Cote d’Ivoire Solo Female Travel Safety Tips and Advice

On this page you will find first-hand, unbiased, and real safety tips, advice and reviews from women traveling solo, submitted directly from their personal experiences in the country.

Their opinions are unfiltered and submitted independently as part of the Solo Female Travel Safety Index, a ranking of 210 countries and regions based on how safe they are for women traveling solo.

The safety scores range from 1 to 4 with 1 being the safest and 4 being the most dangerous for solo female travelers.

You don’t need to login to read the below reviews. But do sign up or login to share your solo travel experiences, country safety rating and comments.

Cote d'Ivoire Country data

We have compiled a few data points below that can help you better understand Cote d'Ivoire and have more context when thinking about travel safety.

Official country name: Republic of Cote d'Ivoire.

Etymology: The country name reflects the intense ivory trade that took place in the region from the 15th to 17th centuries.

Capital: Yamoussoukro is the legislative capital and Abidjan administrative capital.

Independence / foundation: Yamoussoukro is named after Queen Yamoussou, who ruled in the village of N'Gokro in 1929 at the time of French colonization. The village was renamed Yamoussoukro, the suffix "-kro" meaning "town" in the native Baoule language.

Abidjan's name supposedly comes from a misunderstanding. Tradition states that an old man carrying branches met a European explorer who asked for the name of the nearest village. The man, not understanding and terrified by this unexpected encounter, fled shouting "min-chan m’bidjan," which in the Ebrie language means: "I return from cutting leaves".

The explorer, thinking that his question had been answered, recorded the name of the locale as Abidjan. A different version has the first colonists asking native women the name of the place and getting a similar response.

Population: 29 million.

Currency: West African CFA Franc (XOF)
1 USD = 599 - 609 XOF
1 EUR = 656 XOF

Time zone: UTC 0

Languages spoken: French (official), 60 native dialects of which Dioula is the most widely spoken.

Religions: Muslim 43%, Catholic 17%, Evangelical 12%, Methodist 2%, other Christian 3%, animist 4%, other religion <1%, none 19%.

Climate: Tropical along coast, semiarid in far north. Three seasons: warm and dry (November to March), hot and dry (March to May) and hot and wet (June to October).

Real GDP (ppp – purchasing power parity): $156 billion.

Real GDP per capita (ppp): $5,500.

Main airports: Abidjan Félix Houphouët-Boigny Airport.

World heritage sites in Cote d'Ivoire

There are over 1,100 world heritage sites spread across more than 165 countries. New ones are added every year, and some may be removed from the list for various reasons.

Number of UNESCO listed sites: 5.

Top world heritage sites:

- Historic Town of Grand-Bassam.
- Sudanese style mosques in northern Côte d’Ivoire.
- Comoé National Park. - Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve.
- Taï National Park.

Interesting facts about Cote d'Ivoire

- Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro Basilica in Yamoussoukro is the largest church in the world, larger even than St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

- Abidjan is the world’s third-largest French-speaking city after Kinshasa in DR Congo and Paris in France.

- Like chocolate? Ivory Coast is the world’s largest producer and exporter of cocoa beans. If you love it, here is a list of ethical chocolate companies.

Further reading: N/A.

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Cote d'Ivoire Travel tips

More about Cote d'Ivoire on Solo Female Travelers

Coming soon.

Did you spot any errors? We do our best to keep this information updated and accurate, but things change. If you saw anything that is not right, let us know so we can fix it: [email protected].

About the Solo Female Travel Safety Index

Safety matters to solo female travelers, you told us so in our annual Solo Female Travel Survey, where year after year, women prove that this is their most important concern when traveling solo.

We wanted to do something about it, so we built these country-specific pages where you can find reviews and scores for 7 key variables affecting the safety of women traveling solo.

How to use the Safety Index

On this page, you will find the country score and the personal opinions on safety of other women traveling solo.

You can sort the comments by:

• The level of experience traveling solo of the reviewer (beginner = <5 trips solo, Intermediate = 5 to 10 trips solo, Experienced = >10 trips solo).
• The age of the traveler.
• Whether they are a visitor or local.
• The date they were posted.

The safety scores range from 1 to 4 with 1 being the safest and 4 being the most dangerous for solo female travelers. 

Thus, the lower the score, the safer the country.

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Looking for more safety resources?

This entire website is devoted to helping women travel solo. Check out the links below to learn more:

Solo Female Travel Stats: Results from the the largest, most comprehensive and only global research study on solo female travel trends, preferences and behaviors published.

Thanks to Jacobo Vilella for creating the Solo Female Travelers Safety Index ❤️