Parks and the outdoors in Saint-Louis

Parks and the outdoors in Saint-Louis

1. Eat

   Bar La Source

   This is a great neighborhood bar and restaurant where you can sit out back in the large garden and order warthog brochettes from the grill as well as Senegalese dishes. They also have some of the cheapest and coldest beer in Saint-Louis. It's off the Rue De La Corniche, down the street from the Pharmacy Malang Lyss.

2. Eat

   Flamingo

   It's right on the river, it’s a great place to grab a bite to eat or a drink and you can swim in the pool for 4000 CFA, they have the only pool on the island that is not inside a hotel. The food is a little pricey, with entrees starting at 4000 CFA but a swim in the pool could be worth it.

3. See

   Guet N'Dar

   Walk to Guet Ndar, the fishing village that is located on the Langue de Barberie and watch the fisherman bring in their catch. If you're lucky, you might get a great deal on seafood. Dozens of trucks wait to buy up the fish (for as little as 500 CFA a crate) and transport them into the interior as far as Kaolack, Tambacounda and Mali. Local people carry the fish in baskets on their neck and on their heads. Women can be found smoking and drying fish next to the beach in vast cauldrons. Nearby very colorful pirogues are always under construction. It is possible to see nearly every stage from the first carvings to the final painting. If you walk into the residential district of Guet Ndar, you will see thousands of people trying to live their lives squeezed in a tiny area. The scene is very colorful and lively, but when you walk along the beach you will see the effects of overcrowding in the squalid sanitary conditions and insufficient trash disposal. There is a decent-sized market in Guet Ndar, somewhat smaller than the larger Sor market two bridges away.

4. Eat

   Le Ponton

   Sindone

   It's out on a dock right on the river at the Hotel Sindone. It serves some of the best food in Saint-Louis and a great steak. It is expensive: meals run 4000-6000 CFA.

5. Do

   Ndar-Toute-plage

   This is where the city meets the Atlantic. You can see the colorful fishing boats here, but this beach unfortunately also doubles as a kind of landfill. Therefore, it's not a place for beach activities like tanning or swimming.

6. Do

   Plage Hydrobase

   The long Plage Hydrobase stretching along the Langue de Barbarie Peninsula is the proper beach of Saint-Louis, popular with locals, tourists and cattle. A number of the city's hotels are also along or near this beach. However, also on Plage Hydrobase you will find plastic and other waste in the sand.

7. Do

   Plage de Sal Sal

   Plage de Sal Sal to the north of the city is pristine and deserted, so much that you might not encounter anyone else here. The beach stretches across the border to Mauritania, so you should be careful not to go too far north. There's a chance you will see police officers on your way here, tell them that you are going to the beach.

8. Eat

   Restaurant Bou El Mogdad

   When this historic ship docs here every other weekend on the Saint Louis River you can either have dinner, starting at 3000 CFA or just go for a drink and listen to live jazz music on Saturday night. Check with the agency Sahel Decouverte to confirm when the boat will be docked.

Listings from the Wikivoyage guide to Saint-Louis (CC BY-SA 4.0).