Transportation from the City Center to Freetown International Airport
Freetown, the capital of the country of Sierra Leone, is home to the fourth largest natural harbor in the world. The Sierra Leone River runs between the country's only international airport, Lungi Airport, and Freetown. Therefore, you can use both the waterway and the highway to reach the airport, which is 21 km away from the Freetown city center.
Getting to the airport from Aberdeen, the center of Freetown, can be a difficult and unsafe journey. You can reach the airport by using the public transport ferry, private transfer boats or buses used by the local people.
Many tourists prefer to use the private transfer services of two companies, Sea Coach Express and Sea Bird Express, because the other ferry can be very crowded and the probability of pickpocketing is very high. While the boats of Sea Coach Express depart from Aberdeen Bridge, the boats of Sea Bird Express depart from Murray Town.
A bus you can take the regular ferry from Freetown to the airport leaves from Rawdon Street in Aberdeen. While private transfer boats pass to the opposite shore in 30 minutes, it takes an hour for the normal ferry to cross. It can take 4-6 hours to reach Freetown Airport via Port Loko by land and the roads are not very smooth.
If your flight is at night, it is a better option to go to the airport in the morning and wait there, as it is not safe to travel both by road and by ferry at night.
Transportation from James Spriggs Payne Airport to the City Center
Although Spriggs Payne or James Spriggs Payne Airport is the second and smaller airport of Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, it is only 7 km from the city center, making it a frequently used airport.
Although the distance between Spriggs Payne Airport and the city center is 7 km, there is no public transportation option to cover this distance. Taxi or private transfer is your only chance to reach the city center.
Since taxis are definitely around the airport during scheduled flight times, it is unlikely that you will not be able to find a taxi after getting off your flight. When you exit the airport arrivals terminal, you can see the taxi stand in front of you.
The city center is only 7 km. The journey takes less than 10 minutes. Some tourists visiting the city consider a more economical transportation option by using a collective taxi to reach the city center from the airport.
Taxis here pick up other passengers on the way, and you'll generally travel in a crowded way. Robbery and pickpocketing can happen in such crowded taxis. For your safety, either find a taxi contact from someone who has traveled to Monrovia before, or take the entire journey yourself by telling the driver not to take extra passengers.
Although there is no Uber in Liberia yet, an app called Hannk provides a similar service. Since the company is not well known yet, we recommend that you do your own research before using it.
Your other option, other than a taxi, is to book a private transfer. You have several different options for this. The first is to add your city center transfer to this tour, if there is a tour you can buy online before coming to Liberia.
Another is to just arrange an airport transfer without taking a tour, or contact the hotel you are staying at and use the hotel's own transfer if they offer a transfer service. If you are going to Liberia for business, you can also ask your colleagues there to greet you.