How To Get From Dakar Airpot (Blaise Diagne) To Downtown Dakar
Intro
During my trip to Senegal, I found out the hard way that the main airport is located around a 60km trek from downtown. At the time, I didn't think much of it and ended up hailing a taxi, but there are other ways to get there...
The Train (TER)
A few years ago, the Senegalese government announced the news that it was building a revolutionary train that would take passengers from downtown to the airport. A few years later, the train was built, but it hasn't quite reached the airport yet. The train express regional departs from downtown Dakar at a number of locations (every 10 minutes or so) from 5:35 am to 10 pm. The link to the schedule is here.
The cost for a one-way ticket is 1500 CFA for an economy ticket and 2500 for a "First Class" ticket. The problem is once you get there, the taxi to the airport is another 15,000 CFA.
If you are feeling adventurous and have a lot of time, you can switch over to the DemDikk bus at Diamniadio for an additional 3000 CFA to Blase Diagne. However, I would leave plenty of time to do this if you have never done it before.
The Bus
For the average backpacker traveling West Africa, the bus will be your best option when heading to the airport. The DemDikk bus is a good brand, but there are plenty of others online that offer AC and tightly run schedules. The DemDikk buses run every 30-45 minutes from Leopold Sedar-Senghor stadium to Blaise Diagne and cost 6ooo CFA one way.
Taxis/Yango
Much like in most countries in the world, there is also a "taxi mafia" in Dakar, at least coming from the airport. Once exiting the airport, there are plenty of taxi drivers waiting at the taxi stand to take you. From reports, there is no way to pay less than 25,000 CFA, but if your bargaining skills are on point, you can get it lower.
My experience started with being quoted 30,000.
Eventually, when I began to walk away, they offered 25,000
Once I showed them the price of Yango, we settled on 20,000
If you are going from Dakar to Blaise Diagne, be prepared to leave it up to each individual taxi driver. Some taxi drivers won't want to take you to the airport since it can take over 2 hours during rush hour...
Additionally, going from Dakar to Blaise Diagne allows you to use Yango. Yango is an app that is basically Uber but for Senegal. The price was about 22,000 CFA one-way, although I did not use it during my trip😞.
Be aware that Yango is unreliable at the airport, and occasionally, drivers will not want to pick you up due to the "taxi mafia." This is similar in many places around the world, like Cairo and Santiago.
Final Thoughts
If you are wondering how to get from Dakar Blaise Diagne Airport to downtown Dakar, you realistically have three options. The most affordable would probably be taking the DemDikk bus, which runs every 30-45 minutes and is only 6000 CFA. However, there is also a train that costs 1500 CFA, which puts you about 20 clicks away from Blaise Diagne. Lastly, you can always take a taxi; just make sure that your bargaining skills are on point.
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