24 hours in Lagos: what to see

Lagos is Africa's most populous city, grown on an archipelago of islands and lagoons until becoming Nigeria's economic and cultural engine, the unofficial capital of Afrobeat.

Nigeria's former capital on the Gulf of Guinea, it unites bustling markets, contemporary art galleries and a nature reserve with one of West Africa's highest pedestrian bridges.

The Nike Art Gallery is visited first: one of the largest art galleries in West Africa, distributed on four floors, displays paintings, sculptures, and textiles by contemporary and emerging Nigerian artists.

Continuing to Lagos Island you reach the Balogun Market, one of the largest and most chaotic markets in the city, where textiles, electronics, and products of every kind are sold among thousands of stalls.

A few steps away is the Lagos National Museum, which collects masks, bronzes, and archaeological artifacts from Nigerian cultures, from the Kingdom of Benin to Yoruba traditions.

For lunch, the restaurants around Victoria Island offer jollof rice and suya, the spiced meat skewer typical of Nigerian street cuisine.

The Lekki Conservation Centre is a nature reserve with a suspended walkway among the tree canopies, among the highest in West Africa, from which to observe monkeys and birds in the forest below.

The Lekki Beach, a stretch of coast animated by live music and food stalls, is instead a meeting point for residents and visitors on weekends.

As evening falls, the restaurants of Victoria Island are the most natural choice for dinner, before immersing yourself in the afrobeat music scene that has made Lagos famous across the continent.

Nike Art Gallery, Balogun Market, and National Museum sketch Lagos's cultural side, while an afternoon choice between Lekki Conservation Centre and Lekki Beach flanks it with the naturalistic or seaside dimension.

Terra Kulture, a cultural center dedicated to Nigerian theater and literature, and a trip to the lagoon islands remain chapters for a second journey. Watching Third Mainland Bridge cross the lagoon at sunset condenses Lagos into a single scene.