Day Trip to Lobito

Lobito, just 30 kilometres north of Benguela, is worth a half-day excursion. The city has a better natural harbour than Benguela — a wide bay enclosed by the long Restinga sandbar — and the old colonial waterfront retains some attractive buildings. The two cities are close enough to visit together in a single day.

The main attraction in Lobito is the railway terminal at the end of the Restinga, from which the Benguela Railway departs east. The views across the bay are good, the old colonial architecture around the port area is interesting, and the beach on the Restinga itself is long and mostly uncrowded. A taxi or shared minibus between Benguela and Lobito is straightforward and cheap.

things to do sight
A story
Lobito's Restinga — a narrow sand spit that stretches across the bay — was the original site of the colonial settlement, built on this precarious strip of land because the protected bay behind it was the finest natural harbour on the Angolan coast. The railway terminal at the tip of the Restinga was once among the busiest export points in southern Africa.