If you arrive by plane, get ready to pay a good 5000 FCFA (=50 FF) to get into downtown, as the airporrt's around 20 min. away from anywhere. By train, the only way in is through Senegal. Trains are always late (I had to wait 8hrs for mine at Kati), but worth the trip because cheap. The best way to travel around the country is by bush-taxi, they go everywhere. Not for the clostrophobic or those picky on personal hygiene: You legally get 15 people in small vans where you thought only max 7 could get in. Fat ladies count as a single person ;-). There are hardly any reliable maps of Bamako. Believe me, I've searched ;-)