How far is Bouaké from Abidjan?

Around 350 kilometres, four to five hours on the A3 motorway.

Is Bouaké worth visiting?

As a destination it is a working city rather than a tourist one. Its value is the huge market, the weaving tradition and its position as the overnight stop on the way north or west.

What is Bouaké known for?

Being the second-largest city in the country, one of the biggest markets in West Africa, and Baoulé weaving.

What is there near Bouaké?

Katiola, fifty kilometres north, where the Mangoro women make pottery by hand without a wheel.

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Bouaké: the second city, its market and the weavers.

Bouaké is the second-largest city in the country and the hinge between the south and the north — everything travelling either way passes through it. It has one of the biggest markets in West Africa, a long weaving tradition, and enough hotels to make it the natural place to break the drive to Korhogo or Man. 350 kilometres from Abidjan on the A3.

Mud granaries with thatched roofs and maize drying in front

Granaries in the centre

The place to break the journey north

Abidjan to Korhogo in one day is a hard drive. Bouaké sits at the right point, has decent hotels, a market worth a morning and the Katiola potters fifty kilometres further on. Splitting the journey here turns a punishing day into two good ones.