Guide
Things to do in Ikeja when you want the weekend to count.
The mainland gets written about as somewhere you commute from. Anyone who actually lives here knows better. Between Omole, Alausa, Allen and Maryland there is enough to fill most weekends without once thinking about the third mainland bridge.
This is our running list. We run a free monthly reading hangout in Omole, so yes, we are in it. The rest is what we recommend to friends who ask what there is to do around here.
The list
Twelve things worth your Saturday
Some free, some booked, all within a reasonable drive of Ikeja.
- 01Free
Read in company at Atrium, Omole
Once a month, a room full of people read quietly together for an hour, then talk books. It is free, there is no assigned title, and nobody minds if you arrive mid-chapter. Our own thing, so of course we rate it.
- 02Booked
Sip and paint in the Atrium garden
Paints, canvas, food and a garden table. Good for a first date, a birthday, or a Saturday you want to remember. Runs through Sip and Paint .NG at the same Omole address.
- 03Booked
Throw a pot
Pottery is the most satisfying way to get your hands dirty in Ikeja. You leave with something wobbly and entirely yours.
- 04Booked
Make a candle you actually burn
Scent blending, pouring, curing. A calm two hours and a jar that makes your flat smell deliberate.
- 05Easy
Ikeja City Mall, Alausa
The default mainland fallback for a reason: cinema, food court, bookshelves worth a browse and air conditioning that means it.
- 06Cheap
Ndubuisi Kanu Park, Alausa
Green, walkable and cheap. Best early morning or just before sunset, with a book and a bottle of water.
- 07Cheap
Ikeja Golf Club grounds
Even if you do not golf, the tree cover and the quiet make it one of the calmest corners of the area.
- 08Eat
Allen Avenue food crawl
Suya, shawarma, small chops and proper sit-down places within a short drive. Go hungry, go with people.
- 09Chaos
Computer Village, for the sport of it
Not restful, but genuinely one of the most alive places in Lagos. Go with a budget and a poker face.
- 10Night
Live music and comedy nights
Ikeja and Maryland carry a steady rotation of open mics, live bands and comedy nights. Check listings on the day, they move around.
- 11Booked
Hand casting a pair of hands
Cast your hands, or yours and someone else's, into a keepable sculpture. Odd, sentimental and a very good gift.
- 12Home
Order a book and go nowhere
The honest one. Browse the Silent Book Club Lagos catalog, order a title, and spend Sunday horizontal.
Our corner of it
Silent Book Club Mainland, at Atrium
Free, monthly, and the easiest thing on this list to say yes to.
We meet at Atrium, Plot 18, Block 1a, Agoro Street, Omole Phase 1, Ikeja, Lagos. You arrive, order something warm, and read quietly for an hour with everyone else in the room. Then the talking starts and books change hands.
The same venue hosts our Side Quests: pottery, candle making, hand casting and sip and paint, so you can stack a whole day in Omole if you want to.
Worth saying plainly: most well-known Lagos creative studios are in Lekki, which means a 45 to 75 minute drive each way depending on traffic. Everything we run is actually on the mainland, in Omole, so the relaxing part of the day is not spent in the car. We wrote a whole guide to pottery and candle making in Ikeja on exactly that.
- Saturday, 12 September 202612:00 PM – 2:00 PM
- Saturday, 10 October 202612:00 PM – 2:00 PM
- Saturday, 14 November 202612:00 PM – 2:00 PM
- Saturday, 5 December 202612:00 PM – 2:00 PM
- Saturday, 30 January 202712:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Confirmed dates