Attractions
If you have your own vehicle, Kindia is a good one-day excursion from Conakry. Otherwise it is better to limit it to a stopover in public transport. There is an indigo dyeing centre and a cloth market. Kindia is also a pocket of strip cloth weavers and you can visit their workshop behind the old railway station.
La Voile de la Mariée or The Bridal Falls is the main attraction at Kindia, 14km (8.6mi) outside of town. However it is worth visiting only during the rainy season, when the flowing water resembles a bridal veil. Meals are available for around US$5 at a small restaurant nearby and you can as well rent a bungalow there.
Faranah is only 150km (93mi) from the source of the Niger River. The town
comes alive at nights with several cafes and restaurants serving drinks and cheap meals. It has wide boulevards, a conference centre, a large mosque and an impressive private villa now used as a hotel.
This plateau is in the heartland of Guinea's Fula population, an area of beautiful green hills and 1000m (3280ft) peaks. It is far cooler than the lowlands and is one of the best places for hiking in West Africa. In the colonial days, hot and bothered French and other Europeans would come here for the therapeutic 1000m (3280ft) altitude, and put their feet up and sip cool drinks at the Centre d'Accueil on the town outskirts.
The town of Mamou is small and lively, with an open-air cinema and good street food.
Dalaba is on the main route from Mamou and is an excellent base for day hikes into the surrounding country.
Guéckédou is a major smuggling centre. Traders from Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire and Mali gather here for the Wednesday market, which is enormous You can buy virtually anything there and exchange several types of currency.
The town itself is not much to speak of, but has several reasonable hotels.
