Mali by plane · Mali by plane
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Mali by plane
Mali by plane
Air France flies daily non-stop from Paris-Charles de Gaulle to Bamako (and return). Royal Air Maroc is a little cheaper than Air France and has daily flights from Europe and New York via Casablanca in Morocco. There are also smaller companies, such as Point Afrique , who fly cheaply to & from Mali in the busy tourist season. Both Air France and RAM unfortunately arrive and depart in the middle of the night - so even if you are planning a budget trip it may be worth splurging for a nice hotel the first night where you can make real reservations and maybe even get picked up at the airport.
Many African and pan-African airlines fly into Mali, for example: Air Mauritania, Tunisair Air Afriqiyah and numerous others. Some of these airlines also have feature connections to Mopti.
The airport is about twenty minutes drive from the centre of Bamako. There are fixed rates for taxis to different parts of town: to find them, cross the roadway in front of the airport and go the the right-hand end of the block of kiosks. You will see a group of taxi drivers and a board with prices. As at August 2007, the price was 7500 CFA (around USD$15).
However, if you know the local language enough, you might be able to bargain the official price down to 4000 or even 3000 CFA, especially if you arrive during the day. Make sure you board an official taxi though (see the Stay Safe section below). There is even well-hidden restaurant: follow the exit road past the barrier, and it is on the right, surrounded by trees, about 50 m from the terminal building. They're very friendly and serve basic but filling and tasty snacks. For getting back to the airport from Bamako, try negotiating hard and you may get a rate significantly cheaper than the set rates for the airport to Bamako.
If you fly Royal Air Maroc, beware that Casablanca Airport is notorious for opening checked-in bags and removing valuables. Also luggage can arrive late.
As is common with many other airports, there will be people trying to push you into unauthorised taxis and to change money some are even allowed into the airport terminal itself, avoid them.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Mali
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Mali Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.