The beach in Lomé is one of the only urban beaches of any West African capital that you can step onto directly from a downtown boulevard. A wide strip of yellow sand runs the entire length of the city, divided from the road by a row of coconut palms and a series of low concrete groynes. East of the port the beach is wider, cleaner and used for evening exercise and football; west of it the surf is too strong and the rip currents make swimming genuinely dangerous.
Treat the beach as a place to walk rather than swim. The current here is one of the strongest in the Gulf of Guinea and even strong swimmers drown most years. The most pleasant stretch is around the Hôtel Sarakawa and the Hôtel Onomo, where the beach is groomed daily and a string of small restaurants serve grilled fish in the late afternoon. Locals come out at sunset; bring a coffee and watch the fishermen pulling in the long seine nets.