Port-au-Prince
A mountain-ringed Caribbean capital with extraordinary art, and a city living through a hard chapter
Browse Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince sits in a bowl of mountains above a wide bay, and it has given the world more art per square mile than almost any city its size. What functions today is concentrated in Pétion-Ville and the hillside districts above it, where restaurants, galleries, konpa nights and a book fair have all carried on. Downtown, the Iron Market and the Grand Rue sculptors’ yard are gone, and the Hotel Oloffson burned in 2025. We have kept pages for those places rather than delete them, because they are part of the record. Filter by category below — anything marked permanently closed is labelled as such.
Port-au-Prince at a glance
- Where life is: Pétion-Ville and the hillside districts above it
- Getting in: no scheduled service to Port-au-Prince; Cap-Haïtien is the working air hub
- Highlights: MUPANAH, the Pétion-Ville galleries, konpa nights, the December artisan fair
- Getting around: a known driver, arranged in advance, not taxis or walking between districts
- Best time: December for Artisanat en Fête, February for Jacmel's carnival
- Check before you go: your own government's current advice, and the road that morning
Where to stay in Port-au-Prince
Almost everything still operating is in Pétion-Ville. Compare live prices on the map — and confirm directly with the hotel, because online inventory for Haiti goes stale quickly. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Before you go
Things we recommend sorting before any trip. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Staying in Pétion-Ville
Compare what is bookable, then confirm directly with the hotel before you travel.
Find hotels in Pétion-VillePort-au-Prince travel FAQ
Can you travel to Port-au-Prince right now?
Most governments advise against it. The United States has Haiti at its highest advisory level and the United Kingdom advises against all travel. People do still travel — Haitians returning home, family visitors, people working with Haitian organisations — but it is not leisure travel, and it is arranged rather than improvised.
Are there flights to Port-au-Prince?
Not reliably. Service to Toussaint Louverture has started and stopped repeatedly since 2024 and is currently suspended, and US carriers are barred from the airport. Cap-Haïtien in the north is the functioning air hub, with flights to Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Boston and Newark.
What is actually still open?
More than the international coverage suggests, and nearly all of it in Pétion-Ville: hotels with working restaurants and convention halls, a real dining scene, konpa nights with tickets sold online, art galleries, the national museum on Champ de Mars, and cultural centres programming concerts month by month.
What has closed?
The Hotel Oloffson burned in July 2025. The Marriott closed in April 2025. The Iron Market is derelict, the Grand Rue sculptors' yard abandoned, and the metal-working village at Noailles was burned and its artisans displaced. Fort Jacques and the Kenscoff heights are not reachable. We keep pages for all of them, marked closed.
How do you get around?
With a driver you or your hosts know, arranged in advance, checking the route each morning. Helicopter charter has become the working way to reach Cap-Haïtien and the south, and Agence Citadelle on Place Saint-Pierre has been arranging Haitian travel since 1946.
How can you support Haitian makers from abroad?
Buy from them. Deux Mains, the Comité Artisanal Haïtien, Papillon and the Pétion-Ville galleries all sell internationally, and the December artisan fair puts around two hundred makers in one place. The metalworkers of Noailles lost their village but not their craft.