Gnassingbé Eyadéma International Airport sits five kilometers northeast of Lomé center. The airport opened in 1968. Runway 05/23 measures 3000 meters and accommodates widebody aircraft. Ethiopian Airlines operates daily service through Addis Ababa. Air France connects through Paris Charles de Gaulle three times weekly. Royal Air Maroc routes through Casablanca. ASKY Airlines maintains regional links to Accra, Abidjan, Lagos, and Cotonou. Brussels Airlines formerly served Togo but suspended operations in 2020. Turkish Airlines began direct Istanbul service in 2018 but frequencies have varied. Ground transport from the terminal includes shared taxis charging 2000 to 3000 CFA francs to central Lomé depending on negotiation and number of passengers. Private taxis demand 5000 to 8000 CFA francs for the same route. No metered taxis operate at the airport. A moto-taxi costs 1000 to 1500 CFA francs but luggage capacity limits this option. The airport currency exchange desk posts rates approximately four to six percent below market levels found in the city. Two ATMs stand in the arrivals hall accepting Visa and Mastercard but frequently run empty especially after evening flight arrivals.
The CFA franc BCEAO functions as official currency. The full designation reads franc de la Communauté Financière d'Afrique issued by Banque Centrale des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest. Eight nations share this currency including Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. The French Treasury guarantees convertibility and fixes the exchange rate at 655.957 CFA francs per euro. This peg has remained constant since January 1999 when the euro launched. Before that date the CFA franc maintained a 100 to 1 ratio with the French franc starting in 1948 with one devaluation occurring in January 1994 when the rate shifted from 50 to 100 French francs per CFA franc. Coins circulate in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, and 500 francs though coins below 25 francs rarely appear in transactions. Banknotes exist as 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, and 10000 franc notes. The 10000 franc note roughly equals 15 euros or 17 US dollars at recent exchange levels.
Ecobank maintains the widest ATM network with machines in Lomé, Kara, Sokodé, Kpalimé, and Atakpamé. Orabank operates ATMs in Lomé and Sokodé. UTB Bank has Lomé locations only. ATM daily withdrawal limits range from 100000 to 200000 CFA francs depending on bank and card type. International cards encounter acceptance rates below ninety percent. Visa shows higher compatibility than Mastercard. American Express cards rarely function. Machine outages occur frequently particularly outside Lomé. Weekend and holiday periods see accelerated cash depletion. Bank branches provide over-counter withdrawals during business hours typically 0730 to 1530 Monday through Friday. Some branches open Saturday mornings until 1130. All banks close Sundays and national holidays.
Cash dominates transactions across Togo. Hotels in Lomé above three-star classification accept credit cards but add surcharges of three to five percent. Restaurants outside international hotels operate cash only. Markets refuse card payment universally. Mobile money platforms including Tmoney and Flooz have grown since 2016 but serve primarily domestic users for phone credit and utility payments. Foreign visitors cannot easily establish accounts without Togolese identification documents and local mobile numbers. Western Union and MoneyGram agents exist in Lomé and major towns with transfers collected in CFA francs at posted exchange rates typically two to four percent below mid-market levels.
French serves as the sole official language per the constitution adopted in 1992. Government documents, court proceedings, formal education from primary level upward, and all official signage use French exclusively. Ewe predominates in the southern maritime region including Lomé where it functions as the primary marketplace language. The Ewe language belongs to the Gbe language cluster within the Niger-Congo family. Kabye speakers concentrate in the northern Kara region.Tem speakers also called Kotokoli inhabit areas around Sokodé and Bafilo. The Bassar language exists around the town of Bassar. Mina developed as a trade language in coastal zones and shares mutual intelligibility with Ewe. English proficiency remains minimal outside tourist-facing businesses in Lomé. Hotel reception staff and licensed tour guides generally speak functional English. Restaurant servers, taxi drivers, and market vendors rarely communicate beyond basic French. No English-language daily newspapers publish in Togo. French remains essential for independent travel outside organized tour frameworks.