What it is
A town about 40 km west of Cotonou, set back from a 4 km strip of sand. A Portuguese fort completed in 1721, São João Baptista de Ajudá, stands in the centre and holds the town's history museum. A road runs from the old auction square through the town to the beach. The Temple of Pythons and the basilica face each other across the same street. The Sacred Forest of Kpasse is at the edge of town.
Why go
Ouidah was a principal port of the Bight of Benin, and from 1727 it was controlled by the Kingdom of Dahomey, which sold captives taken in war and raiding to Portuguese, French, English and Brazilian traders. Hundreds of thousands were shipped from this stretch of coast. The road to the beach is the Route des Esclaves, and it is walked or driven with a guide: it passes the site of the auction square, the Tree of Forgetfulness and the Tree of Return, a memorial to the mass grave at Zomaï, and ends at the Door of No Return, a memorial arch on the beach completed in 1995. The museum in the fort covers the trade and the return of freed Afro-Brazilians to this coast in the nineteenth century, whose descendants and architecture are still here. Ouidah is also the acknowledged centre of Vodun, which is a state-recognised religion in Benin and practised rather than staged.
When to go
10 January is the national Vodun holiday and Ouidah is where it centres; the town fills, accommodation is booked out months ahead, and ceremonies run through the day. Outside that, November to February is dry and the walk to the beach is bearable. Engage a guide from the museum or a recognised local association rather than at the roadside, and ask before photographing any shrine or ceremony.
Most people stay 2 nights.