Dassa-Zoumè

Dassa-Zoumè — the town of granite hills

Role	A market town in the Collines department, known for its granite inselbergs and the Marian shrine of Arigbo
Department	Collines
Population	Roughly 90,000–100,000 across the commune

Getting there

About 210 km from Cotonou (roughly 3–3.5 hours by road), on the main road north toward Parakou.

Don't miss

• The granite inselbergs overlooking the town, a striking landscape found almost nowhere else in southern Benin
• The Grotto of Arigbo (Notre-Dame d'Arigbo), a Marian shrine nestled among the rocks and a major pilgrimage site each January
• Panoramic viewpoints over the surrounding plain from the rock outcrops

Good to know

Dassa-Zoumè sits roughly at the midpoint between Cotonou and the northern gateways of Parakou and Natitingou, making it a natural stopover on longer road trips north — see our Parakou & Natitingou page.

For local businesses

A convenient waypoint city with growing demand for rest-stop lodging and dining tied to the annual Arigbo pilgrimage and through-traffic toward the North.