Holiday in Abidjan

About Abidjan

Abidjan is the Paris of West Africa — and this nickname, born from the Francophone elegance of the city, its café culture, and the boulevards in the Cocody district, has more substance than most urban nicknames. The 6.3-million metropolis on the Ébrié Lagoon is the economic capital of Ivory Coast, the cultural center of Francophone West Africa, and a city that pulses like few others on the continent. The Plateau, the business district on a peninsula in the lagoon, impresses with skyscrapers and colonial architecture. The Cathédrale Saint-Paul, a bold concrete work by Italian architect Aldo Spirito, towers over the Plateau with a Christ figure that seems to embrace the entire complex. Across the lagoon lies Treichville — Abidjan's most African neighborhood: chaotic, loud, vibrant, with the huge Marché de Treichville, where fabrics, spices, fish, and handicrafts from the entire subregion are traded. Cocody in the north is the green, affluent district with the National Museum, the Jardin Botanique, and the best restaurants in the city. Here, French patisserie and Coupé-Décalé clubs blend into an atmosphere that exists only in Abidjan. The city's music scene — Coupé-Décalé, Zouglou, and recently Afrobeats — is legendary and has shaped the entire West African pop culture. The lagoon itself is Abidjan's soul: boat rides connect the neighborhoods, fishermen cast their nets at dusk, and the skyline of the Plateau reflects in the water like an African version of Manhattan. Those who visit Abidjan experience an Africa that does not conform to the cliché of the safari continent or crisis reporting — but is urban, creative, and forward-looking.