Where to go
Cape Coast and Elmina
Two castles on the Atlantic, World Heritage sites, from which enslaved people were shipped to the Americas. The dungeons and the Door of No Return are confronting and essential; take the guided tour rather than wandering. Kakum National Park, with its rainforest canopy walkway, is half an hour away. Two days.
Kumasi and Ashanti
The heart of the Ashanti kingdom, whose court and institutions remain living rather than historical. The Manhyia Palace museum, the Kejetia market — among the largest in West Africa — and the kente weaving villages at Bonwire and Adanwomase. Three days.
Accra
The Kwame Nkrumah memorial, the Jamestown lighthouse and fishing harbour, Makola market, and an art and music scene that has become internationally visible. Labadi beach at the weekend. Three days.
The Volta region
Wli waterfall, the highest in West Africa, Mount Afadja, and Lake Volta — one of the largest artificial lakes in the world. Green, hilly and barely visited. Three days.
Mole National Park
In the north: elephants, antelope and baboons, with the unusual possibility of walking safaris. Combine with the Larabanga mosque, a Sudanese-style mud structure, and the mud-and-stick architecture of the region.
Busua and the west coast
Surf, quiet beaches and small guesthouses along the western shore, with Nzulezu — a village built on stilts over a lagoon — inland. The unhurried half of a Ghana trip.
Building the itinerary
- Three stops a week, no more. Every move costs half a day at minimum, often a whole one, and you see nothing of a place where you sleep one night.
- Alternate the pace. A dense city, then two quiet days: that is what makes travelling as a couple sustainable, especially if one of you lives there and works.
- Keep a buffer day before the flight home, in the departure city. Domestic transport delays are the leading cause of missed flights.
- Ask the person who lives there what they want to show you. Guidebook itineraries and the places that matter to them rarely overlap — and the second list is the better one.
Two reflexes that change a trip
Distances deceive. On a map two points look close; on the ground, road conditions, checkpoints and terrain double or triple the time. Plan fewer stops and more time at each.
Ask before photographing anyone, and never insist. Official buildings, soldiers, airports and bridges are best avoided almost everywhere — the most banal and most avoidable source of trouble.