Backpacking In Niger 🇳🇪: My Fabulous Stay At Hotel Univers 3 Aeroport Luxe, Niamey

Backpacking In Niger 🇳🇪: My Stay At Hotel 3 Univers, Niamey

“Say that you’ll stay forever and a day in the time of my life” – Noel Gallagher.

Niger is definitely one of the least visited countries from my entire travels. I rarely met any other tourist that has been here, nor did I ever meet any Niger people on my entire journey from 1980 until November 2024. Nor did I meet any other Caucasian / white tourists here when I finally smoothed my backpack onto the streets of Niamey. Yes, I’d never met anyone from Niger. There are not many countries I can write that about. I’m totally serious. Wild, but true.

That was until November 2024 when I headed back to Berlin in Germany to secure a Niger visa, where in the embassy I met three people from Niger, including Aisha who helped us secure the visa. Here’s a full guide on how to get a Niger Visa in Berlin. And voila, Marek Bladowski and I were heading to Niger. A new country for both of us.

Now I had the visa, it was time to explore Niger. We flew into Niamey, the country’s capital city and we stayed at the elegant Hotel Univers 3 Aeroport Luxe. This was absolutely an excellent choice. You have to stay here in Niger!! I loved it! Here are the best reasons to stay here at the Hotel Univers 3 Aeroport Luxe.

1.Safe And Secure

Firstly, you’ll want to stay safe and secure when backpacking in Niger. The country is still on the list of places to avoid by many governments, whether you believe it or not. Indeed, there have been shootings, attacks, kidnappings and widespread disruption for the last few years. The political situation remains unstable following the military coup in July 2023, I was here in December 2024.

However, this isn’t a political blog – I’m sure you can research all that yourself. I’m a tourist. I was here to see the country and relax as a tourist. Did I say relax? Yes, indeed I relaxed by the pool here. Plus, I grew up in Northern Ireland, so if a government tells me not to go somewhere, I’ll probably go there. End of story. I loved Niamey!

You’ll be glad to know that the Hotel Univers 3 Aeroport Luxe has good security. Of course, apart from locking your hotel room door, the entrance is manned 24/7 by security staff. Nobody can get in without a reason.

2.Three Swimming Pools

Not just one, or two, but three swimming pools here at Hotel Univers 3 Aeroport Luxe! It’s in the name – Univers THREE! Good things come in threes.

As a seaside boy from Bangor in Northern Ireland, who studied in Bournemouth in England, I love a swim. In a landlocked country like Niger, I’m not river loyal so it was great to have a swim in the pools here. As Marek sat and sipped beer and I did my laps of the pool, I didn’t ponder on Northern Irish olympic gold champion Daniel Wiffen at all.

It was only later when Marek sent me the photos that I realised I had accidentally done the Wiffen. As I wrote on social media “Danny Wiffen loyal at Niger away”, my hair even went golden blonde again as I swam in the Niamey sunshine…

I even flew my Northern Ireland flag poolside to double do the Danny Wiffen at Niger Away.

Oh and if three pools is not enough, romantically one of them is in the shape of a heart. Honeymoon anyone?

3.Three Bars

It is a theme here of THREE – 3 of things. Three bars, three swimming pools at Hotel Univers 3! This meant I had already visited 3 bars in Niamey!

1.Restaurant Bar (in the restaurant on the ground floor opposite reception)
2.Lobby Bar (just on the left beyond reception)
3.Poolside Bar (in the shade, by the three swimming pools)

Naturally I’d have a beer in all three, including of course two of the local beers Sorgho and Libs.

1.Restaurant Bar (in the restaurant on the ground floor opposite reception)

We had beer, wine and even Bailey’s in here. We also hat-tricked their breakfasts and dinners.

2.Lobby Bar (just on the left beyond reception)

Our first ever beers in Niger were served up from the Lobby Bar on reception. As we sipped them, Marek was surprised to find TWO Polish magazines on the table. We were the only two tourists here, so this was deliberate and a nice touch. I guess they had no luck getting the Belfast Telegraph and Ulster Tatler sent over from Northern Ireland for the Bangor backpacker!

There you go, our first ever beer in Niger was Sorgho and we drank it while reading Polish magazines.

3.Poolside Bar (in the shade, by the three swimming pools)

Obviously being Danny Wiffen loyal, the poolside bar was my favourite.

4.Cosy, Clean Rooms

Marek and I had a twin room, we were in 107 which had a balcony, an ensuite, a safe, a wardrobe, a desk, tea and coffee making facilities and two beds.

5.Wi-Fi

Anyone who has backpacked in Africa knows how excruciating painful internet can be. It is NOT a travel bloggers paradise. We fail to upload photos, videos and everything. While the Wi-Fi here went on and off, at least it did work most of the time and I could upload at least to my Instagram Page and Don’t Stop Living Facebook Page. Then again, I wasn’t backpacking in Niger to be laptop loyal.

6.Helpful And Friendly Staff

From our arrival into the country, until we left, the staff were helpful and friendly here! We met the main managers Ide and Augustine who made us feel welcome, and at home here!

For Marek, the staff needed to be helpful here. He was worried about the passport situation as the Niger Police hold onto the passports of all tourists who visit the country. The problem we had was we were travelling over Christmas and had just 4 days here. Yet they had asked us to go to a place known as DST to get our passports back. Twice we went, and twice it was shut and they claimed they didn’t have our passports. Augustine on reception began the quest to help, but it was later thanks to local lad Illiassou, who by chance had come in to the hotel make a reservation for his Chinese clients, that the passport dilemma got solved.

We also had a beer with the junior manager Augustine in a local bar with live music.

7.Reservation Helps With Visa

I wrote before on How to get a Niger Visa, as we nailed it on two visits to Berlin in Germany. It wasn’t easy, but the reservation here helps, an extra reason to book this hotel. Copy what we did and you’ll get your visa!!

8.Airport Pick-up and Proximity To Airport

We were arriving in darkness, which is not always the best thing in a barely lit country – not many streetlights here. Luckily the Hotel Univers 3 Aeroport Luxe organises an airport pick-up on arrival, and they’ll even take you back on departure! Plus, I was SIR JONNY here, the first time I had that moniker since backpacking Adammia in 2015.

9.Choice Of Rooms at Hotel Univers 3 Aeroport Luxe, Niamey

We had a twin room, we were in Room 107. One of these days I want to make a full list of every single room/bed/dorm I slept in, in every hotel, hostel, guesthouse, campsite etc…but you can go for a luxury room on a higher floor of course. We took the backpacker option of course, and were satisfied. But you can get a more luxury room if you wish.

10.Restaurant in Hotel Univers 3 Aeroport Luxe, Niamey

For us, breakfast was included – ask about that. So we dined each morning in the nice restaurant here. There is just one restaurant, but of course you can order food to your room or to be brought poolside.

Aside from the breakfasts, we tried spicy beef rolls with salad and chilli peppers and chicken with rice. It may not be the most local food we could get of course, but hey, I’m not a food blogger nor do I crave to be one.

11.Organising Tours At Hotel Univers 3 Aeroport Luxe, Niamey

From here at the reception of Hotel Univers 3 Aeroport Luxe, Niamey, you can organise your tours of the city, the giraffes and further afield. Sadly, we were quoted upwards of 300 Euros (even after a travel blogger discount) to do the wild giraffes so we declined, but if you have the budget – organise seeing West Africa’s last wild giraffes. We just did a city tour and this included the Grand Mosque, Cathedral and of course the national football stadium – a must for me!

And with that, it was THANK YOU Niger!!!

Thanks again to Ide, Augustine and all staff at the Hotel Univer 3 Aeroport Luxe in Niamey, Niger! We loved our time here – it was just three nights, and four days but well worth the trip to Niger and this is definitely the place to stay – mostly due to the fact it is close to the airport, safe, they’ll pick you up, look after you and arrange what you need. This included a night out listening to local music in a bar, a visit to the football stadium and helping to solve the passport issue. Here are a few other photos and memories from our excellent trip to Niamey, which I’ll be writing about in other posts on backpacking Niger.

Here are the details for booking a stay at the Hotel 3 Univers, Niamey:

Here are some videos I made during my stay at the Hotel 3 Univers, Niamey: