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Bamako
Capital and largest city of Mali

Bamako

Bamako is the capital and largest city of Mali with a 2022 population of 4,227,569.

Plan a trip to Bamako→From Timbuktu

It is located on the Niger River, near the rapids that divide the upper and middle Niger valleys in the southwestern part of the country, and the city is surrounded on all sides by the Koulikoro Region.

Get in

Getting to Bamako

  1. 01
    Bamako-Sénou Airport
  2. 02
    Bamako

    Bus travel to Bamako is possible but often gruellingly slow.

  3. 03
    Sogoniko Bus Station
  4. 04
    Djikoroni Bus Station
See

Worth seeing

Mali National Park (take highway RN1 north out of downtown). This park sits slightly above the city under the outcrops of the Koulouba plateau and incorporates both the botanical garden and zoo along with a trail network. Located adjacent to the National Museum and Presidential Palace Complex, it is a patch of green in the overall arid area.

  1. 01
    Bamako Botanical Gardens

    Relaxing green setting.

  2. 02
    Bamako Zoo

    Reopened in mid-2013 after complete renovation.

  3. 03
    Point G Hill
  4. 04
    National Museum of Mali
  5. 05
    Muso Kunda Museum of Women

    Portraits and items related to women and Malian life.

  6. 06
    Grand Mosque of Bamako
Do

Things to do

At the end of each January, Bamako hosts the finish line to the gruelling trans-Sahara rally, the Budapest-Bamako. Hundreds of rally cars and motorcycles arrive in the city on the last Sunday of January.

  1. 01
    Casino de l'Amitie a Bamako
  2. 02
    Cultural Palace Hamadou Hampaté Ba
Eat

Where to eat

  1. 01
    Pizzeria de Guido

    Decent Italian restaurant - just don't expect taxi drivers to know where it is.

  2. 02
    Hotel Badala

    Badalabougou (second road right after German Emabassy),.

  3. 03
    La Fourmi

    9:30-18:00.

  4. 04
    Azar

    Daily 09:30-18:00.

  5. 05
    Le Miniprix

    Supermarket Le Miniprix is actually the best one with the best service and with the lowest prices.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons (see file page), Wikimedia Commons.