Despite being the capital of Benin, Porto Novo has a quiet pace of life and its streets are calm. The tree-lined avenues, its beautiful colonial architecture and its interesting museums, make it an ideal destination a few kilometers from Cotonou.

Porto Novo is located on the shores of Lake Noukoué, 15 km from the Nigerian border and 30 km from Cotonou, and since the time of French colonization it was the official capital of Benin. It was the Portuguese who gave the city its name, in honor of the city of Porto in the motherland, when in the 16th century they founded a slave trade center here.