Timbuktu, Mali Reviews and Ratings

Timbuktu was a wonderful adventure. I spent three days getting there by river. (We slept out at night, in tents under the stars). The streets are packed sand, and the houses boast beautiful Islamic architectural features that reflect the medieval history of the city. The population of the city emphasizes the different peoples that live there. There are several must sees, the well that gave "Tombouctou"its name, the library with beautiful centuries old Islamic manuscripts,the city's mosque,and many historic houses. I was lucky enough to travel to Mali with a local university so our focus was culture and history. The people are very nice and quite interested in the U.S.; a vast number of the tourists to Mali are from France, Italy and Germany. The people in Timbuktu speak French as their second language, many of the young adults also speak English. The food was ok, beef, chicken or fish nothing fancy or weird mostly served with french fries, sweet potatoes or couscous. Go see Mali, keep an open mind, you'll have a extraordinary experience.

I was impressed! I went alone, with a driver. The motel was fine, but the meals were poor, the people friendly, but like the other article, after about 15 minutes they are asking for something; cadeau (gift), or sponsorship to the US. I would go back, but preferred Mopti.

Definitely sand in the bread :) It's a long trip to get there and back. It's cool to be able to say you've been but other than that I wouldn't go back. The people are friendly but most just want you to buy something since they are very familiar with tourism. It was fun sleeping on the roof of our house since it was the only place to get a breeze and the nap time in the middle of the day is necessary and relaxing!

Sparse. Though it might have changed since the 70's. There was sand in the bread and not too many places to eat at then. But like I said maybe, hopefully, it's changed! Truly exotic. Loved it.