts. The atmospheric Muslim quarter of Nyamirambo, abutting the city centre, is well worth a visit, as is the network of leafy avenues that wind out of the town centre into residential suburbs such as Kiyovu and Kimihurura, both endowed with varied dining out options.

Flights to Kigali with Rwandair

Rwandair is operating domestic and international direct flights to Kigali and Entebbe, Johannesburg, Nairobi, Bujumbura, Kilimanjaro and Dar es Salaam.

The international airport lies less than 10 km from central Kigali and taix as available to/from the city centre.