Kpalimé is the gateway to 'green Togo'. Two or three hours from Lomé, this town in the Plateaux Region spreads out among hills covered in coffee and cocoa plantations, with cooler, more humid air than the coast. It's the perfect base for discovering the country's mountainous, agricultural side: waterfalls hidden in the forest, trails with views towards Ghana, forests full of butterflies and rural villages with great hospitality.
The surrounding area holds some of Togo's most beautiful landscapes: the Womé and Kpimé waterfalls, Mount Kloto with its reputation as a butterfly paradise and the Château Viale, Mount Agou —the roof of the country— and countless plantations where you can learn how coffee and cocoa are grown. Kpalimé is also the capital of Togolese crafts, famous for its batiks, dyed fabrics and woodcarvings.
This guide covers Kpalimé from a practical angle: how to get there and get around, the waterfalls and mountains nearby, hikes with local guides, visits to plantations and craft workshops, where to sleep and eat, and how to plan several days of nature and culture. If Lomé and the coast are the Togo of the sea and voodoo, Kpalimé is the Togo of green mountains, coffee and butterflies.
Kpalimé grew as the trading and farming centre of the fertile mountainous region of the south-west, home to Ewe communities. Under German and then French colonial rule, the area became key for its coffee and cocoa plantations, and the Germans built a railway line all the way here to carry the produce to the port. The town still has some buildings from that era and a strong craft tradition. Sitting almost on the Ghana border, it has always been a crossroads between the Togolese coast and the highlands. The full story is told on our history page.
Read the full history ↓Green Togo of coffee and cocoa plantations and waterfalls: wooded hills that were home to Notsé, the Ewe cradle, and where the Germans built the Kamina radio station near Atakpamé.
Read the history of Plateaux Region →They depart from Magné, 145 km away. If you book from this link we earn a commission and you pay no more.
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Origins, formation and what the sources say.
The Kpalimé region, in south-western Togo, is part of the highlands that stretch east into Ghana, a landscape of hills and plateaus covered in rainforest that contrasts with the coastal plains. These mountains, much cooler and rainier than the coast, were settled mainly by Ewe communities, the largest group in southern Togo, alongside other peoples of the area.
The fertility of the plateau, with its rich soils and humid climate, made this region farming country par excellence. Before the Europeans arrived, the hill villages lived from farming, hunting and trade with the coast, making the most of the range of altitudes and microclimates to grow a wide variety of crops.
That farming vocation would shape Kpalimé's destiny. When the colonial powers took an interest in the area, it was not for its coast, which it lacks, but for the chance to turn its slopes into a vast orchard of cash crops, above all coffee and cocoa, which would become the heart of the Plateaux economy.
With the establishment of the German protectorate over Togoland in 1884, the Kpalimé region took on central economic importance. The Germans, determined to make Togo their 'model' colony, promoted the commercial cultivation of coffee, cocoa, cotton and palm oil, and the fertile slopes of the plateau proved ideal for coffee and cocoa. Kpalimé became a centre for collecting and trading that produce.
To carry the harvests to the port of Lomé, the Germans laid a railway line that ran as far as Kpalimé (opened in the early years of the 20th century). The railway tied the town into the colonial economy and sped up its growth, drawing in traders, officials and workers. The town still keeps part of its street layout and some buildings from that period.
After the First World War, when Togoland was divided between France and Britain, Kpalimé ended up on the French side, very close to the new border with the British Gold Coast (the future Ghana). The region remained the country's main coffee and cocoa centre, and its closeness to the border kept it a crossroads for travel and trade between the two territories.
Over the 20th century, Kpalimé developed a strong cultural identity tied to art and crafts. The town became famous for its batiks, its fabrics dyed with the 'tie-dye' technique and its wood carvings, quality craftsmanship recognised across the country. Art schools and workshops trained generations of artists and artisans, and today Kpalimé's studios are still a creative reference point in Togo.
At the same time, the area's natural riches (waterfalls, mountains, forests) grew in fame. Mount Kloto, with its extraordinary diversity of butterflies, drew naturalists and travellers; local figures became known as guides able to identify hundreds of species of butterflies, birds and plants. Château Viale, built in 1944 by the French lawyer Raymond Viale high up on Kloto and later turned into an official residence, added a historical curiosity in the middle of the wilderness.
In this way, Kpalimé built up its double profile: an agricultural and artistic capital on one side, and the gateway to Togolese ecotourism on the other. The Womé and Kpimé waterfalls, Mount Agou (the highest peak in the country) and the Kloto forests made the town the natural base for discovering 'green Togo'.
Today's Kpalimé is a town of around 100,000 people that combines its role as the farming and trading centre of the Plateaux with a growing focus on tourism. It is still the heart of the region's coffee and cocoa production, and its market reflects the abundance of the fertile plateau. Its craft tradition (batik, dyeing, carving) lives on in workshops and studios that attract visitors.
For travellers, Kpalimé is above all the base for mountainous, natural Togo. From here you can set off on hikes to the waterfalls, climbs up Mount Kloto and Mount Agou, visits to plantations and workshops, and trips through the plateau villages, all backed by a network of local guides who make ecotourism a source of income for the communities. The cool climate and green landscape are a complete contrast to the heat of the coast.
Lying almost on the border with Ghana, Kpalimé keeps its historic role as a crossroads between the Togolese coast, the interior and the highlands of Ghana's Volta region. A town of coffee and art, of waterfalls and butterflies, it sums up the greenest and most peaceful side of Togo, the perfect counterpoint to the bustle of Lomé and the voodoo world of the coast.
