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Accra, Ghana, top 10 things to do (Wimup travel guide)
▶ Video · Best of Accra
Video guide · 2:50:08
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Top 10AfricaGhana

Top 10 Things To Do in Accra

Country
Ghana
Best months
Nov · Dec · Jan
Population
284K
Language
English
Budget / day
$60–120
Quick answer

The best things to do in Accra are the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, the fishing harbour and lighthouse at Jamestown, Makola Market, the National Museum and Black Star Square, with an afternoon at Labadi Beach to close it. Three days is right. Use a driver or a ride-hailing app rather than fighting the traffic, and keep evenings for Osu.

Best of Accra

▶ Video guide Open the film page (2:50:08) →

Accra is a Ga fishing town that became the capital of the Gold Coast in 1877 and then of the first sub-Saharan country to shake off colonial rule, in 1957. Both layers are still legible: Jamestown runs on canoes and boxing gyms, while the ceremonial city north of it was built to state a case.

The 10 best things to do in Accra

Stand under the upturned sword at the Nkrumah mausoleum, Accra, Ghana
1

Stand under the upturned sword at the Nkrumah mausoleum

Landmark· Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, Prof. Atta Mills High Street, Accra

Nkrumah declared Ghana independent on this ground in 1957, when it was still the colonial polo field Africans were barred from. His tomb sits under a mausoleum shaped like an upturned sword. The museum beside it holds the statue a crowd beheaded after the 1966 coup, re-erected with the damage visible.

Time1 to 2 hr
CostPaid entry, ticket at the gate
Best atEarly morning, before the heat
TipThe museum is the better half, so leave time for it
Map↗ Website
Walk Jamestown from the lighthouse to the fishing harbour, Accra, Ghana
2

Walk Jamestown from the lighthouse to the fishing harbour

Neighborhood· Jamestown (Ga Mashie), High Street, Accra

Ga Mashie is the oldest quarter and the least like the rest of the city. The lighthouse gives you the coastline, and below it the beach is a working harbour: hundreds of painted canoes, nets being mended, smoke from the fish ovens. Bukom, the block inland, has produced more world champions than anywhere in Africa.

Time2 to 3 hr
CostFree to walk
Best atEarly morning when the boats land
TipAsk before photographing anyone at the harbour
Map
Makola Market, Accra, Ghana (Wimup)
3

Get lost in Makola

Market· Makola Market, Kojo Thompson Road, Central Accra

Built in 1924 and the commercial engine of the city ever since, run largely by women traders whose influence over prices has made them a political force. There is no plan to it, no map and no quiet corner. Come with small notes, and accept that you will buy something you did not intend to.

Time1 to 2 hr
CostFree
Best atMid-morning
TipAgree a price before anything is wrapped
Map
4

Read the country in one building at the National Museum

Museum· National Museum of Ghana, 2 Barnes Road, Adabraka, Accra

Opened on the eve of independence in 1957, this was the new country introducing itself. Its three galleries still run in the order they were designed. The Asante goldweights are what to slow down for: brass figures cast to weigh gold dust, each one a proverb. The domed 1950s rotunda is worth a look too.

Time1 to 2 hr
CostPaid entry, ticket at the desk
Best atWeekday mornings
TipThe goldweight cases reward a slow second pass
Map↗ Website
Cross Black Star Square and the Independence Arch, Accra, Ghana
5

Cross Black Star Square and the Independence Arch

Landmark· Black Star Square, Independence Avenue, Osu, Accra

Built in 1961 for a state visit, and the country's parade ground ever since. The gate carries the five-pointed star Marcus Garvey put on his Black Star Line and Ghana then put on its flag. Empty on a weekday it is enormous and almost silent, with the surf audible from the far end.

Time45 min
CostFree
Best atLate afternoon
TipWalk through to the seafront on the south side
Map
Take a Sunday at Labadi Beach, Accra, Ghana
6

Take a Sunday at Labadi Beach

Beach· La Pleasure Beach (Labadi Beach), Accra-Tema Beach Road, La, Accra

The busiest stretch of sand in Ghana, and a social occasion rather than a swim: drumming circles, horse riders working the tideline, competing sound systems, and stalls selling grilled tilapia. The Atlantic here has a serious undertow, so most people wade, and the point is the crowd anyway.

TimeHalf a day
CostEntrance fee at the gate
Best atSunday afternoon
TipThe undertow is real, so stay where you can stand
Map
Buy the craft at the Arts Centre for National Culture, Accra, Ghana
7

Buy the craft at the Arts Centre for National Culture

Market· Centre for National Culture, 28th February Road, Accra

A sprawl of stalls and workshops where most of the country's craft ends up in one place: kente by the strip, adinkra, glass beads, brass casting, carved stools. Some of it is made in the yard behind. It is also the hardest sell in Accra, so decide what you want before you arrive.

Time1 hr
CostFree to enter
Best atWeekday late morning
TipWalk the whole yard once before buying anything
Map
Cross the canopy walkway at Legon Botanical Gardens, Accra, Ghana
8

Cross the canopy walkway at Legon Botanical Gardens

Park· Legon Botanical Gardens, Off Haatso Main Road, Agbogba Junction, Accra

The easiest green space to reach in the city: mature trees, lawns big enough to lose a crowd on, a lake, and a canopy walkway suspended thirteen metres up. A climbing wall, kayaks and a large playground make this the one entry that works with children. Weekday mornings are close to empty.

Time2 to 3 hr
CostPaid entry
Best atWeekday mornings
TipMondays and Tuesdays are the quietest days here
Map↗ Website
9

Pay respects at the Du Bois Memorial Centre

Museum· W.E.B. Du Bois Memorial Centre for Pan-African Culture, 22 First Circular Road, Cantonments, Accra

W.E.B. Du Bois moved to Ghana in 1961 at Nkrumah's invitation, took citizenship, and died in this house in 1963 on the eve of the March on Washington. It holds his library and a research collection on Pan-Africanism, and remains the anchor point for diaspora visitors retracing that story.

Time1 hr
CostPaid entry
Best atWeekday mornings
TipConfirm access first, the site is under redevelopment
Map↗ Website
Eat and drink your way down Oxford Street in Osu, Accra, Ghana
10

Eat and drink your way down Oxford Street in Osu

Neighborhood· Oxford Street (Cantonments Road), Osu, Accra

A Danish trading post, then the seat of colonial government, and now the strip everyone converges on after dark: chop bars, Ivorian and Ghanaian kitchens, barbers, and bars with live bands midweek. Come after eight, walk the length of it once, then pick a courtyard and stay.

TimeAn evening
CostFree to walk
Best atAfter 8pm, Wednesday to Sunday
TipWednesday nights are when the live bands play
Map

6 of the 10, mapped

Accra · 6 spots
AllLandmarksMuseumsFoodFree

Accra travel FAQ

How many days do you need in Accra?+
Three to four. One day covers the independence-era core, the Nkrumah memorial, Black Star Square and the National Museum. A second takes Jamestown, Makola and the Arts Centre at a pace that lets you stop. A third buys galleries, Legon and a beach, and a fourth makes Cape Coast and Elmina possible without rushing the castles.
When is the best time to visit Accra?+
November to March, the dry season. December and January are the driest and busiest, with the diaspora December crowd pushing flight and hotel prices up sharply over the holidays. The main rains run April to June, with a second wetter spell in September and October. Temperatures barely move all year, sitting close to 30C by day.
Is Accra safe for visitors?+
Accra is one of the more relaxed capitals in West Africa and violent crime against visitors is uncommon, but opportunistic theft is not. Keep phones out of sight in Makola and Kantamanto, use ride-hailing apps after dark rather than street taxis, and agree prices before any service. The main practical risk is the traffic, not crime.
Do I need a visa to visit Ghana?+
Most visitors do. Ghana moved to a mandatory electronic visa in 2026 and discontinued visa on arrival, so the application is made online before you travel. ECOWAS nationals enter without one. A yellow fever certificate is required and is checked. Confirm the current rules for your nationality before booking.
How do you get around Accra?+
Ride-hailing apps are the default for visitors: cheap, metered by the app, and available across the city. Trotros, the shared minibuses, cost a fraction of that but take local knowledge. There is no metro. Traffic is heavy from around 7am and again from 4pm, so plan around it rather than through it.
Markets

Best markets in Accra

Five trading floors, from the secondhand clothing capital of the world to a night market that never shuts.
Central Accra

Kantamanto Market

Secondhand clothing

The largest secondhand clothing market in Ghana, with more than 30,000 traders. Around 15 million garments arrive weekly from the global north to be sorted and restyled.

Map
Osu

Osu Night Market

Street food, open late

A food market that has been running for well over a century and whose food section stays open around the clock. Walk in: parking is close to impossible.

Map
Kaneshie MarketKaneshie

Kaneshie Market

Wax print and produce

A multi-storey market on the road west, best known for its fabric floor: wax print by the piece, plus kente. The ground level runs produce and seafood.

Map
Madina

Madina Market

Neighbourhood market

The big neighbourhood market of the northern suburbs, less visited and correspondingly cheaper. A good place to see how the city actually shops.

Map
Agbogbloshie (Konkomba Yam Market)Agbogbloshie

Agbogbloshie (Konkomba Yam Market)

Wholesale produce

The wholesale yam market on the Odaw river, where truckloads arrive overnight and are auctioned before dawn. Come early and do not photograph without asking.

Map
Restaurants

Best restaurants in Accra

Eight kitchens, from an Osu chop bar to the best sushi in West Africa.
Osu

Buka

West African

The West African restaurant most visitors are sent to first, and it earns it: jollof, banku with tilapia and groundnut soup on an open terrace.

Map
Osu

Chez Clarisse (Mama Africa)

Ivorian, cash only

An Ivorian chop bar off 8th Lane. Grilled tilapia, attieke and kelewele cooked over coals in the yard. Cash, no ceremony, and some of the best value here.

Map
Osu

Asanka Local

Ghanaian

A Ghanaian kitchen in Osu built around the earthenware bowl it is named for: fufu with light soup, banku with okro stew, at neighbourhood prices.

Map
Roman Ridge

Azmera

Ghanaian buffet

A Ghanaian buffet in Roman Ridge, and the efficient way to try a dozen regional dishes in one sitting, replenished through the service.

Map
Airport Residential

Santoku

Japanese

Japanese cooking at Villaggio Vista, and the reference sushi counter in Accra. Sashimi, robata and a long sake list, with prices to match. Book for weekend evenings.

Map
Airport City

Coco Lounge

Brasserie

A brasserie and cocktail room in Airport City that runs from breakfast to late drinks. The most reliable business lunch in the city.

Map
Labone

Bistro 22

Continental

A quiet upscale room in Labone doing grilled seafood, steak and lamb. The choice when the evening calls for a conversation rather than a sound system.

Map
Airport Residential

La Chaumière

French

French and Mediterranean cooking in Airport Residential, open since 1992 and still the formal option in Accra. A menu that has not chased trends.

Map
Beaches

Best beaches in Accra

Five stretches of Atlantic, from a lagoon crossed by canoe to the drumming beach at Kokrobite.
Bortianor

Bojo Beach

Canoe crossing

A sandbar between the ocean and a lagoon, reached by a short canoe crossing included in the entry fee. Cleaner sand and far fewer people than Labadi.

Map
Kokrobite BeachKokrobite

Kokrobite Beach

Drumming and dance

Thirty kilometres west, and the beach with a music scene attached: the academy founded by master drummer Mustapha Tettey Addy sits behind it.

Map
La

Laboma Beach

Beach clubs

A managed beach on the La to Teshie road with beach clubs, horse riding and a sound system. Entry is charged at the gate.

Map
Nungua

Coco Beach

Weekend bars

The Nungua beach out toward Tema, backed by bars and small resorts and popular for weekend parties rather than swimming.

Map
Sakumono BeachSakumono

Sakumono Beach

Quiet and undeveloped

A long undeveloped strand between Accra and Tema, with a Ramsar-listed lagoon behind it. Little infrastructure, which is why people come.

Map
Museums & galleries

Best museums and galleries in Accra

Six rooms, including the gallery that has been showing Ghanaian art since 1969.
Artists Alliance GalleryLa

Artists Alliance Gallery

Since 1993

Three floors of Ghanaian art on the beach road, founded in 1993 by the painter Ablade Glover. The single best survey of Ghanaian art in the city.

Map
Ridge

Gallery 1957

Contemporary West African

Named for the year of independence, and the commercial gallery that put contemporary West African artists in front of an international market.

Map↗ Website
East Legon

Nubuke Foundation

Non-profit, since 2006

A non-profit arts space in East Legon: exhibitions, an archive of Ghanaian art and design, residencies and a printmaking studio. Quieter than the galleries.

Map↗ Website
The LoomAdabraka

The Loom

Ghana's first private gallery

The first privately owned gallery in Ghana, opened in 1969 and still trading. Small, dense, and hung with the artists who defined Ghanaian modernism.

Map
Osu

ANO Institute of Arts and Knowledge

Research and exhibitions

A research-led arts institution known for its mobile museums project and for exhibitions that treat Ghanaian history as material rather than backdrop.

Map
Museum of Science and TechnologyRidge

Museum of Science and Technology

State museum

A 1960s state museum whose displays on Ghanaian invention are frozen in the decade that built them, which is much of the appeal.

Map
Bars & live music

Best bars and live music in Accra

Six rooms for a night out, with the caveat that the good bands play midweek.
North Ridge

+233 Jazz Bar & Grill

Live jazz and highlife

The jazz room in North Ridge, and the most reliable live music in the city: afro-jazz, highlife and blues from young Ghanaian bands.

Map
Osu

Republic Bar & Grill

Live music Wednesdays

The small Osu bar that became an institution, known for its Wednesday live sets and for putting alternative Ghanaian bands on before anyone else.

Map
Osu

Bloom Bar

Bands then DJs

The Osu courtyard that draws the younger creative crowd, with live bands early and DJs after. A queue by midnight at weekends.

Map
Osu

Front/Back

Bar and yard

A two-part bar off First Osu Lane, quiet street-side room at the front and a louder yard behind. Good for starting an evening in Osu before the queues form elsewhere.

Map
Airport Residential

Alliance Française d'Accra

Concerts and screenings

The French cultural centre runs a genuine concert programme, with Ghanaian and West African acts on its outdoor stage. The least improvised night out here.

Map
La

Sandbox Beach Club

Beach club

The beach club on the Labadi sand, with day beds by afternoon and a sound system by night. Sunday is the day it is built for.

Map
Neighborhoods

Best neighborhoods in Accra

Six quarters worth walking, from the embassy grid to the market district that never sleeps.
Labone

Labone

Restaurants and coffee

A low-rise residential grid east of Osu that has quietly become the city's dining quarter, with almost none of the traffic that defines everywhere else.

Map
Cantonments

Cantonments

Embassy district

Embassies, jacaranda-lined streets and the diplomatic quarter, with the Du Bois Centre inside it. The most consistently green part of central Accra.

Map
East Legon

East Legon

New Accra

The new-money suburb north of the centre, full of large houses and the restaurants that follow them. Much of the afrobeats industry is here.

Map
Airport Residential

Airport Residential

Hotels and business

The hotel and business district beside the airport, and where most short visits are actually based. Ten minutes from the terminal outside rush hour.

Map
AdabrakaAdabraka

Adabraka

Mid-century Accra

An older inner quarter of 1950s and 60s buildings, with The Loom, chop bars and a street grid that predates the car. An hour on foot.

Map
Nima

Nima

Street food

The dense, largely Muslim quarter settled from northern Ghana and the Sahel, and the best street food in the city: suya, waakye at dawn and koose.

Map
Day trips

Best day trips in Accra

Six runs out of the city, from a botanical garden in the hills to the castles on the Cape Coast.
Aburi

Aburi Botanical Gardens

40 min drive

Colonial-era gardens laid out in 1890 on the Akuapem ridge, forty minutes north and several degrees cooler than the coast. Avenues of royal palms.

Map
Shai Hills Resource ReserveShai Hills

Shai Hills Resource Reserve

50 km east

A savannah reserve fifty kilometres east, with baboons, kob, zebra and the caves the Shai people occupied before their eviction in 1892.

Map
Ada Foah and the Volta estuaryAda Foah

Ada Foah and the Volta estuary

2 hr east

Two hours east, where the Volta meets the Atlantic in a maze of sandbars and palm islands. Turtle nesting between November and March.

Map
Cape Coast and Elmina castlesCape Coast

Cape Coast and Elmina castles

145 km west

The most consequential day trip in Ghana. Elmina was built by the Portuguese in 1482 and Cape Coast became the British headquarters. Both are UNESCO sites.

Map↗ Website
Akosombo and the VoltaAkosombo

Akosombo and the Volta

90 min northeast

The dam that created the largest reservoir by surface area in the world. Lake cruises run from the hotels, and the Volta gorge is worth the drive.

Map
Boti FallsBoti

Boti Falls

90 min north

A twin waterfall in the Eastern Region about ninety minutes out, down a long stair through forest. Strongest in the June to September rains.

Map
What's on

Festivals & annual events in Accra (2026)

Time your trip around the city's biggest dates.
Mar

Independence Day

Ghana declared independence on 6 March 1957, and the anniversary fills Black Star Square with a national parade.

May

Telecel Ghana Music Awards

The country's main music awards, at the Accra International Conference Centre.

Aug

Emancipation Day

Ghana added 1 August to its calendar in 1998 to mark the abolition of slavery.

Aug

Chale Wote Street Art Festival

A week of street art, performance and sound that takes over Jamestown every August, closing High Street.

Aug · Sep

Homowo

The Ga harvest festival, whose name means hooting at hunger. Each Ga town sets its own date, so they celebrate on different days.

Sep

Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day

A public holiday on 21 September, Nkrumah's birthday, with wreath-laying at the memorial park.

Dec

Farmers' Day

A public holiday on the first Friday of December honouring farmers and fishers, with a national awards ceremony.

Dec

AfroFuture

The two-day music festival held in the last week of December and the centre of gravity of Ghana's diaspora December.

Getting around

Accra transport & airports

How to arrive and move around the city.
ACC

Accra International Airport

About ten kilometres north of the centre, with Terminal 3 handling international flights. Use a ride-hailing app or a hotel transfer rather than the touts at arrivals, and allow an hour in rush hour.

Map↗ Website
Shared minibus

Trotro

The shared minibuses that carry most of the city: no timetable, no map, and destinations called by a mate hanging out of the door. Fares are a few cedis in cash. There is no metro or commuter rail.

Map
Bolt, Uber, Yango

Taxis and ride-hailing

Apps work well and are how most visitors get around, with fares metered by the app. Street taxis are unmetered, so agree the fare first. For a full day, a car with a driver often costs less.

Map
STC, VIP, OA

Intercity coaches

Long-distance coaches leave the terminals around Nkrumah Circle and Kaneshie for Cape Coast, Kumasi and Tamale. Book the morning departure if you want the castles in a day.

Map
Traditional food

Must-try dishes in Accra, Ghana

The classics to order before you leave.
Jollof rice, Accra (Wimup travel guide)

Jollof rice

Rice cooked down in a tomato, onion and pepper base until it takes the colour of it.

Waakye, Accra (Wimup travel guide)

Waakye

Rice and beans cooked with dried sorghum leaves, which turn it deep red-brown.

Banku with grilled tilapia, Accra (Wimup travel guide)

Banku with grilled tilapia

Fermented corn and cassava cooked to a smooth sour paste, with a whole tilapia off the coals.

Ga kenkey

Fermented corn dough steamed in maize husks, sour and dense. With fried fish and shito.

Kelewele

Ripe plantain cubed and fried with ginger and chilli until the edges caramelise.

Red red

Black-eyed peas stewed with palm oil and pepper, with fried plantain, and named for the colour of both halves.

Fufu with light soup

Cassava and plantain pounded to an elastic ball, dropped into a thin pepper broth with goat or fish.

Chichinga

Skewered beef rubbed in a dry mix of groundnut, ginger and chilli, grilled over charcoal.

Accra fact sheet

Accra at a glance

The essentials worth knowing before you go.
Country
Ghana
Region
Greater Accra Region
Population
284,124 in the Accra Metropolitan District, 5,455,692 across Greater Accra (2021 census)
Founded
Ga settlement from the 16th century, capital of the Gold Coast from 1877
Nickname
Nkran, the Akan word for ants, which gave the city its name
Language
English is official, with Ga and Twi in daily use
Currency
Ghanaian cedi (GHS)
Time zone
UTC+0, no daylight saving
Calling code
+233 302
Airports
Accra International (ACC), renamed from Kotoka in February 2026
Power
230V, types D and G
Emergency
112 for all services, 191 police, 192 fire, 193 ambulance
Ideal length
3 to 4 days
Getting around
Ride-hailing apps, trotro for the confident
Tourism board
Official site

Interesting facts

  • Accra takes its name from nkran, the Akan word for the soldier ants once common on the plain. The Ga call its old core Ga Mashie.
  • The black star on Ghana's flag comes from Marcus Garvey's Black Star Line, founded in 1919 to link the African diaspora.
  • The Greenwich meridian crosses Ghana just east of the city, so Accra keeps GMT with no daylight saving and never adjusts its clocks.
  • In February 2026 the airport reverted to its original name, Accra International Airport, after more than fifty years. The code stayed ACC.
  • Homowo, the Ga festival, translates as hooting at hunger: a deliberate mockery of a famine the Ga survived by planting through it.

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