While the architecture for moving people around Nigerian cities is still developing, some environments offer better accessibility simply because of deliberate infrastructure or the one nature has endowed. Tourists trooping in for the Christmas holiday do not care so much about where the slight ease in travel is emerging from, they only want to get around and have fun connecting with family and friends.

As the holiday zooms closer in, thoughts you are having might be centring on the destinations you can explore to calm the itchiness urging you to head somewhere.

Maps would mostly show you satellite imageries of the appetising spots and not the insider’s notion of the best way to move around, so we are taking you on a journey to find out the cities that are most welcoming to you as a tourist. Beyond the cuisine and the games is the transport mode – that’s essential for your travelling happiness.

ALSO READ: Travel around Lagos via the Blue Line Rail

Head north and follow the Rigasa track 

Once federal officials reached a point where they could finally launch the rail tracks after several access promises, it opened a channel for various calibres of people to come through. That included high net worth individuals and those who are not them. They all seem to be attracted to the ease and satisfaction that a long-distance train service can provide and so have been captured speeding down from Rigasa in Kaduna State cushioning their heads on the fine coach embroideries. From Rigasa, a tourist who is feeling Christmassy can head to Abuja where they are onboarded into a different travelling experience. This cuts out the burden of having to fly on pricey plane tickets planes that do not assist with savings.

At the backseat of F.C.T’s minicabs

Once a tourist has arrived in the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja, there is a fleet of cabs speeding through any street they turn around to look at, be it the upscale Maitama districts or downtown in Durunmi. In a city where house rents are so hot in the main areas, cabbies win hearts for their affordability – at least when compared to other megacities of matching qualities. In the backseat of one of these cabs, a rider gets the feeling of a driver who is committed to their service considering the multiple stops they can make. Just like Uber trips although not as steep around the edges when it comes to the fares.

The Lagos Trinity

The city of Lagos is where we are off to next to see what has been brewing in case new residents want to stop over for one of the Detty December hangouts. Around here, cab fares don’t seem like they are going down soon but the people are not so stuck. Lagosians have options to bypass the huge burdens of expenses attached to their moving around and it is all embodied in the Lagos Trinity of boat rides, the blue line rail and the rampant bus rapid transit known as the B.R.T. Altogether, they combine to offer technology-steered forms of mobility to tourists. Ferry rides for instance would be ideal for anyone backpacking around the coastal communities of Ikoyi, Victoria Island, Lekki and then Badagry to experience palm beaches and reconnect with the spread of black and Nigerian history to the shores of Europe. All a tourist needs to hop on one of the rides is their Cowry card, a tap-to-ride payment device.

Ayodele Johnson

Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.