Bagamoyo

Bagamoyo was, in the nineteenth century, one of the most important towns on the East African coast, the point where the long caravan routes from the interior finally reached the sea and where their goods were shipped on to Zanzibar. That importance drained away when the capital moved and the harbour proved too shallow for modern ships, and what is left is a quiet, salt-worn town of coral-stone buildings with heavy carved Zanzibari doors, a crumbling old customs house and German-era administrative buildings along the shore, and a fishing beach where dhows are still built and repaired by hand. Just south lie the Kaole ruins, the remains of a Swahili settlement with a thirteenth-century mosque and pillar tombs among the mangroves. Bagamoyo also hosts a well-known college of arts, which gives the town a lively music and dance scene and an annual festival.

What you actually see

• The old town - coral-stone buildings and carved doors along the shore.
• The dhow beach - fishing boats and dhows built and repaired on the sand.
• The Kaole ruins - the medieval Swahili mosque and pillar tombs south of town.
• The arts college - the music and dance scene and its annual festival.

When to go

June to October is the dry season and the most pleasant; the road from Dar es Salaam is much easier then. The arts festival, usually held around the end of the dry season, fills the town with performance. Mornings are best on the beach when the boats come in.

Honest expectations

Much of the old town is genuinely decayed, with buildings propped up or collapsing, and visitors expecting a restored heritage quarter like Stone Town will find something far rougher. Touts and unofficial guides work the seafront. It is a day trip from Dar es Salaam rather than a stay, and beach hotels north of town are the more comfortable base.

Nearby

Dar es Salaam is two hours south; the Saadani national park, where bush meets beach, lies further north.