Holiday in Lomé

About Lomé

Lomé is the only capital city in the world whose city center is directly on a beach by the Atlantic Ocean — and this unique location defines the 2.2 million city on the coast of Togo. The Corniche, Lomé's beachfront promenade, runs from the port along the Gulf of Guinea, and the waves of the Atlantic accompany city life like a permanent soundtrack. The city has a unique identity in West Africa: Lomé was once the capital of the German colony of Togoland (1884-1914), then a French mandate, and traces of both eras are still visible. The Grand Marché, one of the largest markets in West Africa, is dominated by the "Nana Benz" — the powerful market women who have controlled the fabric trade since the 1970s and whose Mercedes-Benz limousines earned them the nickname. These women are Togo's unrecognized queens of the economy. The National Museum in the former governor's palace showcases artifacts from the Ewe, Kabye, and Mina cultures, while the Fetish Market (Marché des Féticheurs) in Akodessewa is the largest Voodoo market in the world: animal heads, dried herbs, bones, and talismans — disturbing for Western visitors, but a spiritual supermarket for the West African Voodoo tradition. Lomé is the cheapest travel destination in West Africa and offers an authenticity that more tourist-developed coastal cities like Accra or Dakar have long lost.