The town
Huye — called Butare for most of the last century, and Astrida before that, after the Belgian queen — was the largest and most important town in Rwanda until 1965, when Kigali took over as the post-independence capital. What it kept was the institutions. The country's first and most important colonial education centre opened here in 1929, the Ruhande Arboretum in 1934, the cathedral in 1937, and the national university in 1963.
What to see
The Ethnographic Museum is the reason most people stop, and it justifies the drive on its own — seven exhibitions covering geography, food systems, habitation, craft, dress and prehistory. It is the best single introduction to pre-colonial Rwanda anywhere in the country.
Around it: the arboretum, the cathedral, the surviving colonial houses, the university campus and a botanical garden. The Intore dance troupe associated with the museum can be arranged at short notice and is the finest traditional performance in Rwanda.
Where it fits
Huye sits on the main southern road between Kigali and Nyungwe, which makes it a natural lunch-and-museum stop rather than an overnight — though a night here works well if you want the museum unhurried and the dancers in the evening. Nyanza and the King's Palace are 30 minutes back up the road.