The hook
West Africa's most vibrant capital, thrumming with music and markets on the continent's westernmost point, with a short ferry to a beautiful, painful island that has become a memorial to the transatlantic slave trade.
01Why it's worth it
Dakar sits on a peninsula that is the westernmost tip of mainland Africa, and it is a fast, colourful, creative city: a hub of West African music (from mbalax to hip-hop), art, fashion, and food, with bustling markets, Atlantic surf beaches, and the striking pink waters of nearby Lac Rose. Just offshore lies Gorée Island, a car-free islet of pastel colonial houses, bougainvillea, and cobbled lanes whose loveliness is inseparable from its history: it was a trading post during the era of the transatlantic slave trade, and its House of Slaves, with its "door of no return" facing the ocean, is now a powerful memorial and place of pilgrimage. Historians debate the numbers that actually passed through Gorée itself, but as a symbol and a site of remembrance of that vast crime it is deeply moving, visited by figures from Nelson Mandela to Barack Obama. Together, the energetic mainland capital and the sober, beautiful island make Dakar a compelling introduction to Senegal.
02How to experience it
Explore Dakar's markets, music venues, and Atlantic coast, and take the short ferry to Gorée Island for its colonial lanes and the House of Slaves, approached with the seriousness it deserves. Add a trip to the pink Lac Rose. Engage both the city's energy and the island's history for the full picture.