Tours in Kigali

Start on a Kigali hillside in the early morning and you will notice how quiet it is for a capital. Motorbike taxis hum past, but the streets are swept, the roundabouts are planted, and people walk with somewhere to be. The city is spread across many hills, so every few minutes the road tips up or down and a new view opens out over red roofs and green valleys.

Spend a first day on the things that explain the place. The Kigali Genocide Memorial is where most visitors begin, and it asks for time and a quiet mind. Afterwards the Kandt House Museum and the Inema Arts Centre give a gentler sense of how the country sees itself now. Kimironko Market is the one to walk slowly, with its stacked fabrics, piles of fruit and tailors working at pedal machines. Sit down for brochettes and a cold Primus somewhere in Kiyovu or Remera, and the evening takes care of itself.

Then there are the mountains, which is why many people come at all. From Kigali you drive north through terraced hills to Volcanoes National Park, and the road is half the pleasure. Small farms climb every slope, children wave from the verge, and the volcanoes slowly appear on the skyline. A gorilla trek there is the reason for the trip, and our guide builds a three-day journey around it, with a night at either end near the park so you are rested and not rushed. Bring sturdy boots and a waterproof jacket, and expect to use your legs.

Other places are worth asking about too. Lake Kivu, Nyungwe Forest and Akagera National Park are all reachable from the capital, and a local guide can shape a trip to any of them, or to a corner of Kigali we have not listed. Just ask.