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Navigating Lagos

Navigating Lagos

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Although traffic is notoriously bad, getting around town is relatively easy with Bolt, Uber, and Indrive. Your main challenge as a visitor will be paying for things.

Transport

If you’ll be staying in Lagos during your trip, just take Uber, Bolt, or Indrive everywhere. As of 2024, Indrive is our favorite. Because of the bidding system, it has the fastest pickup times. You’ll agree on a price through the app and then pay by cash or bank transfer at the end of the ride.

I definitely don’t recommend renting a car or trying to drive yourself. Lagos traffic is notoriously terrible and the drivers can be extremely aggressive.

The car quality on all the apps is poor, but by international standards prices are extremely affordable. Driver margins are very low and I suggest tipping. It’s not common, but very much appreciated.

Internet Connectivity

As a visitor, the easiest way to have mobile data in Nigeria is to make sure your home country’s cell phone carrier allows you to roam here. This is because the government prohibits new SIM registrations without an NIN (national identification number) which you can't get unless you're a resident here.

Theoretically, you can also register a visitor SIM at the airport in the arrivals hall outside baggage claim. Practically, they’re often out of visitor SIM cards. If you want to go this route, MTN is the best network, followed by Airtel.

If you have any issues with the above, you can also try to download an international eSIM – just make sure roaming is turned on for all sim cards and be forewarned that data rates with international eSIMs are ~20x the cost of local plans.