Conakry: the gateway to the Loos Islands

Capital of Guinea built on an Atlantic peninsula, Conakry remains the starting point to reach the peaceful Los Islands off the coast.

The center can be comfortably visited on foot, not far from the port for the Los Islands.

The Grand Market of Madina, among the largest in western Africa, sells fabrics, spices and craftsmanship of dozens of Guinean ethnic groups.

A few steps away, the People's Palace, a gift from China in the sixties, hosts cultural events and concerts in the capital.

Continuing towards the port you board ferries to the Los Islands, an archipelago with calm beaches and remains of ancient French colonial fortifications.

As evening approaches, Conakry's waterfront comes alive with fresh fish restaurants with views over the Atlantic Ocean.

The Islands of Los, once used as a base by European pirates in the seventeenth century and later as a transit point in the Atlantic slave trade, remain today a peaceful beach destination just kilometers from the capital.

Conakry was founded by the French in the nineteenth century as a colonial port on an island later artificially connected to the mainland, an urban choice that still shapes the city's elongated form, squeezed between two Atlantic bays.