Dakar

Worth seeing in and around Dakar

10 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.

1. 01
   Gorée

   Île de Gorée is one of the 19 communes d'arrondissement of the city of Dakar, Senegal.

   5.9 km · one of the 19 communes d'arrondissement (i.e. districts) of the city of Dakar, Senegal; World Heritage Site · Wikipedia
2. 02
   African Renaissance Monument

   The African Renaissance Monument is a 50-metre tall bronze statue located on top of one of the twin hills known as Collines des Mamelles, outside Dakar, Senegal. Built overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in the Ouakam suburb, the statue was designed by the Senegalese architect Pierre Goudiaby Atepa after an idea presented by President Abdoulaye Wade, and built by Mansudae Overseas Projects, a monument construction company from North Korea.

   6.1 km · memorial outside of Dakar, Senegal · Wikipedia
3. 03
   Université Cheikh Anta Diop

   Cheikh Anta Diop University, is a university in Dakar, Senegal. It is named after the Senegalese physicist, historian and anthropologist Cheikh Anta Diop and has an enrollment of over 60,000.

   1.9 km · public university in Dakar, Senegal · Wikipedia
4. 04
   Stade Léopold Sédar Senghor

   Léopold Sédar Senghor Stadium, formerly the Stade de l'Amitie, is a multi-purpose stadium in Dakar, Senegal.It is currently used mostly for football matches. It serves as a home ground of ASC Jeanne d'Arc and the Senegal national football team.

   6 km · football stadium in Dakar · Wikipedia
5. 05
   Magdalen Islands

   The Îles de la Madeleine lie west of Dakar in Senegal. The islands are uninhabited.

   5.1 km · island group and national park west of Dakar, Senegal · Wikipedia
6. 06
   House of Slaves

   The House of Slaves and its Door of No Return is a museum and memorial to the victims of the Atlantic slave trade on Gorée Island, 3 km off the coast of the city of Dakar, Senegal. Its museum, which opened in 1962 and was curated by Boubacar Joseph Ndiaye until his death in 2009, is said to memorialise the final exit point of the slaves from Africa.

   6 km · museum and memorial to the Atlantic slave trade on Gorée Island, Dakar, Senegal · Wikipedia
7. 07
   IFAN Museum of African Arts

   The Théodore Monod African Art Museum in Dakar, Senegal is one of the oldest art museums in West Africa. It was promoted by Léopold Senghor, the country's first President.

   3.4 km · art museum in Dakar, Senegal · Wikipedia
8. 08
   Stade Demba Diop

   Stade Demba Diop is a multi-use stadium in greater Dakar, Senegal. It is situated on Boulevard Président Habib Bourguiba in Sicap-Liberté, an urban arrondissement of Dakar.

   2.4 km · stadium in Sénégal · Wikipedia
9. 09
   Dakar Grand Mosque

   The Grand Mosque of Dakar is a mosque in Dakar, Senegal, situated on Allée Pape Gueye Fall, in the Dakar médina.

   1.7 km · mosque in Dakar, Senegal · Wikipedia
10. 10
    Museum of Black Civilizations

    The Museum of Black Civilisations is a national museum in Dakar, Senegal, that opened on 6 December 2018. It is directed by Hamady Bocoum, an archaeologist and researcher at Cheikh-Anta-Diop University.

    2.1 km · museum in Dakar, Senegal · Wikipedia

Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.

What Wikivoyage says to see

1. 01
   African Renaissance Monument

   This colossal copper monument opened in 2010 and is dedicated to Africa's emergence from the oppressive European regimes that once ruled the continent and the end of slavery.

2. 02
   IFAN Museum of African Arts
3. 03
   Ile de Gorée

   It was named by the Dutch after taking over the island from the Portuguese in the late 1600s.

4. 04
   Les Almadies

   The Western tip of the African continent where plenty of seafood restaurants are located.

5. 05
   Dakar Grand Mosque

   Built in 1964 by French and Moroccan architects.

6. 06
   Dakar Cathedral

From Wikivoyage: Dakar, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.

Things to do

Dakar has a vibrant music scene and is very popular with young people. Check out the incredibly rich and variant styles. Places like Club Thiossane, Just

From Wikivoyage: Dakar, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.

Where to eat

Peanuts: The roasted peanuts you can buy on the street or get with your order of beer in any bar are delicious. These nuts are not greasy and have just the right amount of salt, and sometimes are still slightly warm from being roasted. All these are in the city centre:

From Wikivoyage: Dakar, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.

Getting to Dakar

Airports

Blaise Diagne (DSS), 40 km · Banjul (BJL), 173 km

Stations

Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport, 6.7 km · Autonomous Port of Dakar, 2.4 km

• Banjul (Yundum) → Dakar

  174 km · quickest by road, 6h 42m · $28–38
  GuideToday
• Bissau → Dakar

  373 km · quickest by air, 6h 33m · $260–380
  GuideToday
• Nouakchott → Dakar

  408 km · quickest by air, 7h 24m · $320–460
  GuideToday
• From anywhere

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Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.

No local-transport research exists yet for Dakar

Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Dakar. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.

If you know how people move in Dakar – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.