Saint-Louis
Senegal
A colonial capital on an island two kilometres long, between the Senegal River and the Atlantic
Photos by Baptiste Riethmann, Baptiste Riethmann, Baptiste Riethmann and E. Diop on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Senegal
November to May (the dry season)
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 90mm in Aug
Where it is
16.03°N, 16.50°W Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Walk the island’s grid early in the morning, before the heat, and look up at the balconies
- Cross to Guet Ndar on the Langue de Barbarie when the pirogues come in, and ask before you photograph anyone
- Take a pirogue from Gandiol to the Langue de Barbarie park, and ask about the 2003 breach — a channel cut to save the city from floods that widened into kilometres and swallowed villages
- Go to Djoudj between the end of the rains and the spring, when it is open and the pelicans and flamingos are in
- Plan around the jazz festival, held around Pentecost, when the island fills and prices rise
- Have a drink at the Hôtel de la Poste, where the Aéropostale pilots stayed
Saint-Louis travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Senegal
Good valueThe CFA franc is pegged to the euro at a fixed 655.957, so euros are the currency to bring and the rate never moves. Change at a bank on the island rather than in the street. Guesthouses on the island increasingly take cards; the calèches, the pirogues and the market do not.
ATMs & cards
CBAO, SGBS and Ecobank have machines on the island and in Sor, the mainland side. They run dry at weekends and over festivals, so draw on a weekday. Carry small notes — the calèche drivers and the fishermen at Guet Ndar will not have change for a 10,000.
Avoid these
- machines at weekends and over festivals, when they run dry
- changing money in the street
Use these instead
- CBAO
- SGBS
- Ecobank
Euros are the currency to bring; the CFA is pegged to it. Carry small notes for the calèches and the pirogues.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Senegal
SafeSaint-Louis is calm and easy on foot. The UK FCDO does not advise against travel to Saint-Louis; it asks for particular care in remote areas near the borders with Mauritania and Mali, and the Mauritanian border is the river just north of the city, so keep to the city, the coast and the parks rather than heading upriver alone. The Atlantic beaches on the Langue de Barbarie have strong currents. Photographing the fishermen at Guet Ndar without asking will get you shouted at, fairly.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (6 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
- Île de Saint-Louis
- Hydrobase — the hotels on the Langue de Barbarie
Worth more attention
- Guet Ndar — a busy working fishing quarter where photographs without permission cause real offence
- The Atlantic off the Langue de Barbarie, which has strong currents and few lifeguards
- Heading upriver along the Mauritanian border alone — the UK FCDO asks for particular care in remote border areas
- The road to Dakar after dark, when the UK FCDO warns of unlit roads and vehicles without lights
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Senegal visa rules
No visa neededup to 90 days
Senegal abolished tourist visas for most nationalities in 2015 and has kept them abolished. A passport valid six months and an onward ticket are what is actually checked.
Other passports
Visa required in advance
A visa applied for at a Senegalese consulate before travel.
How to get it: Nothing to apply for if your passport is on the exempt list. A yellow fever certificate is asked for if you are arriving from a country where the disease is present.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Senegal
Good but costlyRequired to enter
- Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
- Yellow fever, which is recommended for the whole country whatever the entry rule says
- Hepatitis A and typhoid
- Malaria prophylaxis — the risk is year-round and higher in the south and in the rains
Getting treated
Private clinics in Dakar are decent and are what visitors use; public hospitals are stretched. Outside the capital the options thin quickly and evacuation to Dakar or Europe is the plan for anything serious. Insurance with repatriation cover is not optional here.
Malaria is the real risk and it is year-round, worst from July to November after the rains. Take the tablets and use the net. The Atlantic here has strong rip currents, and the heat from March to June is heavy and humid on the coast.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
GoodSaint-Louis claims thieboudienne as its own — the fish and rice dish is said to have been perfected here — and lunch is when it is cooked. Grilled fish from the morning’s catch at Guet Ndar, yassa, and bissap or bouye (baobab) juice. Alcohol is served in the hotels and a few bars on the island.
Travel tipsGetting around
Limited- YangoWorks here
- HeetchWorks here
- UberNot here
- BoltNot here
- Against a taxi
- Cheaper than the yellow taxis, which are negotiated and expect a foreigner to overpay.
Time zone and your working day
Africa/Dakar — 4 hours ahead of you
4 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–13:00 your time, 13:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 05:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 05:00–13:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
eSIM
A data eSIM for Senegal, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:
Works here
Works hereRevolut No local plan
Must-see
Travel tipsNearby day trips
Travel tipsSay a few words
Wolof
- Hello (peace be with you)Salaam aleekumsa-LAAM a-LEH-koom
- How are you?Nanga def?NAN-ga def
- I am fineMaangi fi rekkMAAN-gi fee rek
- Thank youJërëjëfJEH-reh-jef
5 more phrases
- Yes / NoWaaw / Déedéetwow / DEH-deht
- How much?Ñaata la?NYAA-ta la
- Too expensiveDafa cherDA-fa share
- No, thank youDéedéet, jërëjëfDEH-deht JEH-reh-jef
- GoodbyeBa beneen yoonba be-NEHN yohn
French is the official language and everyone in Dakar has it, but Wolof is what the city actually speaks, and two words of it change how you are treated. The greeting is not optional — Senegalese conversations begin with a round of asking after each other and getting to the point first reads as cold.
Travel tipsReligion
Sunni Muslim, and Sufi
About 95% Muslim, and organised around Sufi brotherhoods — the Mourides of Touba and the Tijaniyya — in a way that shapes daily life, politics and music. Practice is devout and famously tolerant: the Christian minority is unremarkable, mosques and churches share streets, and Senegal has never had the sectarian trouble of its neighbours. Friday afternoon is prayer time and the city slows for it; Ramadan changes every schedule.
Travel tipsDo's and don'ts
Do
- Greet before anything else — nanga def, and wait for the answer; skipping it is the rudeness visitors commit most
- Use your right hand for eating, giving and receiving
- Accept teranga: Senegalese hospitality is real and being fed by a stranger is normal
- Share from the communal bowl if you are invited to, eating only from the wedge in front of you
- Dress modestly away from the beaches; shoulders and knees covered, men included
Don't
- Do not photograph people, and particularly police or government buildings, without asking
- Do not eat or offer with the left hand
- Do not drink alcohol openly outside bars and hotels; this is a Muslim country that is relaxed but not indifferent
- Do not haggle aggressively — a bit of theatre is expected, contempt is not
- Do not be surprised by requests for money; a polite refusal repeated calmly is understood
Where to stay in Saint-Louis
No Holistay rentals in Saint-Louis yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Saint-Louis on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Blaise Diagne, Dakar DSS
4hfrom the airport· 163 km as the crow flies
About four hours by road via Thiès.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
