In the West, Timbuktu means "the ends of the earth." For centuries no European saw it and returned alive. The reality, when you finally arrive, is quieter than the legend — a small sand-coloured town at the edge of the Sahara where the desert meets the Niger River's floodplain.
From the 13th to the 16th century, Timbuktu was one of the great intellectual and trading cities of the Islamic world. Gold, salt, and manuscripts flowed through here. The University of Sankore drew scholars from across Africa and the Middle East. Three ancient mosques still stand from that era, all UNESCO World Heritage Sites, built in the distinctive Sudano-Sahelian style of mud brick and wooden beams: Djingareyber, Sankore, and Sidi Yahya.
Today Timbuktu is poor and remote, but fascinating. The streets are sand, the buildings are mud, and the Tuareg traders still arrive on camels from the desert. The Tuareg camps outside town offer camel rides into the dunes at sunset. The town is small enough to walk in an hour — you can visit Laing's House, Caillie's House, and the Timbuktu Museum in the same morning. The real attraction is not any single monument but the atmosphere — the feeling of being somewhere that most people only know as a figure of speech.
A word of caution: the security situation in northern Mali has been volatile since 2012. Check current travel advisories before planning a trip. When accessible, Timbuktu rewards the effort it takes to get there.