The best things to do in Cotonou are the Amazone monument on the Marina, a pirogue across Lac Nokoué to Ganvié, the Route des Esclaves in Ouidah, the striped cathedral downtown and grilled fish at a maquis. Give it three or four days, with Ouidah and Porto-Novo as day trips. November to February is dry.
Cotonou is Benin's seat of government and its working port, a flat, loud city of zémidjan motorbikes split in two by the lagoon channel. It is also the doorway to the south: Ganvié, Ouidah and Porto-Novo are each under an hour away.
Thirty metres of bronze-clad steel facing the Atlantic, unveiled in July 2022 for the Agojie, the women soldiers of Dahomey. Come late afternoon, when the esplanade fills with families and the heat drops.
More than 30,000 people live on stilts in Lac Nokoué, in a town their ancestors built on water because Dahomey raiders would not follow them there. It is the one trip every visitor should make.
Four kilometres in seven stages, from the old auction square to the Porte du Non-Retour on the beach. It is the most important site in Benin and the reason many visitors come.
Notre-Dame-de-Miséricorde's burgundy and white stripes make it the easiest landmark downtown to find. Work began in 1912; step inside between services.
The red star on its pillar is the largest monument of Benin's Marxist-Leninist years, raised under Kérékou in the 1970s. It is a busy roundabout, so look from the edge.
The artisans' market moved here in 2022 when the old crafts centre on Boulevard Saint-Michel closed for renovation: 226 kiosks of bronze, carved wood, masks and appliqué cloth.
The city's classic maquis plate: a whole braised fish under a tomato, onion and chilli sauce, bought that morning at the fish market next door. Dishes run 3,000 to 6,000 FCFA.
The city beach is for walking and a drink at the beach bars, not for swimming: the shore break and rip currents are strong and there are no lifeguards. Weekends are busiest.
Three performance spaces, a gallery and a library of 30,000 items; the programme runs from Afrobeat to jazz and the institute co-hosts the Cotonou Couleurs Jazz festival.
The official capital is the quiet one: the Afro-Brazilian Grande Mosquée, King Toffa's palace at the Musée Honmè and a botanical garden of century-old trees.
Ceremonies, dance and masks in Ouidah around the 10 January holiday.
The international arts festival; the 2026 edition ran 20 February to 1 March.
Grand-Popo's beach festival, first held in 1923.
Free concerts across the city, including at the Institut français.
Dahomey became independent from France on 1 August 1960.
Ouidah marks the 23 August remembrance day at the Porte du Non-Retour.
Eid al-Adha is a public holiday; the date follows the lunar calendar.
Afrobeats headliners on the Place de l'Amazone since 2022.
In Cadjèhoun, 20 to 25 minutes by road from downtown. Benin's main international airport.
Yellow-shirted motorbike taxis are how the city moves. Agree the fare before you get on, and ask for a helmet.
Ride-hailing for motorbikes and cars with the price shown upfront, which spares the haggling.
Run the coastal highway to Ouidah, Grand-Popo and Lomé. There is no passenger rail service.
Cornflour cooked in a tomato and palm oil sauce, with chicken.
Fermented maize dough steamed in banana leaf, faintly sour.
Dark yam-flour paste, eaten with a leaf or okra sauce.
Leaf sauce of African eggplant greens with smoked fish or meat.
Fried or braised fish under raw tomato, onion and chilli.
Soft Fulani cheese from the north with a red-dyed rind.
Fried ripe plantain, sold at street stalls at any hour.
Distilled palm-wine spirit, strong and used in vodun rites.
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