Two to three days covers the highlights. Walk downtown along Broad Street, browse Waterside Market, see Providence Island where the first settlers landed, and look at the old Ducor Hotel on the hill. Leave time for a beach afternoon and a long lunch of palm butter and rice.

It is often described that way. Monrovia averages around 4,600 mm of rain a year, far more than most capitals, with the heaviest rain falling between May and October. Even the drier months from November to April can bring short showers, though they are usually brief.

The city was renamed in 1824 to honor James Monroe, the U.S. president who backed the American Colonization Society that founded the settlement in 1822. Before that it was called Christopolis. Together with Washington, D.C., it is one of two world capitals named after an American president.