Senegal with Kids
Family travel guide for parents planning with children
Top Family Activities
The best things to do with kids in Senegal.
Bandia Wildlife Reserve Safari
Giraffes duck their heads through your window to check for biscuits while white rhinos crop grass two car lengths away. The reserve is small enough that sightings sit close together, a mercy for kids who need the loo every twenty minutes.
Gorée Island Historical Tour
The ferry ride alone makes children squeal. But the real prize is the instant friendship with local kids who lead yours to hidden swimming coves and trade first words of Wolof.
Pink Lake (Lac Rose) Salt Harvesting
Watch men rake glittering salt from rose-pink water while you bob like corks thanks to extreme salinity. Children can test the float in cordoned sections under watchful eyes.
NGor Island Surf Lessons
Soft rollers suit first-timers, and the local instructors have guided hundreds of visiting kids. The short boat ride adds spice without terror.
Sandaga Market Treasure Hunt
Hand each child 1000 CFA to hunt for the most curious souvenir, vendors adore the game and the final bill usually undercuts adult bargaining.
IFAN Museum of African Arts Rainy Day
Air-con refuge filled with drums kids can thump, masks begging for dress-up, and a shady courtyard where local school classes often show up.
Best Areas for Families
Where to base yourselves for the smoothest family trip.
Western menus, real high chairs, playgrounds bolted to restaurant patios, and the cleanest city beaches. Most hotels keep a pool and can rustle up babysitting.
Highlights: American-style supermarkets, pediatric clinics, simple taxi pickups, wide Atlantic sunsets.
A resort town built for French holidaymakers, kids' clubs, ankle-deep beaches, and menus that list chicken nuggets without apology.
Highlights: Shallow warm water, beach toy vendors, horse riding on sand, mini-golf
Small enough for short legs to conquer, with horse-drawn carriages waiting when energy flags. River trips glide past enough birds to fill a picture book.
Highlights: Colonial façades turned climbing frames, ice-cream parlours, lazy boat rides for bird spotting.
Real enough to feel daring, cushioned by enough visitor services to keep panic away. Children can gape at the daily fish-market scramble or learn to haul nets with the crew.
Highlights: Working piroges, fish sizzling over beach fires, weekly wrestling bouts, dusk drum circles.
Family Dining
Where and how to eat with children.
Senegalese eateries treat children like visiting royalty, tables shove together for large families, dishes appear the moment they leave the grill (appetizers and dessert may land together), and nobody glances at the clock. Most places spill onto the street so kids can roam, and platters arrive sized for sharing.
Dining Tips for Families
- Order one plate at a time, service ambles and food arrives when ready, so multiple courses cool while you wait.
- Thieboudienne wins over picky eaters, plain rice with mild fish served separately.
- Carry wet wipes, most restaurants set out a pitcher of water and a bar of soap beside the basin.
Kids dig in the sand while you eat, fishermen grill the morning catch, cold drinks and ice-cream usually appear from a cool box.
Real high chairs, children's menus starring fries, air-con for nap-time bottles, spotless toilets.
Emergency snack stash, every block hides a shack selling baguettes, sweet yogurt, bananas, and chilled juice boxes.
Tips by Age Group
Tailored advice for every stage of childhood.
Senegal adores babies, strangers will offer their arms while you finish lunch, and no one flinches at public nursing. The hurdles are heat and the absence of changing tables. Most toddlers nap in car seats between stops.
Challenges: No changing tables outside hotels, midday heat shrinks outdoor time, malaria pills for babies raise tricky questions.
- Bring a pop-up sun tent for beach naps
- Pack extra swimsuits - they'll live in them
- Ask hotels for early dinner service at 6pm
This is the golden zone, old enough to join the action, young enough to be dazzled by coins, words, and tastes. School visits can be arranged. Your child will end up chasing a football across red dust with twenty new friends.
Learning: Gorée Island lays bare the slave trade history; Saint-Louis flaunts French colonial architecture unchanged for centuries. Along the coast, fishermen still haul nets by hand, and Islamic culture threads through every doorway and call to prayer.
- Bring small gifts (soccer balls, crayons) for instant friendships
- Let them order their own food - servers are patient with attempts at French
- Download French kids' songs for car rides
Teens taste freedom here, safe markets they can roam solo, surf coaches who don't need parents hovering, and honest chats with local peers about Afrobeats, Premier League dreams, and what comes after school.
Independence: Stick to well-lit main streets in tourist areas, hail taxis alone in Dakar, and let teens mingle at surf breaks. Agree on check-in times instead of trailing every step.
- Get local SIM cards for group coordination
- Teach them to bargain - teens get better prices than parents
- Let them plan one full day of activities
Practical Logistics
The nuts and bolts of family travel.
Dakar runs decent Uber coverage. Request a car seat in advance. Between towns, sept-places (shared Peugeots) suit older kids who can endure 3-4 hours of heat and dust. Most families hire a private driver for day trips, settle on 30-40,000 CFA for the day, waiting time included.
Clinique de la Madeleine in Dakar keeps English-speaking pediatricians and a 24-hour emergency bay. Every pharmacy stocks formula (Nan and imported brands), diapers (mostly European sizing), and rehydration salts. Bring your own thermometer and children's Tylenol, local versions taste strange and kids revolt.
Hunt for hotels with pools, afternoon survival depends on them. Ask for a 'chambre familiale,' which usually means connecting rooms rather than cots wedged into corners. Ground-floor rooms let kids bolt straight to the courtyard without elevator negotiations.
- Sun hats with straps - the wind off the ocean snatches loose hats
- Long-sleeve UV shirts for beach days - stronger sun than expected
- Pedialyte powder packets - dehydration hits fast in heat
- Small bills (100-500 CFA coins) for tipping helpful strangers
- Unlocked phone with offline maps downloaded
- Eat lunch at local spots (500-1000 CFA per person) and splurge on dinner
- Negotiate weekly rates at beach hotels - usually 20% off nightly prices
- Buy fruit from women balancing bowls on their heads, cheaper than the market and children relish the banter.
Family Safety
Keeping your family safe and healthy.
- ! Slather on DEET-based repellent without mercy, malaria lurks even in city air, and children draw twice as many bites.
- ! Drink only sealed bottled water. Yet brushing with tap water is safe; a mild dose of local bacteria trains young guts early.
- ! Keep kids in shoes on beaches - broken glass and sea urchins hide in sand
- ! The West African sun bites harder than it seems, reapply broad-spectrum cream every 2 hours, clouds or not.
- ! Dakar traffic swirls like a dance, teach kids to lock eyes with drivers before stepping off the curb; they'll wave you through.
- ! Most cafés chill drinks with purified ice. But let stomachs settle for the first 48 hours before taking the risk.
Book Family Activities
Top-rated family experiences in Senegal.
Lompoul desert
Lompoul is a desert with orange dunes.As accommodation you will have a sublime and comfortable Mauritanian with its nomadic style.There you will enjoy a very exhilarating local experience consisting i
Explore Activities in Senegal
Didn't see anything interesting yet?
Browse Viator's full catalog of tours, day trips, food experiences, and private guides in Senegal.
See All Senegal Tours on Viator