🇧🇯 Benin
10 best places in Porto-Novo
Benin's quiet official capital sits on a lagoon, its pastel Afro-Brazilian mansions and wooden royal palaces recalling the old Kingdom of Porto-Novo and its returnee settlers.
Royal Palace of Porto-Novo (Honmè Museum)
The 19th-century residence of King Toffa, whose courtyard still hosts traditional ceremonies.
Musée Da Silva
The city's largest private museum, tracing the history of the Da Silva family, descendants of freed slaves who returned from Brazil.
Ethnographic Museum
Porto-Novo's first museum, with everyday objects and ritual masks of the Yoruba and Goun peoples.
Great Mosque of Porto-Novo
An early-20th-century Afro-Brazilian-style mosque that looks more like a baroque church than a place of Islamic worship.
Grand Market at Place Bayol
A bustling covered market trading fish, fabrics and spices from early morning.
Notre-Dame Cathedral
The city's Catholic cathedral, a reminder of Porto-Novo's colonial past.
Afro-Brazilian Quarter
Streets of pastel facades and wrought-iron balconies built by descendants of freed slaves who returned from Brazil.
Songhai Centre
A model eco-farm and botanical complex showcasing Benin's sustainable agriculture.
Porto-Novo Lagoon
A pirogue ride across the lagoon past stilt fishing villages, one of the city's most memorable experiences.
AfricanFoodseum
An authentic African restaurant widely rated as the best table in town.
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