Not to miss

Varela

This village has the best beaches on the mainland; just as good as Cap Skiring in Senegal, but far less busy. You can camp on the sand but there is a hotel with beach views about 1km (.6mi) inland. Monkeys are common prey in this area, and you may see hunters carrying dead ones on their shoulders.

Cacheu

About 100km (62mi) northwest of Bissau, this appealing place is half asleep. There's a 16th-century whitewashed fort, where Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins valiantly (but unsuccessfully) fought the Portuguese in 1567. Visitors can see cannons and bronze statues dating from this time.

Arquipélago Dos Bijagós

At first, the Bijagós - Africa's only archipelago - may seem simply a pleasant escape from the problems of the mainland, with swaying palms, cooling breezes and powdery, white-sand beaches. Stay a little while though, and you'll begin to fall under the islands' singular spell.

Protected by swift tides and treacherous sandbanks, the islands have long been a world apart. They eluded Portuguese control until the 1930s, and the fiercely independent Bijagós people still retain a large degree of autonomy from the federal government.

Most visitors to the islands seem to be either biologists who come to study the unique and rich variety of marine life, or else sports fishermen who come to catch and eat it. The entire archipelago has been declared a biosphere reserve, and two island groups have also been declared national parks: the southern Orango group, home to saltwater hippos; and the eastern João Vieira group, breeding ground to a number of endangered sea turtles.

Ilha de Bolama

Located just off the mainland, about 40km (25mi) south of Bissau, the island of Bolama was long home to the Portuguese capital. Deprived of its status in 1941, the once-grand town (also called Bolama) has been decaying ever since, with sagging colonnades and papaya trees sprouting from stately living rooms. The effect is one of eerie beauty.

The island is virtually devoid of a tourist infrastructure, though the NGO Prodepa, an international group devoted to preserving traditional fishing techniques, rents basic rooms and serves food. The closest beach is about 4km (2.5mi) south of Bolama town, but the best beaches are along the far southwest end of the island, about 20km (12mi) from town via a rugged road.

Ilha de Bubaque

Ilha de Bubaque is at the centre of the archipelago and Guinea-Bissau's tourist industry (such as it is). It's a delightful place on which to pass a few days/weeks, not that there's a whole bundle of things to do apart from take boat rides to nearby islands, walk through the forest, palm groves and fields or lounge on the beaches. If you want to be a big game fisherman a few top end hotels can arrange trips.