The best things to do in Lomé are the Palais de Lomé and its seafront park, the Grand Marché where the Nana Benz built the wax-cloth trade, the Akodésséwa fetish market, the 1902 Sacred Heart Cathedral and the Independence Monument, then a pirogue across Lake Togo to Togoville. Allow two or three days. November to February is the dry season.
Lomé is a capital on a border: its western districts run to the Ghana frontier at Aflao, and its deep-water port is the sea gate for Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. Germany made it the colony's capital in 1897, and the cathedral and governor's palace from that era still stand.
The German governor's palace, finished in 1905 and empty for two decades, reopened in 2019 as an arts centre in a 26-acre seafront park. Come for the current exhibition, then walk the sculpture garden out to the ocean side.
The covered market in the old centre where the Nana Benz, the women wholesalers of printed wax cloth, made their fortunes. The cloth floors are the reason to come; the streets around it sell everything else.
Stalls of skulls, dried animals, herbs and charms used in vodun practice. A guide walks you through what each item is for and may offer a consultation with a priest.
Pirogues pole from Agbodrafo across the lagoon to Togoville, the town that gave the country its name, where Gustav Nachtigal signed the 1884 protectorate treaty. The crossing takes about twenty minutes.
German missionaries built this twin-spired Gothic church in about eighteen months, and it was consecrated in September 1902. It stands a block from the Grand Marché, so pair the two.
The white monument to independence on 27 April 1960: a woman with a cooking pot before a figure breaking his chains. It stands on a large roundabout in the centre.
A compact museum of Togolese jewellery, instruments, pottery and weapons, set in the Palais des Congrès complex. It gives the fetish market and the north their context in an hour.
Workshops where carvers, weavers, batik makers and leatherworkers make what they sell. Buy here rather than from beach hawkers and you can see the piece being finished.
The capital of German Togoland from 1885 to 1887, near the Benin border. Its old colonial quarter faces the lagoon, and the Guin sanctuary at Glidji lies four kilometres north.
A private collection of West African masks, statues and textiles, a short walk east of the Grand Marché. Pair it with the market the same morning.
Vodun convents, music and ceremonies in Aného and Glidji.
The Togo International Film Festival, held in Lomé.
The national holiday for independence from France in 1960.
Lomé's international book fair, at the CETEF exhibition grounds.
A week of European films with a Lomé programme.
Wrestling bouts in the Kara region that mark young men's coming of age.
The Guin new year at Glidji, with the reading of the sacred stone.
The trade fair at CETEF Togo 2000; the 2026 edition runs 27 Nov to 13 Dec.
On the north-east side of the city, 15 to 30 minutes from the centre. ASKY Airlines is based here. Taxis are unmetered, so agree the fare first.
Motorbike taxis are the fastest way across town. Agree the fare before you climb on, or book a car or moto through the Gozem app.
The Aflao border post sits at Kodjoviakopé, inside the city. It is open roughly 6am to 6pm; cross by day. Accra is three to four hours on.
About 150 km east along the coast through Aného and the Sanvee Condji border, three hours by bus or shared taxi.
Pounded yam, eaten by hand with a soup or sauce.
Firm maize dough, the everyday staple, served with sauce.
Steamed, slightly sweet maize cakes, an Aného specialty.
Leafy stew of gboma greens with meat or smoked fish.
Grilled chicken with a chilli sauce.
Rice and beans cooked together, a street breakfast.
Home-brewed millet beer, sold in calabashes.
Spirit distilled from palm wine. Strong; sip it.
Subscribe to the Wimup newsletter for new guides, travel news and more.
Togo
