Hello good folks,

I'll be flying to Nigeria with my girlfriend and we plan to visit Abuja while in Nigeria. I'm not a big fan of flying and I always try to avoid it unless it is absolutely necessary. Do you think it's a good advice to drive to Abuja, spend some days and drive back to Lagos? You hear a lot of horror stories about those highways so don't know.

Can you stand the distance? Just fly confidently.

werepeLeri:

Can you stand the distance? Just fly confidently.

You don't want to know what distance I will be willing to drive just to avoid flying ,  There was a time I was actually contemplating driving from Germany to Nigeria 

45mins vs 9hrs or so, cool, Actually, haven't tried the road trip before, but loads of transport companies do it everyday.

unless you'd be willing to break the journey into 2 days or something like that to avoid traffic,
if you dont, it could take you more than 12 hours to get to abuja by road. . . it's taken me more than 18 hours before(like 3-5 years ago)
the road is constantly changing sef so it's not like there's only one route. . .I agree with the people saying you should fly. . .

Get a train to Ilorin, then get a coach/cab to Abuja

Its not like its that bad these days.

Option 1: Lagos - Benin - Auchi - Okene - Lokoja - Abuja

Option 2: Lagos - Akure - Owo - Ibilo - Okene - Lokoja - Abuja

Option 3: Lagos - Ilorin - Jebba - Bida - Abuja

Option 2 is what most transport companies use.

I have used all routes, never ever try Option 3 - bad roads.

@ poster

If you like your self just get on an arik flight with your babe and hit Abuja in 40 mins othewise your girlfriend go curse you tire!!!

or better still your girlfriend should get a plane ticket, you get a coach ticket-- voilà!

just make sure she get Arik, you might arrive roughly at the same time

Drove from London to Gothenburg in Sweden with a friend one time. Took a day and half, I actually love road trips so don't really mind the time.

My main concern is safety.

werepeLeri:

Its not like its that bad these days.

Option 1: Lagos - Benin - Auchi - Okene - Lokoja - Abuja

Option 2: Lagos - Akure - Owo - Ibilo - Okene - Lokoja - Abuja

Option 3: Lagos - Ilorin - Jebba - Bida - Abuja
Option 2 is what most transport companies use.

I have used all routes, never ever try Option 3 - bad roads.

Don't try option 3

I have taken travelled by road and air between lagos and abuja this year.
By road will be between 9 to 12 hours, depending on traffic and other factors.
You cannot compare travelling in europe with road trips in Nigeria. I use panadol after those long stressful journeys on the bad roads.

I would advise you to travel by air, but if you insist on travelling by road and you are going by public transport, take a Toyota Sienna car. Its the most comfortable option or the Toyota Hiace buses. If you are ready to spend you whole lifetime in a coach, I will recommend taking ABC. You will get all these options around Jibowu Yaba area.

Driving yourself?  route 2 is the only sane option, all other routes are far and not taken by commercial motorists. Going through Ekiti used to be preferred when the Akure road was bad but the Akure road has been patched up now.

Have a safe trip and enjoy your stay.

crispgg:

I have taken travelled by road and air between lagos and abuja this year.
By road will be between 9 to 12 hours, depending on traffic and other factors.
You cannot compare travelling in europe with road trips in Nigeria. I use panadol after those long stressful journeys on the bad roads.

I would advise you to travel by air, but if you insist on travelling by road and you are going by public transport, take a Toyota Sienna car. Its the most comfortable option or the Toyota Hiace buses. If you are ready to spend you whole lifetime in a coach, I will recommend taking ABC. You will get all these options around Jibowu Yaba area.

Driving yourself?  route 2 is the only sane option, all other routes are far and not taken by commercial motorists. Going through Ekiti used to be preferred when the Akure road was bad but the Akure road has been patched up now.

Have a safe trip and enjoy your stay.

Thank you. I would probably drive myself. Will I be able to use Sat Nav?

How much does arik air charge per ticket from lagos to abuja

tinkinfela:

Thank you. I would probably drive myself. Will I be able to use Sat Nav?

Yes you can use a sat nav if you buy from Third Dimension Technologies - they offer the very best in town. Call Yemmy on 0703 694 9019. If you have a Garmin, he will only load the Nigerian maps on your Garmin, if you dont have - just buy a Garmin Nuvi 265w with the maps loaded for 40k Naira.

Nice thread.

I'm hoping to visit Abuja on my next trip home and like OP I would like to do a road trip but not because of fear of flight but to enjoy the countryside and take pictures.

I positively will not do a night trip so what is a good halfway point to spend the night?

^^^^^

You can do all in 8 hrs if u gat a good car.

depending on where you are going from@ som

It will be from Ibadan.

should be able to do that at one stretch, except you want to take a local fishing tour

nice! OP pls update us on your road trip. I enjoy road trips as well, used to enjoy the ABC bus trips from Lagos to Jos a few yrs ago. The bus would always pass through Abuja and Kaduna.

I do Dallas to Houston every 2 weeks

280miles thats like 500km one way

dayokanu:

I do Dallas to Houston every 2 weeks

280miles thats like 500km one way

I have hope that one day Nigeria will develop an interstate freeway system with good amenities like security, 24hour gas stations, restaurants, of course good roads, etc

When I was building my house in Dallas, I used to drive the 3,000 miles round trip every two weeks from Los Angeles. Each leg, 1,500 miles, started after work on Friday around 5PM and it took 22 hours non stop.

Nigerias commerce, tourism woudl increase immensely if they could just accomplish this. There are more to see from the ground than in the air.

Somorin#1:

I have hope that one day Nigeria will develop an interstate freeway system with good amenities like security, 24hour gas stations, restaurants, of course good roads, etc

When I was building my house in Dallas, I used to drive the 3,000 miles round trip every two weeks from Los Angeles. Each leg, 1,500 miles, started after work on Friday around 5PM and it took 22 hours non stop.

Nigerias commerce, tourism woudl increase immensely if they could just accomplish this. There are more to see from the ground than in the air.

this is what makes road trips here so much fun.

Make u na keep 100,000 naira with u, for the armed robbers if u are travelling by road provided u want ur life.

unless you'd be willing to break the journey into 2 days or something like that to avoid traffic,
if you dont, it could take you more than 12 hours to get to abuja by road. . . it's taken me more than 18 hours before(like 3-5 years ago)
the road is constantly changing sef so it's not like there's only one route. . .I agree with the people saying you should fly. . .

were you crawling or did you use bicycle? haba bros, lag-abj is not more than 8hrs max if you do not overspeed.

Nice thread, ve been dying to drive from Nigeria to Ghana, @op, abeg update us with pics on your journey, Remember don't drink and drive,

like someone pointed out; 'break' the journey. Lagos to Akure then Akure to Abuja. Sitting in a car for 10 hrs is horrible not to talk of driving. Had the xperience last month but regretted I did.

My only advice is dnt go through niger state. Their roads are just too bad

I was about to critic your comment when I recall that morons like you cannot be elected into government 

can be very horrible. Pls fly.