Les Fanals

This festival is held each year between Christmas and New Years and is a night parade of lanterns, lit from within by candlelight that resemble carnival floats and are accompanied by songs and drums. This historic procession is unique to Saint-Louis and was initiated by the signares, who in colonial times were the colonists’ prestigious wives.

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Listing from Wikivoyage: Saint-Louis, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Updated 28 Sept 2026. Something wrong? Tell us.

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More in Saint-Louis

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Institut Français
French cultural centre. Here you will find a café, library and often times there are concerts, films and art exhibitions. Pick up the monthly program brochure at the center, one of the hotels around Saint-Louis or the Syndicat d’Initiative.
Mon-Fri 08:30-12:30 and 15:00-18:00; Sat 08:30-16:00
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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.
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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.
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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.