Best Highlights Destinations in Africa

67 city guides · 3-day highlights itineraries

3-day city guides covering the essential highlights every visitor should experience.

Africa
🇳🇬 Nigeria

Abuja

Aso Rock, Zuma Rock, the National Museum and the best suya in Nigeria…

Africa
🇬🇭 Ghana

Accra

Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum, Jamestown lighthouse, Cape Coast slave castles and Ghanaian food…

Africa
🇪🇹 Ethiopia

Addis Ababa

Lucy's skeleton, Merkato, the Ethnological Museum and the Ethiopian coffee ceremony…

Africa
🇲🇦 Morocco

Agadir

Morocco's Atlantic beach capital: the bay rebuilt after the 1960 earthquake that killed 15,000 in 15…

Africa
🇪🇬 Egypt

Alexandria

Alexander's city of libraries and lighhouses: the modern Bibliotheca, the catacombs blending Egyptia…

Africa
🇩🇿 Algeria

Algiers

The White City of the Mediterranean: the UNESCO Casbah (the Ottoman urban fabric where the Battle of…

Africa
🇲🇬 Madagascar

Antananarivo

The most biodiverse capital in the world: the Rova royal palace on the 1,466m hill (ruling a kingdom…

Africa
🇪🇷 Eritrea

Asmara

Africa's forgotten city of elegance: the UNESCO Italian Modernist city (1935–1941, more intact than …

Africa
🇪🇹 Ethiopia

Bahir Dar

Lake Tana (the source of the Blue Nile, 37 islands with medieval Ethiopian Orthodox monasteries and …

Africa
🇲🇱 Mali

Bamako

The capital of world-class live music (Salif Keita, Ali Farka Touré, Toumani Diabaté and his 21-stri…

Africa
🇱🇾 Libya

Benghazi

The oldest city in Libya (Greek colony Euesperides, 5th century BCE), renamed Berenice after the Pto…

Africa
🇿🇦 South Africa

Bloemfontein

South Africa's judicial capital (the seat of the Supreme Court of Appeal), the birthplace of J.R.R. …

Africa
🇨🇬 Congo

Brazzaville

The world's two closest capitals (Brazzaville and Kinshasa face each other 4km apart across the Cong…

Africa
🇪🇬 Egypt

Cairo

Pyramids at sunrise, Tutankhamun's golden mask, Khan el-Khalili bazaar and felucca on the Nile…

Africa
🇿🇦 South Africa

Cape Town

Where two oceans meet beneath a flat-topped mountain: Table Mountain cableway, Nelson Mandela's 4.5 …

Africa
🇲🇦 Morocco

Casablanca

Morocco's economic powerhouse (not the Rick's Café you imagined): the Hassan II Mosque (210m minaret…

Africa
🇲🇦 Morocco

Chefchaouen

The most photogenic city in Africa: the entire medina painted in a thousand shades of blue (from pow…

Africa
🇸🇳 Senegal

Dakar

The westernmost African capital — the most Atlantic-positioned city on the continent: the African Re…

Africa
🇹🇿 Tanzania

Dar Es Salaam

East Africa's fastest-growing city: the Kariakoo Market (the most chaotic market in Tanzania — named…

Africa
🇹🇿 Tanzania

Dodoma

Tanzania's deliberately relocated capital (moved from Dar es Salaam to the geographic centre of the …

Africa
🇨🇲 Cameroon

Douala

"Africa in miniature" — the commercial capital of the most biodiverse single African country: the Do…

Africa
🇲🇦 Morocco

Fes

The most perfectly medieval city in the world and the most intact ancient medina in the Arab world: …

Africa
🇧🇼 Botswana

Gaborone

The peaceful diamond capital of Africa's most successful post-independence story: the Three Dikgosi …

Africa
🇪🇬 Egypt

Giza

The world's most ancient tourist destination — only surviving ancient Wonder of the World: the Great…

Africa
🇿🇼 Zimbabwe

Harare

Zimbabwe's high-plateau capital — Shona sculpture, the largest African stone city, and highveld suns…

Africa
🇪🇬 Egypt

Hurghada

Egypt's Red Sea diving capital — coral reefs, sea turtles, desert sunrises, and the real Old Town…

Africa
🇳🇬 Nigeria

Ibadan

West Africa's Yoruba city — Nigeria's first university, the bronze-casting origin of Ile-Ife, and su…

Africa
🇿🇦 South Africa

Johannesburg

South Africa's gold city — Apartheid Museum, Soweto's Nobel Prize street, and the fossil caves of hu…

Africa
🇺🇬 Uganda

Kampala

Uganda's seven-hills capital — Kasubi Tombs UNESCO, the Martyrs' Shrine, and the Source of the Nile …

Africa
🇳🇬 Nigeria

Kano

Nigeria's ancient Hausa city — 1,000-year market, 500-year dye pits, and the trans-Saharan trade ter…

Africa
🇸🇩 Sudan

Khartoum

Sudan's Nile capital — Blue and White Nile confluence, Nubian pyramids at Meroe, and Whirling Dervis…

Africa
🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo

Kinshasa

Congo River megacity — Soukous live music, Sapeurs fashion society, and the world's deepest river…

Africa
🇬🇭 Ghana

Kumasi

Ghana's Ashanti royal capital — the Golden Stool, kente cloth weavers, and West Africa's largest mar…

Africa
🇳🇬 Nigeria

Lagos

The most dynamic city in Africa: Nollywood, Afrobeats at the Africa Shrine, suya from the charcoal g…

Africa
🇬🇦 Gabon

Libreville

Gabon's equatorial capital — gorilla tracking at Lopé, leatherback turtle beaches, Fang art, and nye…

Africa
🇦🇴 Angola

Luanda

Angola's oil capital — Slavery Museum, Eiffel's Iron Palace, Ilha do Cabo beaches, and kizomba at th…

Africa
🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo

Lubumbashi

DRC's copper city — Copperbelt mining heritage, Benguela Railway, Luba Kingdom art, Congolese rumba,…

Africa
🇿🇲 Zambia

Lusaka

Zambia's copper capital — Kafue game drive, Victoria Falls UNESCO, orphaned elephant nursery, nshima…

Africa
🇪🇬 Egypt

Luxor

Ancient Thebes — Valley of the Kings, Karnak hypostyle hall, hot air balloon at dawn, Hatshepsut tem…

Africa
🇰🇪 Kenya

Malindi

Swahili Coast Heritage & Coral Reefs…

Africa
🇲🇿 Mozambique

Maputo

Africa's Most Elegant Capital…

Africa
🇲🇦 Morocco

Marrakech

Djemaa el-Fna at night, the Majorelle Garden and a hammam in the Medina…

Africa
🇪🇬 Egypt

Marsa Alam

Red Sea's Pristine Dugong Coast…

Africa
🇸🇴 Somalia

Mogadishu

East Africa's Ancient Indian Ocean Port…

Africa
🇰🇪 Kenya

Mombasa

Swahili Coast: Dhows, Forts & Red Elephants…

Africa
🇹🇳 Tunisia

Monastir

Tunisia's Ancient Ribat & Roman Sahel…

Africa
🇹🇩 Chad

N'Djamena

Sahel Capital & Gateway to Ennedi…

Africa
🇰🇪 Kenya

Nairobi

Lions with a city skyline, baby elephants, nyama choma and the world's finest long-distance runners …

Africa
🇲🇷 Mauritania

Nouakchott

Where Sahara Meets the Atlantic & Desert Manuscripts…

Africa
🇩🇿 Algeria

Oran

Raï Music, Camus's Plague City & Spanish Clifftop Fort…

Africa
🇧🇫 Burkina Faso

Ouagadougou

Africa's Film Capital: FESPACO, Mossi Royalty & Painted Houses…

Africa
🇿🇦 South Africa

Port Elizabeth

Gqeberha: Elephant Park, World Surf Break & African Penguins…

Africa
🇳🇬 Nigeria

Port Harcourt

Nigeria's Oil Delta: Floating Villages, Gas Flares & Banga Soup…

Africa
🇲🇺 Mauritius

Port Louis

Mauritius Capital: Dodo Island, Seven Colours & Indian Ocean Creole…

Africa
🇪🇬 Egypt

Port Said

Suez Canal Gateway: 12% of World Trade & 1869 Belle Époque City…

Africa
🇸🇩 Sudan

Port Sudan

Red Sea: Cousteau's Reef, Suakin Coral City & Beja Desert…

Africa
🇨🇻 Cape Verde

Praia

Cape Verde: Saudade, First Tropical City & Barefoot Diva Morna…

Africa
🇿🇦 South Africa

Pretoria

Executive Capital: Mandela Inauguration, Boer Republic & Jacaranda City…

Africa
🇹🇳 Tunisia

Sfax

Tunisia's Finest Intact Arab Medina, Kerkennah Island Fishing & El Jem Roman Africa…

Africa
🇪🇬 Egypt

Sharm El-Sheikh

Red Sea Coral Reef World Capital, Mount Sinai Sunrise & Blue Hole Freediving Mecca…

Africa
🇲🇦 Morocco

Tangier

Cap Spartel Where Atlantic Meets Mediterranean, Paul Bowles's Literary Tangier & the Caves of Hercul…

Africa
🇱🇾 Libya

Tripoli

⚠️ DO NOT TRAVEL – Libya Is Currently Unsafe. Historical Context: The Roman Arch of Marcus Aurelius,…

Africa
🇹🇳 Tunisia

Tunis

UNESCO Medina, World's Best Roman Mosaics at Bardo, Carthage Ruins, Sidi Bou Said Blue-White Village…

Africa
🇸🇨 Seychelles

Victoria

Butchart Gardens (55 Acres in a Former Limestone Quarry), Orca Whale Watching, Royal BC Museum First…

Africa
🇳🇦 Namibia

Windhoek

Christuskirche (German Colonial Lutheran Church 1907), Herero Genocide Memorial, Daan Viljoen Oryx &…

Africa
🇨🇲 Cameroon

Yaoundé

Mefou Primate Sanctuary (310 Chimpanzees, 30 Gorillas), National Museum in Former Presidential Palac…

Africa
🇹🇿 Tanzania

Zanzibar

Stone Town (UNESCO 2000, the Most Intact Swahili-Arab Trading City), Anglican Cathedral on the Slave…