Visiting Nouadhibou: A travel guide for Mauritania’s second city.

Nouadhibou is the second largest city in Mauritania.  It is a major fishing centre and large industrial port for the export of iron ore. 

If you are planning to cross overland from Morocco to Muaritania or you are one of those crazy brave enough to ride the iron ore train from Zouerat then you will likely have a few days in Nouadhibou and will be wondering what there is to see and do. 

Nouadhibou is a great transition city for travels in Mauritania.  And if you are just arriving from Morocco it gives a good introduction to sub-Saharan Africa and urban Mauritania.  

Below is our travel guide for Nouadhibou including how to get there, the best time to visit and of course some things to do in Nouadhibou. 

Visa for Mauritania

Getting a visa for Mauritania is straightforward.  Today, nearly all nationalities can get a visa on arrival for Mauritania that is valid for 30 days.  

• Tip: The visa for Mauritania costs 55 EUR (or you can pay 650 MAD at the border crossing from Morocco to Mauritania).

You do need to make sure you have the correct change for your visa.

Best time to visit Nouadhibou

Mauritania is a good country to visit during the low season for travel in Europe (when it’s winter there) because the temperature anywhere near the Sahara Desert can be overwhelmingly hot in summer. 

The best months for overlanding or backpacking in Mauritania are from November to March.

We visited Nouadhibou at the end of January and during the day the sun was hot with temperatures averaging 28-35 ºC.

And contrary to what you may be thinking about night time temperatures; it does get cold in the nights and early mornings.

In late January the night time temperature in Mauritania was around 12-15 ºC. (So do pack some warm clothes as well!).

Getting to Nouadhibou

Nouadhibou has an international airport which offers a few flights per week to select destinations.

There are regular flights to the Canary Islands (which serve as a link to other European destinations) and flights several times a week to Morocco.

Road travellers can drive from Morocco in less than an hour (though it does take four hours from the border north to Dakhla; the next destination city in Morocco/Western Sahara). 

Alternatively, travellers coming from the south can drive from Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, in around five hours.  (This is the country’s best road to drive on although it does take seven hours by minivan or bus!). 

Language in Mauritania

Hassaniya is the local language in Mauritania.  It is a variety of Maghrebi Arabic and is the main language of Mauritania (it is also common in Western Sahara as well).  

In Nouadhibou and Nouakchott it is helpful to speak French as most hotels and restaurants will offer menus and service in French.  

It is always appreciated to greet everyone with the Islamic greeting of ‘Salam’ and here are a few basic phrases in Hassaniya Arabic.

• Is-selaamu aleykum: Peace be upon you (greeting)
• We aleykum is-selaam: And on you, too (reply to above)
• Ish haalak? How are you?
• Lebaas meshaallaah: I am fine
• Merhbe: Welcome
• Shukran: Thank you
• Ma’a is-selaam: Goodbye 
• Yuum sa’iid: Have a good day. 

Things to do in Nouadhibou

Ahh, well this is a bit of a catch. There aren’t many tourist sites as such in Nouadhibou.

More often than not Nouadhibou offers a starting or end point for adventurous travelers brave enough to ride the Iron Ore train from Zouerat.

Or it serves as a good base after crossing the border from Morocco to Mauritania before continuing south towards Nouakchott and onwards to Senegal.

However, there are a few things to see and do in Nouadhibou that are worth checking out. 

• Nouadhibou Market: This busy market in town is an interesting place to walk and to stock up on all kinds of trinkets, fruits and vegetables.
• Fishing Port: The fishing harbor is a busy place and filled with Senegalese boats. Note it is tricky to photograph here as photos are not wanted.
• The Peninsula: At the absolute southernmost tip of the Nouadhibou peninsula there is a small national park where for a fee you can observe the meeting point between the bay and Atlantic Ocean.  This point on the peninsula is home to several monk seals. 
• Bird watching: The salt marsh estuary next to the bay is full of bird life with large pelicans and migration birds flocking to warmer climates.

Connectivity and SIM’s 

There are three main providers in Mauritania.  

• Moov Mauritel 
• Chinguitel
• Mattel

Basically, every kiosk or roadside vendor that sells cigarettes also sells small scratch cards to top up whatever mobile provider you have chosen. 

If you are crossing the border from Morocco to Mauritania it is easy to buy a prepaid SIM card at the border crossing. There are fixers offering to assist you over the border crossing and there are hustlers around offering to exchange money (MAD, EUR and MRU).

A prepaid SIM card at the border costs 10 EUR and it should have 0.5 – 1 GB of data to keep you going until you find a kiosk to recharge data.

However, a note about the cell phone coverage for mobile calls and data in Mauritania.

Do NOT expect 4G (or sometimes even 3G). There was a couple of times my cell-phone actually registered ‘2G’ coverage (which I didn’t even know was even possible!).

• Tip: We bought Moov Mauritel SIM cards in town for 200 MRU including 1GB of data. We purchased the scratch cards to top up for 100 MRU each.

Money exchange and currency

The Ouguiya is the official currency of Mauritania.  The currency code for Mauritanian Ouguiya is “MRU”. 

This is the exchange rate we were offered in January crossing the border from Morocco to Mauritania at Guerguerat: 

• 1 EUR = 370 MRU
• 1 MAD = 35 MRU 

But wait, before you frown and refresh XE a few more times to check these figures remember Mauritania has a new currency. 

The current Ouguiya was introduced in 2018, replacing the old Ouguiya at a rate of 1 new Ouguiya = 10 old Ouguiya.  Basically this means one ‘zero’ was removed on the new currency.  

Many (most) Mauritanians still quote prices and currency in old Ouguiya which can be confusing.

For example if they say 3700 they may actually mean ‘370 MRU’. Or, as the money exchanger quoted us at the border 35 MRU in fact meant 3.5 MRU.

It pays to check and type in the number on your phone calculator first to confirm you both mean the same thing.

At the time of writing, the official exchange rate offered on XE is given as:

• 1 EUR = 38.55 MRU 
• 1 MAD = 3.5 MRU

ATMs in Nouadhibou

There are ATM’s in Nouadhibou and exchange offices in Mauritania at the main tourist points.

However, the next question is whether they actually work (with your international credit card – or just in general).

We found two ATM’s in Nouadhibou that worked with our international bank card (and saw one extra that had worked for us in Morocco as well): 

• Orabank
• Societe Generale 
• Attijari Bank (the same as in Morocco)

The Societe Generale ATM is the most popular (and reliable) for travellers to Mauritania. Look out for the black and red logo of the bank.  

Budget for Mauritania

Street food and local stores offer low-cost and very basic supplies. However, on the whole, Mauritania is not a particularly cheap place to shop in the supermarket.

There is one expat-style supermarket (small) in Nouadhibou where some international brands are available although prices are not cheap.

As an example, here are some costs we found in Nouahibou.

• Water (1L): 10 MRU
• Soda (Hawaii 1L): 40 MRU 
• Coffee (at local kiosk): 40 MRU
• Coffee (at café): 80 MRU
• Sandwich (fast food): 80 MRU
• Lunch (at restaurant): 300 MRU 
• Street food donuts: 20 MRU
• Bread: 25 MRU
• Pasta sauce (jar): 200 MRU
• Cereal (flakes): 300 MRU
• Meal at auberges: 200 – 300 MRU
• Bus ticket to Nouachkott: 800 MRU
• Charcoal (bag): 5 MRU

Expat restaurant in Nouadhibou

Whether you have arrived in Nouadhbiou by bus from Nouakchott or by van over the border from Morocco; we reckon you need 24 hours to adjust and find your feet in this busy city.

If what you are looking for to escape the bustle of the marketplace and hustlers on the street is a somewhat familiar and pretty standard café the place to go is the Galloufa Restaurante.

This is a local restaurant off the main road to the airport (with plenty of parking for a van or motorhome) and is filled with mostly expats. 

They have a large menu with pizza, pasta, burgers and other fast food plus great coffee and a cold drink.  

Hotels in Nouadhibou

With our motorhome we stayed at Villa Maguela just outside of Nouadhibou which we can highly recommend.

Villa Maguella has parking for a vehicle (campervan or overlander) for 10 EUR per night or simple private rooms for 15 EUR per night.

Other hotels in Nouadhibou include: 

• Valencia Hotel
• Sahel Hotel

Visiting Nouadhibou 

Although first impressions of Nouadhibou can take some time to process (we recommend allow 24 hours) we enjoyed our time in the second largest city of Mauritania.

And truthfully, we are already planning how and when we can return and explore more of Mauritania!

Nouadhibou and beyond – travel resources we use.

These are our favourite companies we use in our travels.

They consistently have the best deals, offer great value and we have found they always manage to offer better deals than their competitors.

These are the companies we use while traveling fulltime as a family and that we would recommend to anyone planning and booking travel.

• Booking.com – The best all-around accommodation booking site that constantly provides the cheapest and lowest rates. They have the widest selection of budget accommodation and it’s easy to filter and sort into price and availability with all the extras you are looking for personally. (We love their flexible cancellation policy!).
• Skyscanner– This is by far our favourite flight search engine. They are able to search small websites and budget airlines that larger search sites often miss. We book all our flights through Skyscanner.  
• GetYourGuide– Get Your Guide is a huge online marketplace for tours and excursions offered all around the world including everything from walking tours, to street-food tours, cooking classes, desert safari’s and more!
• SafetyWing – A global travel insurance that covers people from all over the world while outside their home country. You can buy it short or longterm; and even if you are out of the country. 
• World Nomads – Travel insurance tailored for longterm travel and nomads (including those who have already left home).