The city centre houses government offices, some hotels, and the central market. The Bastos neighbourhood, with most homes owned by Cameroonians, is home to foreign embassies and the expatriate European community (drawn mainly from the diplomatic corps). The presidential palace and compound is in the Etoudi neighborhood.
There is a small zoo in the Mvog-Betsi neighbourhood. Yaoundé has a small assortment of nightclubs and restaurants.
For schools, Cameroon is a bilingual country in the Capital many of the schools will teach in French as a first language and English as a second language, but sometimes they will neglect the English language. There are two American schools in Cameroon, the American School of Yaounde (ASOY) and Rain Forest International School (RFIS). Yaoundé is the site of several universities: the University of Yaoundé I, the University of Yaoundé II (on a campus outside of town), the Protestant University of Central Africa (UPAC) and the Catholic University for Central Africa (UCAC). Several of the nation's professional schools are also located in Yaounde (Ecole Normal Superieur for teachers, Ecole Militaire InterArmes du Cameroun) as well as various schools for engineers, nurses and diplomats).