Find places in Sierra Leone

Must-Haves

• Lumley Beach (Lumley)
  Freetown's long city beach, busiest at sunset when football games and grills fire up along the sand.
• Bunce Island (Sierra Leone River)
  The ruined British slave fort upriver that is central to the story of the transatlantic trade and the Gullah connection.

Fun for Everyone

• Lumley Beach Road promenade (Lumley)
  The beachfront road where families stroll, kids play and vendors sell grilled corn and fish.

Must-Haves

• Sierra Leone National Museum (Siaka Stevens Street)
  A small collection of masks, Bai Bureh's memorabilia and historic photographs in the heart of the city.
• Old Wharf Steps (Wallace Johnson Street)
  The old stone steps, often called the Portuguese Steps, where freed Africans first came ashore.
• St John's Maroon Church (Siaka Stevens Street)
  A small white church built by Jamaican Maroon settlers around the start of the nineteenth century.

Off the Beaten Path

• King's Yard Gate (Connaught Hospital)
  The surviving gateway where liberated Africans from captured slave ships were received in the nineteenth century.

Low Cost and Authentic

• St George's Cathedral (Gloucester Street)
  The oldest Anglican cathedral in West Africa, with memorial plaques that tell Freetown's early history.

Must-Haves

• Big Market (Wallace Johnson Street)
  The classic craft market for country cloth, gara tie dye, carvings and baskets over several floors.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Lumley Market (Lumley)
  A busy everyday market for fruit, fish and household goods, good for seeing local life.

Must-Haves

• Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary (Regent)
  A respected sanctuary in the hills caring for rescued chimpanzees, with guided visits and eco lodges.

Off the Beaten Path

• Charlotte Falls (Charlotte)
  A forest waterfall in the hills above the city, reached by a short walk from a mountain village.
• Leicester Peak (Leicester)
  A hilltop viewpoint with a panorama over Freetown, the harbour and the peninsula mountains.
• Regent village walk (Regent)
  A historic mountain village founded for liberated Africans, with an old stone church and forest trails.
• Western Area Peninsula National Park (Freetown hills)
  The rainforest that covers the mountains behind the city, home to birds and monkeys.

Great for Date Night

• Radisson Blu Mammy Yoko restaurants (Aberdeen)
  Reliable international dining by the sea, with a pool terrace for sundowners.
• Country Lodge Hotel restaurant (Hill Station)
  A quieter hilltop dinner with cool air and views over the city lights.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Lumley Beach fish grills (Lumley)
  Simple beach shacks grilling barracuda and snapper with spicy sauce and fried plantain.
• Cookery shops of Central Freetown (Central Freetown)
  Small local canteens serving cassava leaf, potato leaf and groundnut stew over rice at lunchtime.

Must-Haves

• Roy's (Lumley Beach Road)
  A long standing beach bar and restaurant on stilts with grilled fish and ocean views.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Ginger beer and kanya stalls (Central Freetown)
  Street sellers of homemade ginger beer and peanut kanya, the classic Krio snack.

Must-Haves

• Paddy's (Aberdeen)
  Freetown's best known open air bar and dance floor, busy with locals and visitors at weekends.

Great for Date Night

• Lumley Beach sunset bars (Lumley)
  Beach bars with plastic chairs in the sand for a cold Star beer as the sun sets.

Fun for Everyone

• Aberdeen nightlife strip (Aberdeen)
  The cluster of bars and clubs around Aberdeen where Freetown goes out on Friday and Saturday nights.

Must-Haves

• Freetown Lantern Parade (Central Freetown)
  A colourful night parade of giant illuminated floats held in the festive season.
• Independence Day celebrations (Freetown)
  Parades and parties every 27 April marking independence in 1961.

Fun for Everyone

• Christmas and New Year on Lumley Beach (Lumley)
  The beach becomes one huge party as the diaspora comes home for the holidays.
• Eid celebrations (Freetown)
  Muslim and Christian neighbours celebrate together, with prayers, new clothes and family feasts.

Must-Haves

• Radisson Blu Mammy Yoko Hotel (Aberdeen)
  A dependable international hotel on the beach with pool, gym and generator power.
• Hill Valley Hotel (Hill Station)
  A well run hillside hotel with views, a pool and quieter surroundings above the city.

Great for Date Night

• Golden Tulip Kimbima Hotel (Aberdeen)
  A seafront hotel with rooms over the rocks and a pool facing the ocean.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Hotel Barmoi (Murray Town)
  A long established mid-range hotel on the water, popular with returning families.

Off the Beaten Path

• Tacugama Eco Lodges (Regent)
  Simple wooden lodges in the forest where you wake to the calls of chimpanzees.

Must-Haves

• River Number Two Beach (River Number Two)
  The postcard beach where a river meets white sand and turquoise sea, run by the village community.
• Tokeh Beach (Tokeh)
  A wide, quiet sweep of sand backed by palms and hills, perfect for long walks.
• Bureh Beach (Bureh Town)
  Sierra Leone's surf beach, with a community surf club and gentle waves for learners.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Lakka Beach (Lakka)
  The closest of the peninsula beaches to Freetown, with simple bars and fresh fish.

Off the Beaten Path

• John Obey Beach (John Obey)
  A lovely, often empty beach near a turtle nesting area and fishing village.

Must-Haves

• Surfing at Bureh Beach Surf Club (Bureh Town)
  Lessons and board rental from a local surf club that trains young Sierra Leoneans.

Fun for Everyone

• Canoe trip on River Number Two (River Number Two)
  Local guides paddle you upriver into the mangroves to a small waterfall.

Off the Beaten Path

• York village (York)
  A historic Krio village with old board houses on the road down the peninsula.

Must-Haves

• River Number Two beach restaurant (River Number Two)
  Grilled lobster, barracuda and rice served at the community run beach restaurant.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Lakka beach fish shacks (Lakka)
  Plastic tables in the sand and fish fresh from the canoes.

Great for Date Night

• The Place Resort restaurant (Tokeh)
  Candlelit dinners on a beach terrace at Tokeh.

Great for Date Night

• Bureh Beach bar (Bureh Town)
  Cold drinks and music by the waves after a day of surfing.

Must-Haves

• The Place Resort (Tokeh)
  A comfortable beach resort with chalets on the sand at Tokeh.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Bureh Beach Surf Club guesthouse (Bureh Town)
  Simple community run rooms and huts right on the surf beach.
• River Number Two guesthouse (River Number Two)
  Basic community chalets so you can see the beach at dawn before the day trippers arrive.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Waterloo market (Waterloo)
  A big roadside market town where upcountry produce arrives for the city.

Fun for Everyone

• Easter Monday beach outings (Lakka)
  Families flock to the peninsula beaches for picnics on Easter Monday.

Must-Haves

• Dublin village and beach (Dublin)
  The main village on the islands, with a colonial era church, cannons and soft beaches.
• Snorkelling the reefs (Banana Islands)
  Rocky reefs with colourful fish just off the islands' beaches.

Off the Beaten Path

• Ricketts village (Ricketts)
  The smaller village reached by a forest path, home to descendants of freed Africans.

Off the Beaten Path

• Dublin old church and cannons (Dublin)
  A ruined church and old cannons from the island's slave trading and colonial past.

Fun for Everyone

• Boat trip from Kent (Kent)
  The short boat crossing past fishing canoes is half the fun of the day.
• Island walk Dublin to Ricketts (Banana Islands)
  A shaded forest walk between the two villages with sea views.

Must-Haves

• Daltons Banana Guest House (Dublin)
  Simple beach chalets with meals and boat transfers arranged.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Fresh lobster in Dublin (Dublin)
  Villagers grill lobster and fish caught that morning.

Great for Date Night

• Sunset dinner at Daltons (Dublin)
  A beach table and grilled fish as the sun drops behind the islands.

Must-Haves

• Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary (Moa River)
  A rainforest island with eleven primate species, including chimpanzees and Diana monkeys.
• Pygmy hippo spotting (Moa River)
  Night and dawn boat trips offer a rare chance to glimpse the elusive pygmy hippo.
• Gola Rainforest National Park (Kenema District)
  The largest lowland rainforest in Sierra Leone, a great birding destination.

Fun for Everyone

• Moa River canoe trip (Moa River)
  Paddle past forest and rapids with community guides.

Off the Beaten Path

• Night forest walk (Tiwai Island)
  Guided after dark walks for frogs, owls and nocturnal mammals.

Off the Beaten Path

• Kambama village visit (Kambama)
  Visit the village that co-manages the sanctuary and hear how conservation supports it.
• Birding for the white-necked picathartes (Gola Rainforest)
  A rare chance to see one of West Africa's most wanted birds.

Must-Haves

• Tiwai Island research camp (Tiwai Island)
  Tents and simple huts in the forest, with meals cooked by the community.

Must-Haves

• Bo central market (Bo)
  The bustling heart of the country's second city, full of produce and fabric.

Off the Beaten Path

• Bo School (Bo)
  The historic school founded in 1906 for the sons of chiefs, one of the country's best known.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Bo cookery shops (Bo)
  Local canteens dishing up cassava leaf and plasas over rice.

Off the Beaten Path

• Kenema and the Kambui Hills (Kenema)
  The eastern town at the foot of forested hills, a base for Gola.
• Sherbro Island and Bonthe (Bonthe)
  An old colonial trading town on a quiet island in the southern estuaries.
• Turtle Islands (Bonthe District)
  Remote islands of fishing villages and white sand far off the tourist trail.

Must-Haves

• Wara Wara Mountains (Kabala)
  Rocky granite hills around Kabala with walks and views over the northern plains.
• Mount Bintumani (Loma Mountains)
  West Africa's highest peak west of Mount Cameroon, a multi day trek through forest and grassland.

Off the Beaten Path

• Loma Mountains National Park (Koinadugu District)
  A remote park of montane forest and savanna, best visited with local guides.
• Outamba-Kilimi National Park (Bombali District)
  Savanna and riverine forest in the far north, with primates and elephants seen rarely.
• Bumbuna Falls (Bumbuna)
  Waterfalls and a lake on the Seli River near the country's big hydro dam.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Kabala market (Kabala)
  A cattle and produce market where Fula, Koranko and Limba traders meet.