Kigali tourist attractions with our list of the best things to do and see in Kigali, for visitors and locals alike. From free days out to hidden restaurants, this is your ultimate Kigali checklist. This post is our guide for things to do in Kigali, with tips on free things to do, suggested nighttime activities, things to do with kids, top attractions and other points of interest, that you may want to visit.
Top Kigali Tourist Attraction
Kigali City Walking Tour
My favorite thing to do in most big cities is to walk and Kigali is no exception. It’s the best way to experience the city’s culture, daily workings, and personality. If you want to learn about a city’s past then a museum, palace, or historical site will be best. But if you want to take in today’s Kigali then walking is the way to do it. When it comes to walking as a means for exploration there are few wrong ways: the most touristy routes will yield the most dramatic discoveries.
Visit Kigali Genocide Memorial Ground
This is an amazing place, where bodies of the victims of the 1994 Rwandan genocide were laid to rest, as a sign to a decent burial. It’s just a short distance away from the city. This place has rich history of the genocide, and will be so educational, worth a visit.
Visit Kimironko Market.
Located in Remera, this market has all sorts of fabrics you’re looking for, ranging from household, souvenirs to food staffs, including fruits. You will have a chance to interact with the locals as you go about the buying process. This place is wonderful to visit, been if you’re not interested to buy anything, but you will love the walk, and how the locals interact with the customers.
Ride a motor Bike.
Feel the adrenaline and discover amazing attractions on a motorbike tour, couple with a number of walking experience. Nothing more interesting, like doing Kigali City Tour on a moto bike. There is nothing more enjoyable like exploring city freely on a motor bike, where you enjoy a wide sightseeing as you wish for. This may sound crazy but more adventurous than doing a city tour on a vehicle.
Skip the long drive you have been on and do more of stretching on a motor bike tour. We love to travel, and we want to share our excitement with you. We’re passionate about connecting you with locals to enrich your life with unforgettable trips. Motorbike tour is the easiest way to explore a city in the simplest way, where you able to stop at any point. Your local guide will be on a ride along with you, and your flexibility to stop and any point is assured.
Go shopping at the Art Galleries.
Numbers of art galleries do exist within the city of Kigali, you can decide to take visit to these amazing art shops and do some shopping with number of African fabrics, kitenges on display that you will fall in love with them.
Touring Nyamirambo Kigali
Rwandans are, by nature, more reserved than Kenyans, or other Africans. Loud music isn’t tolerated after 8pm and bars tend to close early. Some may call it boring, but Kigali’s residents embrace the city’s quiet calm. Yet, the oldest part of Kigali defies this stereotype.
Nyamirambo is a vibrant neighborhood in the south west part of Kigali. It’s been called, Kigali’s “coolest neighborhood” and the “heart of Kigali” also referred to as Old Kigali, as it is the major center where the entire city began from in way back. Nyamirambo is the life of Kigali city. People party night and day. Of course that comes with a lot of mischief. Grocery shops are open all night, boutiques show no signs of closing and people work in shifts, basically – Nyamirambo is usually awake 24 hours.
Visit Museums and historical sites as Kigali Tourist Attraction.
Numbers of museums do exist within Kigali City with strong history of the genocide. You can decide to visit one of the museums such as the Presidential Palace Museum, Campaign against Genocide Museum, Richard Kant Museum, Kigali Genocide memorial, Belgium museum, Nyamata & Ntarama ansd much more.
Nyamirambo walking tour in Kigali is one of the best ways to understand the cultural life of the city and how local people really interact and do business. This walking tour will give you the how people of the people and their living. This is the most livelihood part of the Kigali City with the greatest number of people but a bit downtown part of the city. The Nyamirambo became one of the most colorful and vibrant places within that historic area. Admire the mosque townhouses and walk the ramshackle cobbled streets, accompanied by a storytelling local.
Hike Mount Kigali
This simple hike will leave you relaxed; however, it is also a great way to explore Kigali. You will have a great view of the city from a distance. There is beautiful plantation of pines, which reward you with a cool forest breathe, as you take a rest, having a lookout of the monkeys around, number of bird species do exist as well.
Visit Milk Bars
Milk bars are where Rwandans get their equivalent of a morning latte. Nyamirambo is home to more than fifty of the small shops filled with little more than a vat of fresh cow milk. Glasses of hot, steamed fresh milk are served straight up, with cocoa powder, honey or tea.
Recently, the government has promoted milk bars in a push to nourish more of the population, particularly those on a low income, encouraging a healthy start to the day. For many Rwandans, a fresh glass of milk and a banana is breakfast.
Eat like a local
Rounding off the NWC tour is a cooking lesson at a local woman’s home. After exploring the daily fresh produce market, where you can see women grinding cassava root with giant pestle and mortars, you’ll be taught to cook some traditional Rwandan cuisine. Irish potatoes – named because the original crop came from Europe – sugar cane, and a stew of green beans, tomatoes, and onions, make up lunch at the end of the morning.
Night life as Kigali Tourist Attraction.
Lots of bars do exist within Kigali, you can decide to go for night life for disco, or go for a happening, where you can have a chance to attend to a live band show, to color out your day.
There are a lot of things to do, see and visit on your stay in Kigali.
Explore the outdoors as Kigali Tourist Attraction
Outside of Kigali, visit the Volcanoes National Park to see mountain gorillas; Nyungwe National Park, one of the largest central African tropical rain forests and home to chimpanzees and monkeys; Akagera National Park for elephants, rhinos, lions, leopards, and buffalo; and Gishwati-Mukura National Park, an area for landscape restoration initiatives.