Butare, officially Huye, is Rwanda's old intellectual capital: quieter than Kigali, greener than it first appears, and still shaped by the university and the national museum. It is the kind of place where you slow down for a day, read labels properly, drink coffee under trees, and remember that Rwanda is more than gorilla permits and genocide memorials.
The Ethnographic Museum is the main reason to come, and it is worth the trip. The former National University campus gives the city its student-town rhythm, while the cathedral and market streets keep it grounded in ordinary southern Rwandan life.
Butare also makes a useful base for the south. Nyungwe National Park lies to the west, and the Murambi Genocide Memorial is reached on the road toward Gikongoro. Do not rush through if you can help it; this is one of Rwanda's better places for absorbing context.