The Hill Station Hotel was the grand colonial-era hotel of Jos, built in the 1920s when the tin-mining boom and the cool plateau climate drew European settlers up from the lowland heat. Through the mid-20th century it was the unofficial centre of expatriate life in northern Nigeria — colonial administrators, mining engineers, missionaries, and Hausa traders all crossed paths on its veranda.
The hotel has had a chequered fortune since independence and the rooms today are best described as faded. But the building, the gardens, and the views over the city retain real character, and the bar — under a low pitched roof, with old framed maps and photographs of the tin mining era — is one of the few places in town with that kind of atmosphere. Worth a sundowner even if you are staying elsewhere.