Nigeria's two biggest cities are heading into the busiest stretch of their cultural calendar, and for once they are competing on the same ground.

In Lagos, the GTCO Food and Drink Festival and EatDrinkLagos Festival anchor a food scene that has spent the last few years turning street cooking into something with a booking system. Art X Lagos remains the most significant contemporary art fair in West Africa. The Urban Style Expo covers streetwear and sneakers, a market that barely existed here a decade ago.

Abuja's answer is the Abuja Fashion and Lifestyle Fair, which gives designers from the centre of the country a platform that does not require relocating to Lagos.

Two cities, two temperaments

Abuja does not feel like Lagos, and that is the point. Nigeria changes character between cities without anyone crossing a border — a planned capital of wide roads and quiet evenings against a coastal city that treats congestion as an atmosphere.

For visitors, Lagos offers the National Museum, the Nike Art Gallery and the Lekki Conservation Centre, with Victoria Island covering beaches, shopping and bars. Abuja counters with the National Mosque, the Nigerian National Museum and Millennium Park.

Neither list captures what either city is actually like on a Saturday night, which is rather the point of going.

Reporting by Rex Clarke Adventures. This summary was written by the TalkNaijaMedia desk.