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Monrovia
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Monrovia, LiberiaOpen-Meteo forecast.
Monrovia city overview
Monrovia is Liberia's capital, named for US President James Monroe and set on a peninsula between the Atlantic and the Mesurado River. First-time visitors should learn the country's founding story at the National Museum of Liberia, walk historic Providence Island where freed settlers first landed, and photograph the abandoned Ducor Palace Hotel on its clifftop. Roberts International Airport connects the city to the rest of West Africa.
Worth seeing
Providence Island
Providence Island adds the water-facing side of Monrovia, making it a good break from museums, traffic and dense historic streets.
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Centennial Pavilion
Centennial Pavilion is a named stop in Monrovia worth keeping on the route when it fits the day's transport, timing and neighborhood plan.
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Waterside Market
Waterside Market gives Monrovia a concrete street-life stop, with food, everyday shopping and local movement that helps visitors read the city.
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Ducor Hotel
Ducor Hotel is a named stop in Monrovia worth keeping on the route when it fits the day's transport, timing and neighborhood plan.
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Ce Ce Beach
Ce Ce Beach adds outdoor time to a Monrovia stay, with open space, views or waterfront breathing room between denser city sights.
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Liberian National Museum
Liberian National Museum is a key Monrovia culture stop, useful for understanding local history, collections and rainy-day planning near the main sightseeing route.
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Base in Mamba Point for embassies and coastal hotels, or Sinkor for beachfront restaurants and a relaxed longer stay. Central Monrovia suits a first visit wanting easy walking access to Broad Street's shops and the National Museum.
Hotels & areas
Monrovia hotel choice depends on purpose: Mamba Point suits business and diplomatic travelers, Sinkor suits longer beachfront stays with restaurants, and Central Monrovia keeps you closest to Broad Street's shops and museums.
Mamba Point
Mamba Point is Monrovia's embassy and hotel district on the coast, close to government buildings and popular with business travelers.
Best for: business trips, embassies, coastal viewsSee hotel optionsSinkor
Sinkor stretches along the beachfront with hotels, restaurants and residential streets, a comfortable base for longer stays.
Best for: longer stays, beach access, restaurantsSee hotel optionsCentral Monrovia
Central Monrovia around Broad Street holds the main shops, banks and the National Museum, useful for a first, walkable stay.
Best for: first visits, shopping, museumsSee hotel optionsFlights & airports
Roberts International Airport (ROB) arrival plan
- Roberts International Airport (ROB)About 49 km from the centre
Compare airport access against hotel location, arrival time, rental car pickup, late flights and onward driving before choosing the first night base.
- Spriggs Payne Airport (MLW)About 4 km from the centre
Compare airport access against hotel location, arrival time, rental car pickup, late flights and onward driving before choosing the first night base.
Rental cars
Monrovia day-trip car use
A rental car with a driver is the practical option for the long transfer from Roberts International Airport and any trips beyond the city; self-drive is uncommon for visitors.
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Best base
Choose the Monrovia base by repeat journeys: sights, evening food, station access and the airport transfer should all still work.
Airport transfer
Arrange a hotel transfer in advance for the roughly 60km drive from Roberts International Airport, which can take over an hour.
Cash
Carry both US dollars and Liberian dollars in small denominations, since both currencies circulate for everyday purchases.
Rainy season
Plan around the heavy rainy season from May to October, when flooding can slow roads and shorten sightseeing time.
Nearby ideas
Beach
Robertsport
Robertsport, a few hours west, is West Africa's best-known surf town, with long point breaks and a laid-back beach village feel.
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Kakata
Kakata, an hour inland, offers cooler forested scenery and a look at rural Liberian life away from the capital.
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City history
The agreement, which covered a relatively small coastal area and was valued at approximately $300 in trade goods, has been the subject of historical debate, with modern scholarship revisiting earlier claims about the circumstances.
The French cartographer and slave trader Chevalier des Marchais visited Ducor and the Cape in 1723, conducted business there and later published a map of the area.
Before 1816, the area around Cape Mesurado and the mouth of the Mesurado River was called Ducor.
He likewise signed into law the Anti-Slave Trading Act of 1819, which funded the ACS's mission to create such a colony in West Africa.
Prior to the establishment of the settlement, representatives of the American Colonization Society negotiated the purchase of land at Cape Mesurado in December 1821 from local leaders.
On 7 January 1822, a ship took these settlers to Dazoe Island (now called Providence Island) at the mouth of the Mesurado River.
In 1824, the city was renamed Monrovia after James Monroe, president of the United States at the time.
President James Monroe, a prominent supporter of the colonization of Liberia and the American Colonization Society (ACS).
Along with Washington, D.C., it is one of two world capitals to be named after an American president.
It had long been established as a crossroads and a place of trade inhabited by fishing, trading and farming communities of various ethnicities, including the Dey, Kru, Bassa, Gola, and Vai.
They subsequently went ashore at Cape Mesurado, and established a settlement they called Christopolis.
Monroe was a prominent supporter of plans to create a colony of some sort as a place to relocate African Americans from the United States of America and combat the Atlantic Slave Trade.
During World War I the city was affected by the German bombing of Monrovia.
Krutown was inhabited mainly by ethnic Krus, but also by Bassas, Grebos and members of other ethnic groups.