Skip to content
Ouidah Heritage Tour
The Door of No Return lit up at night on Ouidah beach

Ouidah tells its story on foot

Memory, faith and ocean on the coast of Benin.

One town, three memories

Ouidah saw thousands of captives taken to the Americas. Ouidah prays to the python Dangbé and, across the square, to the Virgin of its basilica. Ouidah looks out over the Atlantic.

People come to understand, to remember, and often to come back.

The Slave Route

Six stations, from Place Chacha to the Door of No Return.

  1. Stop 1

    Place Chacha

    The former auction square, where the captives’ walk to the sea began.

    Painted columns on Place Chacha, Ouidah’s former auction square
  2. Stop 2

    Tree of Forgetfulness

    According to tradition, captives were made to walk around it to forget their origins.

  3. Stop 3

    Zomaï Huts

    “Where fire does not enter”: remembering captives held in darkness.

  4. Stop 4

    Zoungbodji Memorial

    A place of remembrance on the site of a mass grave.

    Sculpture of a kneeling captive at the Zoungbodji memorial, a place of remembrance
  5. Stop 5

    Tree of Return

    The hope that the captives’ souls would one day return to their ancestors’ land.

  6. Stop 6

    Door of No Return

    On the beach, facing the Atlantic, the monument marking the place of forced embarkation.

    The Door of No Return lit up at night on Ouidah beach

Experience Ouidah

Walking visits with guides from Ouidah.

All experiences
Ouidah beach with its coconut palms and straw huts

Return to the source

For the descendants of deported Africans, Ouidah is a place of return. We prepare this journey with you, at your own pace.

Find out more

Coming up

Full calendar
  1. 8January

    National Vodun Day

    Ouidah

  2. 23August

    International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition

    Door of No Return, Ouidah

A question before you come?

Visa, health, season, transport: everything you need to plan your trip.

Plan my trip