The old city of Agadez is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (inscribed 2013) and one of the best-preserved medieval Saharan settlements on the continent. The streets are narrow enough to provide shade for most of the day, lined with compounds whose exterior walls give nothing away — the life of the city is entirely interior, hidden behind doors in unmarked mud-brick walls. Without a guide, navigation is disorienting by design.
A local guide is strongly recommended for exploring the old city. Many families are willing to receive visitors in their courtyards; the traditional Tuareg and Hausa architecture — wooden-beamed rooms, geometrically decorated ceilings, storage rooms thick-walled against the desert heat — is the main attraction. The alleys around the Grande Mosquée are the most atmospheric. In the evening the old city fills with the sound of cooking and prayer, and the temperature drops to something bearable.