Nice city with friendly people. It usually serves as a transit to more historical city northwards such as Agadez, Zinder or Ayorou, but Niamey has got its own charm: the Grand Mosque, the zoo, the cathedral of Maorey, etc.

Niamey is well worth a visit; The National Museum is neat to see- my favorite parts were the Tree of Tenere and the dinosaur skeletons- both of these are always view-able. One should be aware that many of the exhibit buildings are closed for several hours in the middle of the day- from around 1230 to 1530- so we weren't able to visit any while we were there. Many of the animals live in cages or enclosures that I think are too small, and I wouldn't have visited the "zoo" had it not been part of the museum grounds, but I don't know the story behind each of the creatures and don't want to place judgment on how or why they are kept there in that manner. I also wasn't overly thrilled with being hassled by souvenir vendors on the museum grounds, but they do have slim pickings with so few tourists. The Grand Mosque and the Cathedral are nice to check out; the mosque can be entered and photographed, but "donations" for both the mosque itself as well as for the guide will be expected; the cathedral is on guarded grounds, and the guard forbade pictures without express permission from his boss, who was not available to ask at the time. The two big hotels are nice places to visit and have a drink or meal at (either poolside or with view of the Niger river), just know you and your belongings will undergo security checks and screening. At the moment, Niamey is not frequented by many tourists, and especially not ones who don't speak (much) French- it would be much more difficult to travel there without any knowledge of French at all.