Things to do
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Alte Feste
Colonial troops put up the white walled fort in 1890, which makes it the oldest surviving building in the city. It served for years as the national museum before the collection moved. The courtyard and the walls are the draw, and the equestrian statue that stood outside was removed to the grounds in 2013.
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Christuskirche
Sandstone quarried nearby went into this Lutheran church, consecrated in 1910 and standing on a traffic island at the top of the main avenue. The design mixes neo-Romanesque with art nouveau. Its stained glass was a gift from the German emperor, and the building has become the image the city uses of itself.
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Daan Viljoen Game Reserve
Rolling hills of the Khomas Hochland west of the city hold giraffe, eland, kudu and mountain zebra, and because no large predators live there the trails can be walked unaccompanied. Three marked routes climb the ridges. It is close enough to reach in half an hour from the centre.
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Heroes' Acre
An obelisk and a bronze of an unknown soldier stand on a hillside south of the city, inaugurated in 2002 and built by the same North Korean studio as the museum. Marble graves step down the slope below. The scale is deliberate and the view back over the Auas mountains is the reason to climb the steps.
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Independence Memorial Museum
A gold and glass tower built by a North Korean studio opened in 2014 beside the old fort, telling the story of resistance, the liberation war and independence across three floors. A lift runs to a restaurant at the top with the best overview of the city. The displays are frank about the genocide.
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Katutura
Forced removals from the Old Location in the late 1950s created this township, and its name in Otjiherero carries the sense of a place with no permanent home. Protest against the move was met with shooting. Guided walks run by residents take in the markets, the informal restaurants and the shebeens.
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National Museum of Namibia
Natural history and ethnography are split across the museum's buildings, with the Owela centre carrying the displays on the country's peoples, its rock art and its wildlife. The collections are the national reference ones and the labelling is thorough. It works best as an hour before driving out of the city.
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Tintenpalast
The ink palace, named for the quantity of it the colonial administration was thought to consume, was finished in 1913 and houses parliament today. Gardens with old olives and jacarandas run down the slope in front. Tours of the chamber are arranged in advance and the gardens are open to walk through.