A Weekend in Lagos: Food, Art, Beaches and Lekki

Lagos does not ease you in. The traffic hums, the music is loud, the generators click on and off, and the energy is unlike anywhere else in Africa. Stay two days and it starts to make sense: a city of more than fifteen million people that runs on hustle, humour and very good food. A weekend in Lagos is short, so plan it around the Island side of the city, where the art, the beaches and most of the places you will want to eat are close together.

For a first visit, base yourself in Victoria Island, Ikoyi or Lekki. They are leafy by Lagos standards, with good hotels and restaurants, and they keep your weekend out of the worst of the traffic.

Saturday morning: Lekki, before the heat

Start early at the Lekki Conservation Centre, run by the Nigerian Conservation Foundation. A boardwalk leads through wetland and forest where monkeys, monitor lizards and birds go about their day a few minutes from the expressway. The canopy walkway, one of the longest in Africa, sways high in the trees. Go first thing, when it is cool and quiet, and wear closed shoes.

Afterwards, visit Nike Art Gallery in Lekki, the gallery of the textile artist Nike Okundaye. It fills several floors with thousands of works, from adire indigo cloth to contemporary painting, and the walls go floor to ceiling. It is overwhelming in a good way. If you want to buy, there are pieces at every level of budget, and haggling for craft is expected at the arts and crafts markets.

Saturday lunch: eat like a Lagosian

Lagos food is generous and hot with pepper. Look for jollof rice, smoky from the pot, served with fried plantain called dodo. Try ofada rice with ayamase, a green pepper stew with assorted meats, and amala with ewedu and gbegiri, a Yoruba favourite best eaten at a busy local canteen. In the evening, suya is non-negotiable: thin strips of spiced beef grilled over charcoal and wrapped in newspaper with raw onion and yaji spice.

Small chops, the party snacks of puff-puff, spring rolls and peppered gizzard, turn up at most gatherings. Boli, roasted plantain sold at the roadside with groundnuts or fish, is the city's best quick snack.

Saturday afternoon: art on the Island

The Lagos art scene is one of the strongest on the continent. Terra Kulture in Victoria Island is an arts centre with a gallery, a bookshop, a theatre and a Nigerian restaurant under one roof. Across the lagoon on Lagos Island, Freedom Park sits on the site of a colonial era prison and now hosts concerts, exhibitions and food stalls. Nearby in Onikan, the John K. Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History tells the story of the Yoruba people in a striking modern building.

If you visit in early November, Art X Lagos brings galleries from across Africa and the diaspora together for a few days. Check dates before you go.

Lagos rewards the people who stop trying to beat the traffic and start enjoying the ride.

Saturday night: Afrobeat

Fela Kuti invented Afrobeat in Lagos, and his legacy is alive in Ikeja. The New Afrika Shrine is run by his family and hosts live shows, often with his sons Femi or Seun on stage, on some weekend nights. Earlier in the day, his former home, now the Kalakuta Museum, shows his rooms, his clothes and his records. Check what is on before you make the drive.

Sunday: the beach

Lagos sits on the Atlantic, and Sunday is beach day. Tarkwa Bay is a sheltered cove reached only by boat, with calmer water than the open coast. Boats leave from jetties around Ikoyi and Victoria Island; agree the return time and fare before you set off and wear the life jacket. Closer in, Landmark Beach in Oniru and the beaches along the Lekki coast are set up with loungers, food and music, usually for an entry fee.

The Atlantic here has strong currents and powerful waves. Swim only where locals do, stay close to shore, and take the sea seriously even on a calm-looking day.

In the late afternoon, walk the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge as the light softens over the lagoon, then end the weekend with seafood and pepper soup on Victoria Island.

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Good to know

• Visas and health: most visitors need a visa, and a yellow fever vaccination certificate is required. Check the Nigeria Immigration Service and your own government's travel advice before you book.
• Getting around: ride-hailing apps work well across the Island side. Allow far more time than the map suggests; traffic, known locally as go-slow, is the main thing that will shape your day.
• Money: cards work in many hotels and restaurants, but carry some naira in cash for markets, boats and small stalls.
• Seasons: November to February is drier, with the dusty harmattan wind around December and January. The rains are heaviest from around May to July.
• Practical sense: keep valuables out of sight, use a trusted driver or app at night, and ask your hotel for advice on routes. Ordinary city care goes a long way.

Two days will not show you all of Lagos. It will show you why people who come once tend to come back, usually with a longer list of places to eat.