Cost of Living in Kigali

Spent 2 months in Kigali and criss-crossed the country from there as my base. Pros: friendly people in the city (not so much in the far North rural areas of Rwanda if you travel on your own near Virunga). Clean air. A few good restaurants. Safe in the city (Kigali), even at night. Amazing wildlife and scenery/landscapes if you get a place with a good view and some nature around. Government entities have their sh*t straight more than many other nations. Average internet. Stable power grid. Cons: dangerous near Virunga unless you go on a guided tour, water is unpotable and unsafe from the tap unless boiled even in Kigali, locals stare at you without interruption (not in a frightening way but it's uncomfortable), dangerous to navigate the traffic unless you're used to complete road chaos, slow/poor service in restaurants, everyone asks you for money even the children in rural villages where tourists don’t go, need a car/motorcycle to do anything (not a walkable city), very poor selection of anything in terms of shopping needs and expensive. There's a lot of potential here and I'd gladly come back overall, just watch your safety (health, road, and up North).

I've spent a total of ~2 months in Kigali. Pros: very safe, pretty affordable, very pretty, hospitable people, great coffee. Cons: a bit dull, culture is very insular (respectful but quite conservative), food is bad, police state vibes are kind of weird. A certain kind of person who doesn't care about nightlife at all, is open to experiencing a foreign culture that's more inward-oriented, and wants to live a really chill lifestyle in a green, pleasant city would really like it. I personally need some more action and didn't vibe with the reservedness of the people there, lovely as they are.

Spent 1 month here with my girlfriend. The place has potential, but is not quite there yet. Pollution can be pretty bad. Otherwise it's very pretty and the people are helpful. You can find workable Internet, but not everywhere. Try Nyarutarama, which has a lot of embassies. Not extremely cheap, but affordable. Definitely take a trip to Lake Kivu and Volcanoes National Park in the North. Food isn't that great. The most common and cheapest way of getting around is by mototaxi, but beware, they can be very careless - we had an accident on day 1 that required medical attention. You need to haggle with taxi drivers, otherwise they'll rip you off. Car rentals could be cheaper for what you get. Malaria is not that much of an issue in the capital. Otherwise, Kigali is very safe for an African capital, you are mostly free to walk around at night. Very hilly, so be prepared for that. Hospital care was OK, although lacking - needed to go to a different hospital for an X-Ray machine that worked, but the doctors were very professional and care was cheap ($10 for an X-Ray at King Faizal hospital, rebandaging and wound cleaning between $8 to $12 each time).

All in all, I'm happy we went and will probably be back at some point - lots of growth potential.