Getting your bearings
Cotonou is Benin's largest city and seat of government, squeezed onto the coastal strip between the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Nokoué. A canal — the Cotonou lagoon, dug by the French in the 1850s — cuts the city in two, and three bridges cross it. For a visitor, the practical upshot is that the city divides into a few recognisable zones: the commercial heart around Dantokpa market, Ganhi and Jonquet; the upmarket Haie Vive area, which is also where the airport sits; and Akpakpa, on the far side of the lagoon to the east.
French is the official language, and you'll also hear Fon, Aja and Yoruba around the city. English is not widely spoken, so a few words of French go a long way when negotiating transport.
How visitors actually get around
Cotonou has no metro, tram or light-rail system, and there is no longer any train service in Benin at all — so rail is not an option for getting around the city. The city's transport infrastructure does include air, sea, river and land routes, and the Autonomous Port of Cotonou is one of the largest in West Africa, but for day-to-day movement you're choosing between motorcycle taxis, conventional taxis, ride-hailing apps, buses and your own two feet.
The dominant mode, for locals and visitors alike, is the motorcycle taxi.
Zémidjans: the motorcycle taxi
Motorcycle taxis — known locally as zémidjans, or zems, and sometimes kekenos — are the most common form of transport for the average Beninese person, and they are probably more highly concentrated in Benin than anywhere else in the world. They are not unique to the country, but they are ubiquitous here.
- How it works: you hail one on the street; there are no meters and fares are negotiable.
- What to expect to pay: the minimum fare is 100 CFA, and you should expect to pay roughly 100 CFA per kilometre. Within central Cotonou, a fare shouldn't exceed 400 CFA.
- Safety: bring a helmet with you, or buy one once you arrive — it is absolutely essential. Even with a helmet, riding a zem is considerably more dangerous than travelling by car.
- The trade-off: short hail times and door-to-door service make zems highly functional, and many visitors — especially budget travellers — end up using them. Without your own car, avoiding them entirely is simply not practical.
Taxis
Conventional drop taxis that take you straight to your destination, as you might find in New York or London, are not the norm in Benin. Most taxi drivers wait at fixed intersections for passengers willing to rent the entire vehicle.
- Where to find them: Dantokpa market, the Étoile Rouge roundabout and Gare de Jonquet bus station are the most likely spots, though secondary junctions may have drivers available during the day.
- Booking by phone: many people know a driver they contact by phone or WhatsApp, so asking around is a good way to get a number. Drivers generally aren't interested in short intercity trips and prefer to be hired for several hours at a time.
- Rough costs: figure about 3,000 CFA for a 30-minute journey, or 10,000–15,000 CFA to rent a cab for a few hours.
- Condition: most taxis are in decrepit condition. The exceptions are taxis at major hotels (such as the Novotel or Azalaï) or at the airport, which are usually late-model compact cars — but expect to pay at least double, and up to four or five times, the prices above.
There are also taxis plying fixed routes. These are often headed to other cities but can be hailed for journeys within Cotonou. They follow the main national highway out of the city, starting from Dantokpa market and heading west beyond the Godomey interchange. Expect to pay around 200 CFA from the market to Étoile Rouge, and another 200 CFA to continue to the Stade de l'Amitié. They also head east, crossing the lagoon to Akpakpa, and bush taxis follow the same route. Note that these taxis often cram two passengers in the front and four in the back; you can double your fare if you want more comfort, so if you're a group of three or more it may be worth negotiating with the driver to take you to your exact destination. Some residents take a shared taxi for as much of the journey as it covers, then hail a zem for the last stretch.
Ride-hailing apps
If you'd rather avoid negotiating fares, ride-hailing is now well established in Cotonou.
- Gozem launched in the city in 2021. Through the app you can order either a zémidjan or a conventional taxi, and link your credit card to avoid the hassle of negotiation and the risk of being overcharged. As a rough guide, a ten-minute taxi ride booked through the app costs around 1,700 CFA, or about 200 CFA for a zem. Gozem also offers food and grocery delivery.
- Yango is also available for ride-hailing in Cotonou.
Buses and long-distance connections
For travel between cities rather than within Cotonou, buses are plentiful. Services run from nearby capitals including Accra, Lagos and Lomé, with operators such as ABC Transport offering daily services. There are also bus services from Cotonou to every good-sized town in the country — some run buses in good condition on regular schedules, others manage neither. Book with a sceptical eye, though a bus is likely to be safer than a bush taxi, even if it isn't necessarily more comfortable.
Virtually every Beninese town has bush taxi transport to Cotonou, though smaller towns in the north may only have one a day or fewer, or may only get you to the next-closest town with bush taxis running onward. As a rough guide, count on paying about 1,000 CFA per hour of travel.
Within the city itself, there is no metro or tram network to speak of, and no train service anywhere in Benin.
Walking
Cotonou is not a particularly attractive city to wander on foot, but much of it is laid out on an easily navigable grid, which makes walking a decent option for those who want to explore or who are squeamish about hopping on the back of a zémidjan.
- Best area for visitors: the stretch from Dantokpa market down to Ganhi, and west to Jonquet. These are the main commercial areas, so shoppers will want to park and walk among the shopkeepers and vendors selling just about anything.
- Haie Vive: the upmarket Haie Vive area is also good for walking, as it's concentrated along a single strip — though don't be surprised to see expats taking their SUVs a few doors down.
- Safety: pay attention to your belongings, and avoiding walking around after dark is probably your best bet.
Driving yourself
Driving in Cotonou can be harrowing. Most foreign drivers will never have shared the road with this many motorcycles, and rush hour is especially stressful as bikes scoot in and out of traffic. Many vons (narrow side streets) are bumpy at best and underwater at worst. That said, the grid layout makes the city not terribly difficult to navigate, and having your own car is certainly the safest way to travel. Most establishments have some sort of parking, and nobody will bat an eyelash if you pull up onto the sidewalk to park.
Arriving at the airport
Cadjehoun Airport (COO) is the primary airport serving both the city and the country, and it sits extremely close to the city centre in the Haie Vive neighbourhood. It has regular scheduled services from many African capitals — especially Francophone ones — along with connections to Brussels, Paris and Istanbul. The airport has been renovated and offers a much more pleasant experience than it used to, though you should still expect long lines to collect your luggage and clear customs and other formalities.
Practical points on arrival:
- Money: there is a currency exchange with windows on both the arrival and departure sides; the arrival windows are between the exit doors. ATMs are only available in the departure area. You can exit and re-enter the departure area, but you'll have to go through a security check.
- Baggage claim: keep the sticker identifying you as the owner of your checked bag that you receive at check-in — you aren't supposed to leave baggage claim without it, though a small bribe is really what most security guards are after.
- SIM cards and cash: the parking lot is somewhere you can buy a Beninese SIM card or change money, but be wary of getting ripped off.
- Duty-free: there is a shop in the departure area, though you might as well be paying duties given how much they charge.
For getting into the city, taxis are available in the parking lot, but it's best to prearrange transport in advance. Most nicer hotels run airport shuttles for their guests — often the simplest option. Taxis at the airport are usually late-model compact cars, but expect to pay at least double, and up to four or five times, the price of an ordinary street taxi.
Other ways into the country
If you're coming from the Americas, one option is the direct Ethiopian Airlines flights from Newark or São Paulo to Lomé, followed by a relatively painless drive of around three and a half hours including border formalities. Flying into Lagos is another possibility — it has a direct flight to Atlanta — but Lagos' airport is likely to be an even more maddening experience, and the overland journey from Lagos to Cotonou is not easy or particularly safe. Short-haul flights are a popular way of reaching Benin from Lagos, though most nationalities will still need an expensive Nigerian visa to add a separate flight to Cotonou. Because Ghana is a much more conventional destination, flying to Accra shouldn't involve more than one layover, and from there you can take a bus — though that means crossing two borders. It is safer than the Lagos option.
By road, from Porto-Novo you head south on RNIE1 and then west for about 45 minutes to reach Cotonou.