Hotel Tamana
This charming hotel out by the Hippodrome is easily our favourite in Bamako...
This charming hotel out by the Hippodrome is easily our favourite in Bamako...
A kip at this friendly place may mean bedding down on a mattress on the roof for the night, but in a town which is not overly blessed with outstanding accommodation options, budget travellers will have to take what they can find.
Village Tizi-Mizi , 4km along Route de l'Aéroport, is a step up in quality and a pleasant place to stay, although some rooms are overpriced; there's also a good bar.
Although most rooms don't take advantage of the riverside location, walk out the front door and there's the Niger in all its glory.
This peaceful hotel comes warmly recommended by travellers and by us. Rooms are cool, well-equipped, modern and spotless, if a little lacking in character.
Once Ségou's best hotel, L'Auberge is still a favourite for many travellers, thanks to its expansive courtyard, swimming pool, bar and pizza oven. The only drawback is that the rooms are a short block away from the main hotel building.
Since we were in Gao, we've learned of this new and super-clean campement-style place, where English is spoken. It's winning good reviews from travellers.
This hotel is not stunning value and is showing its age in places, but it's clean and offers a front-row seat for desert viewing.
The Mande wins the prize for the nicest location of any hotel in Bamako. Yes, it's a long way from the city centre but its perch on a quiet stretch of the Niger River riverbank is outstanding.
This run-down hotel is housed in one of Djenné's architectural gems - a Moroccan-style internal courtyard which bears tilework traces of the building's former elegance. What a pity that the rooms are depressing and ageing rapidly.
The recently spruced-up Maison des Jeunes is fine budget value. Rooms are as simple as they come - so simple, in fact, that the management call them boxes, which is honest, if not particularly inspiring.
We like this place. The building may not appear to be Bamako's most promising from the outside but inside is another, completely renovated and altogether charming world.
As far as Bamako cheapies go, the simple, bare and generally clean rooms here are pretty good value, although they can get very hot if the fan isn't working (power cuts aren't common but they do happen).
If you're tired of hotels that mimic a European ambience, Le Djenné offers an antidote as it's easily Bamako's most charismatic hotel.
Tucked away in the quiet streets of Niaréla, the Sarama is an excellent choice that's all the more attractive because it sees far fewer tourists than it deserves.
One of Bamako's premier hotels, the Salam is a classy place. From the marble-lined lobby to the warmly furnished rooms which are enormous and luxuriously equipped, it has everything to ensure a comfortable stay.
No style or comfort awards here, but this ageing place, opposite the water tower, is one of the few places relatively close to the centre, and the rooms are tidy if unremarkable. The food is pretty good, and it sells beer.
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