Most travelers arrive at Ouagadougou's international airport, gateway for Air Burkina and for direct flights to Paris, Brussels, and East African hubs like Nairobi and Addis Ababa. A twice-weekly Sitarail train connects Bobo-Dioulasso to Ouagadougou - the onward link to Abidjan has not carried passengers for many years, so that leg requires a bus or shared taxi. Once in town, the green taxis are your workhorses: cheap, ubiquitous, shared, and entirely unmetered, so settle the price before you climb in. A short daytime run on a main road should run a few hundred CFA francs per person; rides at night, or to and from the airport, cost more, and drivers will quote foreigners high. Be friendly, be firm, and negotiate.

The single must-see costs nothing and lasts a quarter of an hour. Every Friday at 07:00, at the Moro-Naba palace in the center of town, the Mossi emperor performs a ceremony unchanged for centuries: appearing in red as if for war, then in white for peace, reenacting a legend of a king persuaded to spare a rival who had wronged him. Arrive early and quietly - this is a living tradition, not a show staged for visitors. It is one of the few places on Earth where you can watch a reigning monarch hold court in a ritual older than most of the world's current borders.

Ouaga rewards browsers. The Village Artisanal is the easy win - an open-air craft compound where you can buy bronze, leather, and textiles from a huge selection, with a shady café in the courtyard and far less hassle than the street. The Central Market, rebuilt after a 2003 fire, is still the place for textiles, while Gounghin Market is good fun for fabric and fruit. If your timing aligns, the SIAO craft fair fills ten days every even-numbered year and draws artisans from across the continent. Keep your wits at the Grand Marché, where touts and pickpockets work the crowds - go with a local if you can.

Street food is the cheapest joy here: a plate of rice and beans (benga), riz gras, or tofu brochettes for pocket change, with peanuts, dates, and dried mango sold on nearly every corner. For a sit-down meal, the city punches above its weight - Italian pizza places, Lebanese tables along Kwame Nkrumah Avenue, vegan spots near the pharmacies, and African restaurants in the leafy Zone du Bois. Café Zaka brings live bands most nights. The French Cultural Centre hosts concerts and theater and keeps an air-conditioned library where you can cool off with a newspaper. Ouaga is hot, dusty, and unhurried - and far more welcoming than its remoteness suggests.