Things to do in Bissau
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Bissau
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months: dry, comparatively cool, seas calm, hippos at Orango and turtles nesting in the Bijagos.
Still dry with glassy seas for fishing, but hot and humid, with April and May the hardest mainland months.
The rains: roads can become impassable, boats thin out, tours largely stop and malaria peaks.
What's on
- Carnaval de Bissau Days before Lent, usually February
Parades down Avenida Amilcar Cabral with sacred masks and gumbe into the night, plus a carnival on Bubaque.
- Independence Day 24 September
Anniversary of the 1973 independence declaration, marked officially in Bissau during the rains.
- Tabanka Early dry season, dates set locally
Village thanksgiving festivals of music and procession, attended by invitation with a local guide.
Best things to do in Bissau
Bissau Velho
The colonial old town grid around Avenida Amilcar Cabral, best seen slowly on foot in the morning or late afternoon.
Fortaleza de São José da Amura
The 18th century port fort holding Amilcar Cabral's mausoleum, entered by asking politely at the gate with a guide.
Sé Catedral de Bissau
The twin towered cathedral on the main avenue, the landmark by which you orient yourself in the old town.
Mão de Timba
The great black fist memorial at Pidjiguiti port, marking the 1959 dockworkers massacre that sparked the liberation struggle.
Museu Etnográfico Nacional
A small museum of masks, statues and ritual objects that makes Bijago village culture far easier to understand.
Mercado de Bandim
The capital's great market for cashews, fish, cloth and tailors, and the cheapest, warmest hour in the city.
Palácio Presidencial
The neoclassical palace ruined in the civil war and rebuilt, admired from the street only on the old town walk.
Centro de Artesanato
The artisan market by the port, where you can buy Bijago carving close to its source and watch makers at work.
Where to stay in Bissau
Bissau Velho and Avenida Amilcar Cabral
first trip, evenings on foot
The only base where you can walk to dinner, the cathedral, the port and the cultural centre.
Airport road and Avenida dos Combatentes
early flights, conferences, drivers on call
Space, pools and quiet near the airport, with taxis needed for every evening trip into town.
Bandim and the residential districts
long stays and value
Guesthouses and residencials where long stay visitors live, at a fraction of old town hotel prices.
The Bijagos bases
the actual holiday
Island lodges reached by tide timed boats, booked ahead, and priced full board or near it.
Think twice about
- Bairro Militar and the Presidential Palace quarter
First places cordoned in any unrest and the most checkpointed streets, and the worst place to be a foreigner with a camera.
- Isolated peri-urban fringe beyond Bandim
No street lighting, nothing walkable, taxis vanish at night and unsurfaced lanes flood and cut properties off in the rains.
Best restaurants in Bissau
Restaurante Dom Bifanas
The city's splurge address, a formal Portuguese dining room with good meat, imported wines and proper service.
Coqueiros Bissau
Portuguese recipes with Guinean ingredients, mangrove oysters, grilled fish and the city's famous gin list.
O Bistro
Bissau's Italian, with genuinely good pizza and pasta, the expatriate community's default dinner for years.
Restaurante Papa Loca
The most reviewed restaurant in the country, a big cheerful Portuguese room for grilled fish, meats and pizza.
Kalliste
Part bar, part pizzeria, part club, and Bissau social life in one old town address, with caipirinhas and live nights.
A Padeira Africana
The Portuguese bakery cafe for fresh bread, pastries, coffee and bifanas, the morning stop before the market.
Gã Mela
A small Bissau Velho bar restaurant cooking Guinean and Portuguese food, and a local favourite on Google ratings.
Pastelaria Império
Portuguese custard tarts, cakes and strong coffee in a cool tiled room, the best cheap refuel in the centre.
Outdoor things to do in Bissau
Bubaque
The Bijagos main island, reached by the weekly tide timed ferry, and the gateway to Praia de Bruce.
Orango National Park
A national park island where hippos live in salt water, best seen on guided walks to the Anor pools.
João Vieira and Poilão Marine National Park
Poilão is Africa's most important green turtle nesting site, visited by guided, permission controlled boat trips.
Rubane Island
The comfortable Bijagos island, with a beachfront lodge, boat days to quiet islands and grilled fish at night.
Ilha de Kere
A tiny private islet eco camp with a fine beach and boats out for tarpon fishing and gentle island touring.
Bob Fishing Club Bijagos
A Bijagos fishing lodge base for giant tarpon, barracuda and jacks in some of the Atlantic's least pressured waters.
Praia de Bruce
A long empty white sand beach reached by an 18 km flat bicycle ride across Bubaque island from the town.
Fortaleza de São Sebastião
Cacheu's small Portuguese fort and slave trade museum, paired with a pirogue ride into the Cacheu River mangroves.
Best hotels in Bissau
Ceiba Hotel Bissau
The capital's one unambiguous luxury hotel, with a pool, spa, two restaurants and generator backed reliability.
Bissau Royal Hotel
The grande dame hotel on Avenida Amilcar Cabral itself, with a pool and the most central luxury address in town.
Hala Hotel & Aqua Park
A resort style hotel near the airport with an aqua park and pools, the closest thing Bissau has to a family resort.
Dunia Hotel Bissau
The business workhorse hotel, formerly the Azalai 24 de Setembro, with spacious rooms, a pool and meeting space.
Residencial Coimbra
A long running residencial with a small spa and pool, and the personal welcome budget travellers remember by name.
Aparthotel Badinca
Self catering apartments at guesthouse prices, the right base for stays in Bissau measured in weeks.
Hôtel Ponta Anchaca Eco-Lodge
Beachfront bungalows, a pool and good cooking on Rubane, the most comfortable and best evidenced Bijagos stay.
Orango Parque Hotel
The national park lodge on Orango, full board, with the hippo, village and kayak programme on your doorstep.
Is Bissau expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | F CFA 25,000 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | F CFA 60,000 a person |
| Splurge | F CFA 150,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Fortaleza de São José da Amura: a few days ahead
- Bubaque: weeks ahead
- Orango National Park: weeks ahead
- João Vieira and Poilão Marine National Park: weeks ahead
- Rubane Island: weeks ahead
- Ilha de Kere: weeks ahead
- Bob Fishing Club Bijagos: months ahead
- Fortaleza de São Sebastião: a few days ahead
- Book Bijagos lodge rooms and boat transfers weeks ahead in the dry season and around Carnival.
- Book sport fishing weeks months ahead, as returning groups take the lodge boats.
- Confirm every boat and any restaurant occasion the day before, as schedules change without notice.
Is Bissau safe?
- Guinea-Bissau carries serious risks from unrest, weak health infrastructure and landmines.
- Avoid demonstrations and crowds, never photograph soldiers or checkpoints, and carry passport copies at all times.
- Take medical evacuation insurance, use malaria prophylaxis, drink bottled water and take taxis at night.
- Stay on main roads on the mainland, as landmines and unexploded ordnance remain, worst in Bafata, Oio, Biombo, Quinara and Tombali.
Bissau travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Assuming the ferry runs on the printed day, or that a card machine will work, so carry XOF cash.
- Treating the Presidential Palace and the Amura fort as photo stops in a period of military rule.
- Rushing Bolama as a day trip, or taking a car window city tour instead of walking Bissau Velho.
Getting around Bissau: public transport and more
- Agree taxi fares before you get in, as there are no meters, and walk only within Bissau Velho.
- Confirm the tide timed Bubaque ferry departure at Pidjiguiti port the day before you sail.
- Hire a car with a local driver for mainland trips and never drive rural roads at night.
- Buy a local SIM on arrival and coordinate drivers, guides and boats on WhatsApp.
Who Bissau suits
| Solo travellers | OK |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | OK |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Bissau your trip
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