Grand-Bassam was Côte d'Ivoire's first colonial capital, briefly the seat of French power from 1893 to 1896 before a yellow fever epidemic forced the administration to move to Bingerville. The old colonial quarter — a peninsula between the ocean and the Comoé lagoon — was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012. It's one of the best-preserved examples of a late 19th-century colonial trading town in West Africa.
It makes an easy and rewarding day trip from Abidjan, about 40 km to the west. The Governor's Palace and the old Mairie are in reasonable shape; the Palais de Justice and custom houses are more ruined but atmospheric. The town also has a solid National Costume Museum housed in one of the old buildings. The artisan market that has grown up in the vacant colonial houses is one of the better places in the country to buy traditional crafts. Outside the heritage zone, the long Atlantic beach draws Abidjanais on weekends.
For even better beaches, continue another 40 km east to Assini, widely considered the finest stretch of coast in the country.