Maputo rewards thin wallets: the cathedral square, the artists' collective and the clifftop bay views are all free, prawns bought off the ice cost a third of restaurant prices, and the Catembe ferry crosses the bay for about 15 meticais.
The white 1944 concrete cathedral is free to enter; slip in between early Mass and noon for cool silence beneath the 61m spire. Circling the square past the Conselho Municipal and the Samora statue costs nothing at all.
Thomas Honney's 1885 garden hides several hundred species behind railings off Av. Samora Machel. Open roughly 06:00-18:00 for about 10 MZN, with shaded benches, a stream and mango trees enough for a bought-in picnic lunch.
The 1780s Portuguese fort by Praça 25 de Junho charges around 50 MZN and holds cannon, bronze panels and the cell linked to Gaza emperor Ngungunhane. Small, shaded, rarely crowded — an hour of history for pocket change.
Mozambique's oldest artists' collective fills a colonial villa on Rua da Argélia. Entry is free, painters and welders work in the garden studios most late afternoons, and the shaded bar pours 2M beer at ordinary street prices.
Buy straight off the ice: prawns from roughly 400 MZN a kilo, calamari and red snapper cheaper. Carry your bag to the barracas behind, which grill it with garlic, lemon and piri-piri for about 150 MZN a plate.
A canteen-style institution where a grilled half chicken swimming in piri-piri, with chips and salad, lands well under 400 MZN. Plastic chairs, office workers on lunch break, and portions two people routinely split without shame.
Maputo's rawest market sprawls across Chamanculo: capulana cloth from about 250 MZN, recycled-tin lamps, herbalists' stalls, and hills of second-hand clothing. Loud, enormous and almost entirely free of other visitors.
Wandering the craft and flower fair in Jardim dos Professores is free. The food stalls at the back serve matapa with rice, chamussas and bolo polana for 150-250 MZN, with marrabenta bands playing on weekend evenings.
Boats leave the terminal below the fortress from around 05:00, roughly every half hour. Foot passengers pay about 15 MZN for a twenty-minute crossing of Maputo Bay with the whole city skyline lined up astern.
On the far shore, sand streets lead to open-air stalls facing the capital across the water. A grilled fish plate with xima runs 250-400 MZN, and the view of Maputo's towers from a plastic chair is the cheapest postcard going.
The star-shaped mausoleum on the airport road holds Eduardo Mondlane, Josina Machel and Samora Machel beneath a long mosaic frieze of the liberation struggle. Entry is free and the guard usually explains each panel unprompted.
The clifftop road above Polana delivers the best free view in Maputo — the bay, the port cranes and the Katembe bridge deck lighting up at dusk. Walk it slowly down to the Marginal steps as the light goes orange.