Capital: Maputo
Maputo City
The capital: acacia-lined avenues, Art Deco façades, markets, live music and some of the best seafood on the Indian Ocean.
Maputo is Mozambique's capital and its cultural engine. Laid out along a wide bay, the city mixes Portuguese colonial architecture, bold modernist buildings and a street life that spills onto pavements and terraces. Mornings belong to the markets — the Mercado Central for fish and spices, FEIMA for crafts. Evenings belong to music: marrabenta, jazz and pandza drift out of bars along Avenida Julius Nyerere and around Baixa. The Iron House and the CFM railway station anchor a walkable downtown, and Costa do Sol closes the day with grilled prawns beside the water.