Free Town

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Where to even begin. In 2019, I spent 2 amazing months in Sierra Leone, based out of Freetown. I stayed here to be exact, around Babadorie Hill, and loved the guys and the house, so would strongly recommend it if you’re going to visit. Freetown is a relatively small city. You get to know the neighborhoods pretty quickly, and even though you may not have visited them all, they soon roll off your tongue. Aberdeen, Lumley, Hill Station, Congo Cross, Babadorie (a little less known), Wilkinson Road, Tengbeh Town, Murray Town… on a clear day with traffic,

Eating:

  • By Lumley Beach

    • Gigibonta

    • Papaya

    • Alex’s Beach House

  • Near Lumley Roundabout + along Wilkinson Road

    • Hub Hotel

    • Smokin Buns

    • Swiss Hotel

    • Crown Express

    • Bliss

    • Two Guys

  • Downtown

    • British Council

    • Crown Bakery

    • Nix Nax Cafe

  • Hill Station

    • Country Lodge

  • Congo Cross

    • Balmaya Cafe

Going out/drinking:

  • Honeysuckle Pub

  • Warehouse?

Sights

  • Aberdeen Lighthouse

Activities

  • Running clubs - Thursdays and Tuesdays

  • Sunday hiking - 10am Sundays outside the American embassy

  • Indoor climbing

  • Tacugama (technically calling it ‘in’ Freetown.

  • Core fitness

  • Yoga - multiple places

    • Toma

Beaches

The beaches are one of the best things about Sierra Leone and the Freetown area. Each of these beaches is along (I think) one main road, and you can pull off the road (a little hard to even call it that) to any of the following places. They are all used to visitors and guests, and have restaurants, places to park, and enough beach chairs. From closest to Freetown, to farthest:

  • Lakka Beach

  • River No. 2

  • Cockle Point

  • Tokeh Beach

  • Bureh Beach

Transport

I took all the local transport: keke’s, taxis, and sometimes the back of a motorbike (sorry mum). But, there is an Uber-like app called Flash that works just the same way. They also only have jeeps or Land Rovers as their transport cars, which come in handy if you’re there during rainy season. Just search for ‘Flash’ in the App Store.

To/from the airport: There are a couple of options, but if it’s your first time or you’re traveling at night, I would highly recommend

Tours

  • Freetown Keke Tour

  • Visit Sierra Leone tours

  • Xtreme Xcursions

Shopping

  • Malama Thomas Street

  • Pangea Fashion

Outside Freetown

  • Makeni, Kono, Bo

Myra Khan