Morning
8am — breakfast at Cafe Vergnano in VI or Butterflys in Ikoyi, $12 to $18 for coffee and eggs. 9.30am — Nike Art Gallery on Elegushi (technically VI-adjacent), free entry, budget 45 minutes not the two hours Instagram recommends. 10.30am — walk or Bolt to Muri Okunola Park, free, quick green break. 11am — Freedom Park downtown for the architecture and jollof from a food stall ($5). Or, alternate: the morning ferry from Falomo across to Ikoyi and back is a $4 novelty worth doing once.
Afternoon and evening
1pm — lunch at Yellow Chilli in VI for goat pepper soup and jollof ($25 to $35 head). 2.30pm — walk Ozumba Mbadiwe past the mega-hotels, then a shopping stop at Alara concept store in Victoria Island for design pieces and coffee. 4pm — check into a beach club at Oniru or Landmark for $20 to $40 including one drink. 6.30pm — sunset at the Radisson Blu rooftop or Maison Fahrenheit, $12 to $20 cocktails. 8pm — dinner at Nok by Alara ($60) or Zagat for Lebanese ($30).
Night, then back to Lekki
10.30pm — one round at Sip Wine Bar or Escape Lagos rooftop. Midnight — decide: home to Lekki (Bolt $6 to $10) or push on to Cubana/Quilox for the club (table minimums bite fast). Total spend for the day if you stay clear of a club table: $120 to $180 including drinks. Add a $400 table and it's $500+. The single best hack: check what's on at Terra Kulture that night — a Wednesday jazz set replaces the club and comes in under $30 with dinner.
Bon à savoir
Is Victoria Island walkable?+
Parts of it — Ahmadu Bello Way, Ozumba Mbadiwe and around Landmark are reasonable in daylight. Adeola Odeku's core is walkable too. Don’t try to walk between neighbourhoods; distances and heat defeat that plan by 11am.
How long from Lekki to VI?+
10 to 25 minutes off-peak, 40 to 90 minutes at rush hour. The Lekki-Ikoyi Bridge is the main artery and clogs 7 to 10am inbound and 5 to 8pm outbound.