The best things to do in Banjul are the view from Arch 22, the National Museum, Albert Market, a boat to Kunta Kinteh Island and the crocodiles at Kachikally in Bakau. Add the birding at Abuko, Kotu and Tanji, and a mangrove trip from Lamin Lodge. Three or four days covers it, November to March is dry.
Banjul is a capital of about 26,000 people on a sandbank island at the mouth of the Gambia River, with mangroves on one side and the Atlantic on the other. Give it a day, then use it as the gate to the birding, the beaches and the river history of the Kombos.
The 35-metre gateway, finished in 1996 to mark the 1994 coup, is one of the tallest structures in the country. The gallery looks over the port and the Tanbi mangroves, and a small textile museum sits on the top floor.
Opened in 1985 in the old colonial Bathurst Club, it covers Banjul's history, the archaeology of the river and the country's musical instruments across three floors. Compact, and the right primer before going upriver.
The capital's main market since the mid-19th century, named after Prince Albert: fabric, spices, fish, tie-dye and a craft section at the back. It is busy, loud and the best hour Banjul gives you.
The ruined fort of James Island, 30 km upriver, held captives for the Atlantic slave trade. It is a UNESCO site since 2003, renamed in 2011 after the Kunta Kinte of Roots. Juffureh and Albreda on the bank are part of the visit.
A sacred pool owned by the Bojang family, one of three in the country used for fertility rites, with dozens of Nile crocodiles basking on the bank. The ethnographic museum on site holds over a thousand objects.
The country's first wildlife reserve, protected in 1968: 107 hectares of gallery forest along the Lamin stream. Monkeys, monitor lizards and some of the best forest birding you can reach from the coast in half an hour.
A timber restaurant on stilts over a creek of the Tanbi mangroves, built in 1994. Eat on the deck, then take a pirogue down the bolongs for herons, kingfishers and the oyster women at work.
A 51-hectare coastal forest just past the hotel strip, with green vervets, patas and the rarer red colobus on its trails. Easy, shaded and a ten-minute ride from most hotels.
The biggest fishing beach in the country: painted pirogues run onto the sand, the catch is carried ashore and sold on the spot, and the smokehouses behind work all day. Tanji Bird Reserve starts 3 km north.
A private reserve of palm forest, savanna and mangrove on a tributary of the Gambia River, an hour from Banjul. Day visits combine a guided forest walk, a pirogue on the creek and lunch by the water.
Music, dance and crafts in the southern village, over a weekend.
The 1965 anniversary, a public holiday with a march-past.
The end of Ramadan, a two-day holiday. Dates follow the moon.
Eid al-Adha, the biggest feast of the year, two days off.
A public holiday marking the founding of the African Union's forerunner.
The Prophet's birthday, a public holiday with night prayers.
African films at the National Theatre in Banjul.
Lantern boats paraded at night, a Banjul custom since the 1860s.
At Yundum, about 24 km from Banjul and closer to the coast hotels. Take a green tourist taxi and agree the fare first.
The only direct crossing to the North Bank and Kunta Kinteh Island. Crossings take 25 minutes to an hour, and vehicle queues run long.
Green tourist taxis wait at hotels and are priced by agreement. Yellow shared taxis run fixed routes for a fraction of it.
Minibuses leave when full from the garages in Banjul and Serrekunda, cheap and slow, for Brikama and the south coast.
The national dish: groundnut stew with meat, over rice.
One-pot rice cooked in a tomato and fish or meat stock.
Chicken or fish in slow-cooked onion, lemon and mustard.
Thick okra stew with palm oil and smoked fish.
Pounded greens simmered with palm oil and smoked fish.
Charcoal-grilled meat from roadside shacks after dark.
The dense daily bread, sold at every junction.
Millet couscous in sweet sour cream, the festive dessert.
Get our one-page Banjul cheat sheet plus a fresh destination every Thursday.
The Gambia 