Bingerville is a former Côte d’Ivoire capital east of Abidjan, overlooking the lagoon.
Bingerville is about 15 km east of Abidjan, a charming town on a plateau overlooking the lagoon. Until the 1930s it served as the capital of Côte d'Ivoire.
The major attractions include the old Botanical Garden, the Governor's Palace, and the Centre de Céramique — a working sculpture school whose gallery is the best place in the country to buy contemporary Ivorian art. From Bingerville, a 25 km dirt road takes you to Grand Bassam, where the French first set up their colonial capital.
Bingerville works best as a half-day side trip from Abidjan, but if you base yourself here the obvious onward destinations are the capital itself and the old colonial capital of Grand Bassam on the coast.
Bingerville is reached from Abidjan along Boulevard Mitterrand, the lagoon-side road that runs east from the Plateau. A taxi from central Abidjan takes 30–45 minutes depending on traffic and should cost a few thousand CFA. Shared taxis and woro-woro minibuses run the same route for far less.
There is no train and no airport in Bingerville itself — Félix-Houphouët-Boigny International Airport in Abidjan, about 25 km west, is the gateway.
Bingerville's attractions are walkable in a single afternoon — the old governor's palace, the botanical garden across the road, and a sculpture school that quietly turns out some of West Africa's best contemporary art.
