The best things to do in Freetown are the Cotton Tree site and National Museum, King's Yard Gate and the Old Wharf Steps, the chimpanzees at Tacugama, a boat to Bunce Island and a day on River No. 2 beach. Give it three or four days, one of them on the peninsula beaches. November to April is dry.
Freetown was founded in 1792 by Black Loyalists from Nova Scotia, and it still reads like it: Krio board houses, a Maroon church, a gate that freed Africans walked through. Green hills climb straight behind it, and the best beaches in West Africa run south along the peninsula.
The kapok the settlers gathered under stood here for about 400 years until a storm felled it on 24 May 2023. The National Museum on the same junction, in the old Cotton Tree railway station, keeps the drum and sword of Bai Bureh.
Built in 1817, the gate is where Africans freed from captured slave ships entered the colony. Read the inscription, then walk down to the Old Wharf Steps of 1818, wrongly called the Portuguese Steps.
Founded in 1995, the sanctuary cares for rescued chimpanzees on 40 hectares of forest above the city. Visits are guided tours only, so book a slot before you set off.
White sand where a river meets the sea under forested hills, and run by the community, which uses the small entry charge for local projects. Eat at the community restaurant, then walk south to Tokeh.
The ruined castle, built around 1670 by the Royal African Company, was the largest British slave fort on the Rice Coast, shipping captives to North America until 1808. It is sobering and essential.
The city's own beach runs about 4 km from Cape Sierra Leone to the Lumley estuary, with football on the sand and bars along the road. Roy's split-level terrace is the classic sundowner.
An 18th-century food market, burnt in 1999 and rebuilt in 2002 as the country's largest crafts market: baskets, drums and textiles.
At about 564 m it gives the widest view in town: the whole city, the harbour and the estuary to Lungi. A trail from near the US Embassy reaches the top in 30 to 40 minutes.
Home of Sierra Leone's first surf club, founded in 2012. Local surfers rent boards, give lessons and cook meals on the beach.
Dublin and Ricketts, joined by a causeway, each hold a fishing village, with the uninhabited Mes-Meheux beside them. The boat from Kent takes about 30 minutes.
Open-air African cooking above the street, with a gallery. Order the cassava leaf.
Built in 1822 by the Jamaican Maroons who arrived in 1800, and the only church named for a founding group.
A four-storey laterite building of 1845 to 1848, once home to West Africa's first Western-style college.
Music, masquerades and dance, staged by the Freetong Players.
Krio lantern floats on Independence eve, held in some years only.
The 1961 anniversary, a public holiday with parades.
The end of Ramadan, a public holiday. Dates follow the moon.
The feast of sacrifice, a public holiday.
Street Child's race in Makeni, moving to October in 2026.
Masked 'devils' parade the streets through the holidays.
New Year music festivals on the peninsula beaches. Check each year.
At Lungi, across the estuary from the city. The terminal opened in 2023. Most visitors cross by water taxi rather than road.
Sea Coach Express runs about 30 minutes from Lungi to Aberdeen, timed to flights, with a desk at arrivals. Road takes three hours or more.
Shared minibuses and motor tricycles cover the city for very little. Motorbike taxis are banned from central streets.
Take a taxi after dark and hire a car with a driver for the peninsula beaches and Tacugama.
Pounded leaves in palm oil with fish and groundnut, over rice.
Sweet potato leaves stewed with meat, kept chewy.
A slippery jute-leaf stew in palm oil, with rice or fufu.
Peanut stew, usually with chicken, over rice.
The street breakfast: fried plantain, akara and fish in bread.
Black-eyed bean fritters with onion and pepper.
Palm wine, sweet and lightly alcoholic, poured from a calabash.
Homemade, fiery and non-alcoholic, served ice-cold.
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