# Ondo City

Ondo City is a city in Ondo State, South West Nigeria. Ondo city is the second largest city in Ondo state, and the trade centre for the surrounding region.

## Understand

Yoruba and English are widely spoken among the populace. The Yoruba spoken here may have some dialectal differences from that spoken in other cities in the Southwest, such as Lagos or Ibadan.
The primary economic activity in this place is agriculture. Yams, cassava, grain and tobacco are grown. Cotton is also grown, and is used to weave cloth called Aso Oke fabric. Ondo City is the largest producer of cocoa products in the region.

### Climate

In Ondo, the year-round weather is stifling, with the wet season being warm and cloudy and the dry season being hot and partially gloomy. The average annual temperature fluctuates between 66°F and 91°F; it is rarely lower or higher than 60°F or 95°F.
The greatest time of year to visit Ondo for hot-weather activities is from late November to late January, according to the beach/pool score.

## Get in
### By bus

There are buses at different bus parks that take travellers to Ondo city. The cost ranges from ₦1,000 (naira) to ₦30,000 depending on the city you are coming in from.

## Get around

As in many other cities in Southwestern Nigeria, transport is usually by bus, tricycle (keke) or motorbike (okada). As a Traveller, it is usually best to ask questions from natives concerning the exact price range of transport fare. This will prevent you from being ripped off by the local transporters (particularly bike riders)

## See

* 7.27924.884351 Ondo inner city gate Yaba. A gate into the city, well structured and beautifully arched. It is the second gate into Ondo. (updated Jun 2021)
* 7.196864.85962 Osemawe Palace. The palace of the paramount ruler of Ondo, the Osemawe of Ondo, who have reigned for centuries, starting in 1510. There have been over forty rulers bearing the title. (updated Jun 2021)
* 7.288215.160693 D-rock Amusement Park and Recreational Centre, Ita oniyan. 8AM-10PM. A recreational centre for events and other recreational activities. (updated Jul 2024)
* 7.110084.831334 Divine Event Centre, No 6 Akinkugbe Road, ☏ +234 903 6522 142. 8AM-10PM. A luxurious event centre that provides a lot of recreational activities. (updated Jul 2024)

## Do

Obitun festival: This festival is a bridal dance in Ondo city. This dancing ceremony is traditionally meant to be performed by every maiden in Ondo before she gets married. The people believe that if the ceremony is not performed for any particular girl, such girl might end up being childless for the rest of her life. However, very few families still perform these ceremonies for their daughters before they get married.

## Eat

* Ise oluwa Unique Food (Iya Ade), Behind BOVAS Filling Station, Opposite Unity Secondary School, Ife garage, Ondo-Ife Rd, ☏ +234 813 079 8807. 7AM-9PM. A restaurant that offers local cuisines with the eat-in and takeaway buffet option. (updated May 2021)
* Cruchies Ondo, Yaba street, Ondo, ☏ +234-906-297-7105, @cruchies.ondotown. 7AM-9PM. Service options: delivery, dine-in, take away. (updated Jun 2021)
* Fingerlicking Restaurant, 23, Gbogi Street, by Bolton Hotel, Off Oyemekun Road, ☏ +234 815 594 0705, +234 903 517 8705, info@fingerlickingrestaurant.com. Provides services in indoor and outdoor catering, local and intercontinental cuisine, bar and drink services. (updated Jul 2024)
* Aristo Games and Bistro, Oba Ile Road, ☏ +234 806 015 4792, jiracy2000@gmail.com. Daily. Mainly serves local and continental cuisines (updated Jul 2024)
* Chinyere Restaurant, Km 18, Along Akure - Owo Express way, beside Ade Peter's filling station, Ayede - Ogbese, ☏ +234 703 905 9163. Professionally managed restaurant affiliated to Kingben. Steady delivering mouth watering delicious, healthy meals at affordable rates. (updated Jul 2024)
* Diet Field Restaurant, Atilade Street, Oshokoti Layout By Babalola Junction, ☏ +234 703 672 0026. Daily 8AM-8PM. A contemporary eatery that serves home made, delicious and affordable continental cuisines (updated Jul 2024)
* Dream Centre Restaurant, ShopRite Mall, ☏ +234 805 086 5087. An intercontinental and oriental restaurant in offering food services on pizza and burger, Italian Gelato ice-cream and Nigerian cuisines. (updated Jul 2024)
* Enny’z Kitchen, Enny'z Kitchen Afunbiowo Estate Oke aro, ☏ +234 903 170 0462. Mainly offering tasty, healthy and delicious native, African and continental dishes (updated Jul 2024)
* Iya Saheed Alamala Restaurant, 79B Isolo Street, ☏ +234 903 395 4602. M-Sa 8AM-9PM. A food joint that serves all kinds of Nigerian foods with an outstanding taste in menu (updated Jul 2024)
* Lah Kitchen and Lounge, The Dome Event Center premises, Igbatoro Road, ☏ +234 813 548 8544, +234 708 778 9926, lahproducts@gmail.com. Daily 8AM-11PM. They deliver top notch food service satisfaction (updated Jul 2024)
* Obioma Prestigious Restaurant, 32b Arakale Road Beside Aromeds Pharmacy, ☏ +234 818 467 6688, +234 803 491 0610, cemmilo@gmail.com. Mainly offering healthy delicious tasty African and Continental dishes (updated Jul 2024)
* Rock Land Spot, Agape Road, By FUTA Road Before FUTA Junction, ☏ +234 803 291 6461. Daily 8AM-10PM. It’s a good chilling spot and local restaurant offering different dishes (updated Jul 2024)
* Tass Foods, 5, Opposite D'Johnson Hotel Behind National Bank, Adegbola, ☏ +234 810 393 8170, tassfoodsng@gmail.com. Delicious and affordable African and continental dishes in quite comfortable environment. (updated Jul 2024)
* Tibile Foods and Lounge, Green Roof, opposite The Dome, Igbatoro road, ☏ +234 816 119 6065, +234 912 656 1646, tibilefoodsandlounge@gmail.com. An indigenous restaurant that offers various dishes (updated Jul 2024)

## Drink

* Ozone Grills and Bar, Ore-ondo Road, ☏ +234-706-974-6537. Service options: dine-in and takeaway. They also engage in wholesale. (updated Jun 2021)

## Learn

It is the host of universities and colleges of education. Some of the universities and polytechnics and college of education include:
* Ondo State University of Medical Sciences is a university of medical sciences owned by the Ondo State Government. It was established in 2015. It is the third specialized university in Africa, and Nigeria's first specialized medical university to be accredited by the National Universities Commission.
* National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) Ondo was established in 1992 by the Federal Ministry of Education, in collaboration with UNESCO/IIEP Paris, as a sub-regional staff college for West Africa. It seeks to realize its mission through capacity building, continuous training , consulting, action research in educational planning, information dissemination and providing resource centre services.
* Wesley University is a private university owned by the Methodist Church of Nigeria.
* Adeyemi College of Education is a federal government higher education institution located in Ondo City, Ondo State, Nigeria. It is a degree-awarding institution affiliated to Obafemi Awolowo University, and is ranked as the best college of education.
* Ondo City Polytechnic Ondo is a privately funded polytechnic.
* John Bosco Institute of Technology, Ondo City

## Sleep

* Labim Hotel, km2 Ondo-Akure Rd, beside INEC office, Nirowi Igba, ☏ +234-901-178-0530. Check-in: noon, check-out: noon. Free parking and breakfast free, CCTV, swimming pool, event hall. (updated Jun 2021)
* A & T Presidential Hotel, Km5 ilesha Owoh express Rd, near NNPC. Check-in: noon, check-out: noon. Free parking, air conditioning, swimming pool, fitness facilities, and bar/lounge. ₦7,000. (updated Jun 2021)
* Polak Hotels, 5 Samuel Adedute cresent, off Better lab, ☏ +234-705-561-0000. Check-in: noon, check-out: noon. Parking free, air conditioning, restaurant, laundry and free breakfast. (updated Jun 2021)
* Road River Hotel, Along Ondo Road, Ile oluji, ☏ +234-806-046-7496. Check-in: noon, check-out: noon. Swimming pool, free parking, all-inclusive available, restaurant and laundry services. (updated Jun 2021)

## Connect

For most locations in Ondo, you would most likely find coverage of the 2G/3G/4G mobile networks. Signal strength might diminish further away from the town center, and you might occasionally experience network outage for all or some of the mobile phone service providers in the remote areas of the town. Different networks tend to be more stable and reliable in different locations of the town at different times.
MTN, 9Mobile, Airtel (Zain) and GLO are all available service providers. So if you are planning a visit to Ondo, like you would do for many other places in Nigeria, you should probably consider having multiple SIM cards, preferably for all the mobile service providers, since you can't tell which will be more stable and reliable at a time in your location during your visit. And if you will risk not having any of them, you might be better off not risking the MTN network, because, from indications, it seem to perform well than the others, though its rates may be high and its offers and services might be stringent, but you are less likely to be concerned of erratic voice and data connection compared to others.
Airtel is another service provider which is fairly satisfactory for all you might need to connect to the world, including rates and network reliability. Of course, Glo (or Globacom) boasts of fast network speed for internet browsing activities, only that you might not be able to enjoy the privilege in some locations. And 9Mobile (formerly Etisalat) usually also performs well in internet browsing speed too but with locational limitations as well, plus data rate is fairly higher.

## Go next

* Akure
* Ikire
* Emure
* Osogbo
* Owo
* Ede
* Idanre
* Ife
* Osun
* Igbara Odo