Give Monrovia two days. Start on Providence Island, where the republic began, then walk Broad Street to the National Museum and the Centennial Pavilion. Climb Snapper Hill for the Ducor ruins and the Masonic Temple, and end the morning in Waterside Market. On day two, eat palm butter in Sinkor and spend the afternoon on CeCe or Thinkers Beach, swimming only where locals do.
Updated · Wimup Editorial
Africa's oldest republic began here in 1822, when settlers sent from the United States came ashore on an island in the mouth of the Mesurado. Monrovia is a hill city on a peninsula between that river and the Atlantic: ruins on Snapper Hill, embassies on Mamba Point, bars in Sinkor and beaches either side.
The island at the mouth of the Mesurado is where the first settlers sent by the American Colonization Society came ashore in 1822, and the country's story starts here. Visits have to be arranged ahead through the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism.
Three floors on Broad Street run from the peoples who lived here before 1822 to the modern republic. The wars took most of the collection, around 5,000 objects were looted, so come for the history floor rather than the treasures.
Opened in 1960 as the Ducor Palace and shut in 1989 as the war began, the hotel is a gutted concrete shell above the city. A Libyan-funded rebuild stopped in 2011; the reason to climb is the view over Mamba Point, West Point and the river.
Liberia's Grand Lodge, founded in 1867, built its temple on the hill, and the leaders of the 1980 coup banned the order and wrecked it. Squatters were moved out by 2005 and it is a working lodge again, so it is seen from the outside.
The city's biggest market packs cloth, produce, shoes and household goods into narrow lanes by the Mesurado, and it is where Monrovia shops. Come for the lappa cloth and the noise, not for souvenirs.
One of the few beaches near the city where swimming is considered reasonable, close to the shell of the old Hotel Africa, with bars and food on the sand. Most of this coast has strong currents and no lifeguards.
Erected in 1904, the pavilion is where the state still holds its big ceremonies, and it anchors a walk along Broad and Ashmun Streets past the old government quarter. Keep the camera down near official buildings.
About 17 km from downtown, Thinkers is the city's party beach: crowded at weekends, with drink stands and music along the sand. Come for the scene and keep to the shallows.
Founded in 2016 on the coast toward the airport, Libassa rehabilitates animals taken from the bushmeat and pet trade, pangolins among them, and releases them into protected forest. Visits are by guided tour, so contact them before you drive out.
Evelyn's serves the Liberian table without fuss: palm butter, cassava leaf and potato greens over rice, with an international menu for anyone not ready. Order the palm butter, the dish that wins visitors over.
The surf town on Cape Mount. Three hours or more each way, so stay a night.
Parades and ceremonies for the Armed Forces of Liberia.
Second Wednesday of March: families clean and decorate their relatives' graves.
A holiday for the first president, born free in Virginia, now on the currency.
A holiday marking the unity of settler and indigenous Liberians.
The national day, for 1847: parades, speeches and the city's busiest weekend.
Schools march for the one-star, eleven-stripe flag adopted on this day in 1847.
First Thursday of November, a holiday of church services set in 1883.
For William Tubman, president from 1944 to 1971, the longest in office.
About 56 km southeast of the city, an hour or more by road. Book a hotel pickup or a car before a night arrival.
The small city airfield in Sinkor, for light aircraft and some regional flights. Minutes from the hotels.
Yellow taxis run fixed routes and pick up along the way. Cheap and crowded; agree a private fare before you get in.
Motor tricycles carry three passengers and took over when motorbike taxis were banned from main roads in 2013. Rules on routes keep changing.
Plato leaves with dried fish and palm oil.
Rice in tomato and pepper with chicken or beef.
Palm fruit boiled down to a thick red sauce with fish or meat.
Pounded cassava leaves, palm oil, smoked fish and pepper, over rice.
Sweet potato leaves stewed with palm oil and pepper. Everyday food.
A thin, fiercely hot broth of goat or fish. Also the hangover cure.
Pounded cassava dough, dipped in soup and swallowed, not chewed.
A dense, sweet loaf of rice flour, plantain and ginger.
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