Lagos is a city of water, bridges and traffic, and where you live decides your life here more than anything else - mostly through how long it takes you to get anywhere. The first question is the one every Lagosian asks: Island or Mainland?
The Island
The Island is shorthand for the string of islands and peninsula south of the lagoon: Lagos Island itself, Ikoyi, Victoria Island and the Lekki peninsula. It is where the money, the head offices and the expensive rents are.
- Lagos Island - the old city. Isale Eko, the Oba’s palace, the Marina, Broad Street and Balogun Market. Crowded, historic, commercial, and not where most newcomers live.
- Ikoyi - leafy, quiet and very expensive, with old colonial-era roads, newer towers and Banana Island, its wealthiest corner.
- Victoria Island (VI) - offices, banks, embassies, hotels, restaurants and nightlife. Eko Atlantic, a new district built on land reclaimed from the ocean, is beside it.
- Lekki Phase 1 and Oniru - newer, residential, restaurant-heavy, and the default for young professionals who work on the Island.
- The Lekki-Ajah corridor - Chevron, Ikota, Ajah, Sangotedo and on eastward. Newer estates and lower rents the further east you go, and one overloaded expressway to get out.
- Ibeju-Lekki - further east still: the Lekki Free Trade Zone, the deep sea port and the refinery. Growing fast.
Flooding: VI, Lekki and the corridor flood in heavy rain. Ask about the street, not the house, before you rent.
The Tenancy Law does not apply in Ikoyi, Victoria Island, Ikeja GRA or Apapa. See the tenancy agreement guide.
The Mainland
Everything north of the lagoon, and most of Lagos’s population.
- Yaba - universities, students and the city’s tech scene. Cheaper than the Island and close to the bridges.
- Surulere - old, central, residential and lively, around the National Stadium.
- Ikeja - the state capital, with the airport, the state secretariat at Alausa, Computer Village, and Ikeja GRA, its quieter, greener, pricier quarter.
- Gbagada, Maryland, Ogudu and Magodo - residential, middle class, and well placed for the Third Mainland Bridge.
- Apapa - the ports. Notorious for trucks and tankers jamming its roads.
- Festac Town - a planned estate built for the 1977 festival of African arts, on the road to Badagry.
- Ikorodu, Ojo, Alimosho and the outer suburbs - much cheaper, much further, and a very long commute to the Island. Ikorodu has a ferry.
The bridges decide everything
Three bridges carry most of the traffic between the Mainland and the Island: Third Mainland, Carter and Eko. When one is closed for repairs, the whole city slows down. Live on the Mainland and work on the Island, and those bridges are your life twice a day.
How to choose
- Live near work. It matters more than the neighbourhood’s reputation, the size of the flat or the rent. Do the journey at rush hour before you sign.
- Look at the road in. An estate on a road that floods, or a single route in and out, can cut you off.
- Ask about power. Which DisCo, which band, and whether the estate runs a shared generator. See electricity.
- Visit at night, and talk to a neighbour.