Lamu

There are many old mosques (not all will allow Westerners to visit) and Arab houses with beautiful handcarved mahogany and cedar doors. There's so much to look at in the town itself, including the Hindu Temple in Mwagogo Road that it might be hard to tear yourself away. But if you can bear to leave, take a dhow cruise to visit the 14th-century ruins on the Pate and Manda islands.

Lamu has also become a hot destination for global glitterati: Princess Caroline of Monaco has a house here along with any number of other notables. But nothing and nobody can destroy the ambience of this lovely little town. Small boys with backs against ancient walls chant verses from the Koran, light-sounding drums beat, a flute plays, donkeys bray, a muezzin calls from a stone tower atop a small mosque, palm trees wave in the soft sea breezes, and a white-sailed dhow sails past on the bluest of seas.

It gets very sticky and hot, so either find a cool rooftop veranda to sip a fresh juice as cool sea breezes blow, or take tea with some of the locals as you potter about the little shops and stores set in massive stone buildings with thick coral rag walls. Lamu Museum right on the seafront is also a cool refuge, where you can admire the 18th-century Kidaka plasterwork and some old carved throne chairs. As the sun goes down, head to the small battlements of the Lamu Fort, formerly a fortification and a prison, before another cool drink at the café overlooking the town's main square.

Getting Here & Around

Lamu is a very easy town to get around because it is so small. The cobbled streets are laid out in a grid fashion with the main street, Harambee Avenue, running parallel to the harbor.