The first Olympic sporting event ever held on African soil runs in Senegal from 31 October to 13 November.
The Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games expect 2,655 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees into 25 sports and 153 medal events. Dakar won the right to host on 8 October 2018.
Paid sports tickets start at 1,000 CFA, and some events are free. This guide covers where the Games are, what to book, and what to do between events.
Yellow-and-black taxis are a common way to get around.
The opening ceremony
The ceremony is on 31 October at 17:45 GMT at Stade Abdoulaye Wade in Diamniadio, and the ticket site flagged seats as limited. Per the official ticket guide, Category C is 4,000 CFA, Category B is 15,000 CFA and Category A is 40,000 CFA. Reduced-mobility seats are 2,000 CFA, and a lounge is 2,250,000 CFA.
Three hubs, 80 km apart
The Games use three host areas. Diamniadio is about 30 km east of Dakar, and Saly is about 80 km south. The Youth Olympic Village is in Diamniadio, on a university campus.
Hub | Venue | Sports |
|---|---|---|
Dakar | Tour de l’Oeuf | 3x3 basketball, baseball5, breaking, skateboarding, swimming |
Dakar | Stade Iba Mar Diop | Athletics, futsal, rugby sevens, taekwondo |
Dakar | Corniche Ouest | Road cycling start and finish, engagement sports |
Diamniadio | Dakar Expo Centre | Artistic gymnastics, fencing, judo, table tennis, boxing, wushu |
Diamniadio | Dakar Arena | Badminton, futsal |
Diamniadio | Abdoulaye Wade Stadium | Archery |
Diamniadio | Equestrian Centre | Jumping |
Saly | Saly Beach West | Beach handball, beach volleyball, beach wrestling, coastal rowing, sailing, triathlon |
Blaise Diagne International Airport is closer to Diamniadio and Saly than to central Dakar, and traffic between hubs can be heavy on ceremony days. A TER train links Dakar and Diamniadio, and the village sits near a station.
Choose your base by the sport you want to watch, not by the postcard.
Tickets: what they cost
From the official ticket guide:
Sports, Category B: 1,000 to 2,000 CFA
Sports, Category A: 2,000 to 3,000 CFA
Beach events in Saly: 1,500 CFA for a Day Pass
Road cycling and triathlon: free
Fan Zone Pass and Festival Day Pass: free
Closing concert, general admission: 5,000 CFA
Buy only at tickets.dakar2026.org and ignore resale offers on social media. All bookings are final, with no refunds or cancellations. A seat reservation expires if you haven’t paid within two hours. Limits apply per session: 10 tickets for the opening ceremony and 16 for beach volleyball.
Ticketing support is billetterie.support@dakar2026.org, open 10:00 to 19:00 daily, Senegal time.
Between events
Sport fills the morning. The rest of the day is Senegal.
A horse-drawn carriage outside a colonial-era building.
Corniche Ouest is the main festival and youth engagement hub, with all ten engagement sports to try. Local reporting lists live shows, hip-hop, graffiti, circus and food stalls there through the Games, with traffic restrictions planned on 7, 8 and 10 November. A contemporary art show, Empreinte 100 ans, runs at the Museum of Black Civilisations until 15 November, per the same report.
A neighbourhood restaurant at lunchtime.
Eat thieboudienne, the national dish, and drink bissap and ataya, the sweet green tea poured in rounds, as described in our Senegal travel guide. Cars rapides are Dakar’s painted minibuses.
A painted minibus on a Senegalese road.
Give one morning to Gorée Island. It’s a short ferry from Dakar, and the House of Slaves is there, also covered in our guide. Go quietly, and plan nothing for the hour after.
Browse tours and day trips from Dakar if you have a free afternoon.
The twin staircase at the House of Slaves, Gorée Island.
Where to stay
Organisers have contracted 74 hotels with 5,200 rooms across Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly. That shrinks what is left for everyone else, so book early and read the cancellation terms. Partner hotels listed by Au Sénégal:
Dakar
Pullman Dakar Teranga, Plateau
King Fahd Palace, Almadies
Terrou-Bi, Corniche Ouest
Hotel La Madrague, Ngor
Hotel Feto, Nord Foire
Le Djoloff Hotel, Fann Hock
Diamniadio
Saly and the Petite Côte
Les Flamboyants, Saly Portudal
Keparanga, near Saly aerodrome
La Mimosa, Toubab Dialaw
Iris Hotel, Toubab Dialaw
Eat Work and Sleep, Somone
Beachfront stays are an option along the coast.
Sleep near the sport you’ll watch most.
Browse more stays in Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly.
Money, phone, safety
Carry some CFA francs for small spending. In mid-October, 10,000 CFA was about US$17, and Wave is widely accepted, per our Senegal guide. Choose an international plan, a local SIM or an eSIM before you land.
Watch for phone snatching and pickpockets in crowds. The US State Department rates Senegal at normal precautions, with more caution in the Casamance region.
After the Games
The Games close on 13 November. Senegal doesn’t.
Senegal outside the stadiums.
Dak’Art, Dakar’s art biennale, is reported to run from 19 November to 19 December. For more of the country, read our Saint-Louis guide, our review of the boutique stay Au Fil Du Fleuve, or our guide to Senegal for digital nomads.
Cycling through the streets of Senegal.
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