21 Day Tour of Ghana Route Plan

Here is a suggested route for an all-over tour around Ghana that would take about 21 days at an average pace. This allows you to cover some of the major highlights of Ghana. 

Accra—(Eastern Region) Akosombo—(Volta) Fume, Wli, Kpando—Ferry across Lake Volta to Afram Plains, Donkorkrom—Nkawkaw, Kumasi (Ashanti Region)—Nkoranza (Brong Ahafo)—Tamale (Northern)—Mole—Bolgatanga (Upper East Region)—Cape Coast (Central Region)—Green Turtle or Axim Beach (Western Region)—Nzulezo Stilt Village (Western Region)—back to Accra. 

Elmina, Central Region

1. From Accra, head north to Akosombo Bridge. Visit the bead makers at Agomanya market and hang out by the Volta river in Akosombo.

2. Head on to Fume, half way along the highway from Akosombo heading towards Hohoe. Stay at Mountain Paradise Lodge for a few nights and enjoy complete peace and quiet.

3. Head on to Wli via Hohoe from Fume. Wli is where Ghana’s largest waterfalls are located and one of most visitor’s favourite stops. You can climb to the upper falls which is on the border with Togo. In fact, there  is a border crossing at the end of the main road in Wli where you could cross to Togo if that’s your plan.

4. Take the adventurous route and cross Lake Volta from the eastern shore at Kpando, about twenty minutes from Hohoe, after you leave Wli.

5. Cross Lake Volta on a ferry to Agordeke and Donkorkrom in the centre of the Afram Plains. Stay over night.

6. Next day head towards Kumasi by crossing the south-west arm of Lake Volta at Ekye in a motorized canoe, and land at Adowso on the other side.

7. From Adowso, catch a trotro that will be waiting over the hills to Nkawkaw, a major stop between Accra and Kumasi, then travel on to Kumasi—about 2 hours from there.

8. Hang out in Kumasi for a few days.

9. Head on up to Techiman, about 3 hours away, and stay at Operation Hand in Hand in Nkoranza, a Dutch-run orphanage and gorgeous grounds in which to spend a day or two.

10. Or, go straight to Tamale, the capital of the northern region. To get to Mole National Park without your own vehicle it’s almost compulsory to go to Tamale first. From there you catch a Metro Mass Bus departing at 2 pm (though virtually never on time) to Mole and arrive late that night—it takes about 4 hours.

11. Hang out at Mole for a couple of days and watch the elephants splashing around and baby warthogs snorting away. (By the way, did anyone notice that Hogwarts (Wizards) is Warthogs switched?)

12. Return to Tamale the same way as arriving, but on a 4 am Metro Mass (you get the feeling the hotel doesn’t want you to warm your bed for too long).

13. From Tamale, take a trip to Bolgatanga, the capital of the Upper East Region, and visit the basket makers, smock makers, Sirigu Arts and Pottery, about 30 minutes out of town. You could also head up to Navrongo and Paga—crocodiles—easily for a day from Bolga.

14. If you really want to be adventurous, you could head to Wa from Bolga, but via Tamale, unfortunately, especially now as the rainy season has begun and the roads are worse than ever. However, hippos are notoriously hard to spot in the rainy season so it’s probably best heading to Wa when the rains finish, sometime from October onwards.

15. Scoot back down to Cape Coast from Bolga directly on the STC—takes about 18 hours (25 Cedis)—or from Tamale on the STC (22.50 Cedis). Hang out in Cape Coast or Elmina for a few days.

16. Head west from Cape Coast, stopping at any of the sites or beaches along the way like Green Turtle Resort, Axim Beach Hotel, and on to Nzulezo where the village on stilts is located in the Amansuri Wetlands, in Ghana’s far west bordering The Ivory Coast.

Nzulezo Stilt Village, Western Region

Let us know if you have any experience traveling these routes and what you’d suggest others to look out for.

Thanks for reading!

Ghana Currency Explained

If you're traveling in Ghana, this will help prevent serious nervous breakdown as you straddle the old and new Ghana Cedi divide still alive at street-side vendors and markets across Ghana.

One new Ghana Cedi is equivalent to ten thousand old Ghana Cedis. So, 1=10,000. And just as 100 cents makes one dollar, 100 pesewas makes one new Ghana Cedi.

However, prior to July 2007, pesewas were not in circulation. Any value less than 10,000 Cedis (1 new Ghana Cedi) was expressed in “thousands” of Cedis.

Today’s 10 pesewas was 1000 Ghana Cedis and 'thousand' is still quoted on the streets for items of this value, such as sachets of purified water sold in plastic bags. It is quite common to hear items still quoted as 'five thousand' instead of today’s 50 pesewas, or 'ten thousand' instead of today’s 1 new Ghana Cedi"

Image from Wikipedia.

Testimonials: Insider's Guide to Ghana

Here are some testimonials from readers of our Ghana travel guide: Insider's Guide to Ghana, in case you're wondering if it's any good or not.

Your guide has been a great help finding my way around the country so far. I love the little details that you write about, I recognise so much of it when I'm out and about! I have been recommending it to my friends here, and I have been hearing good things from them also. Really, I consider it a must-have if you really want to get to know Ghana in a fun and easy way!

Céline, the Netherlands Wed, Jun 2, 2010 

Preparing for my first visit to Ghana, I found the Insider's Guide very useful and I kept it with me during my visit. It helped me to have a wonderful time and since I came back I have recommended it to several friends. i hope to be returning to Ghana in November and will certainly be taking it with me.

Peter Halliday from the UK. Sat, May 29, 2010

A fresh and original guidebook that entertains as well as informs. The conversational style makes you feel that you're sitting down with Godwin and Gayle as a welcome guest in their home while they pass on all the travel tips and information you could possibly need. Their passion for Ghana and their enthusiasm for opening its vibrant and colourful culture to other travellers is infectious and they share inside knowledge which only someone who lives in a country can provide. Best of all the personal touch extends to free updates and an invitation to contact them with any questions or suggestions you might have. I'm sure I'm going to get a lot more out of my trip to Ghana as a result of reading it.

Catherine, Spain. Sat, May 29, 2010

I was thrilled to hear this guide was available and it has lived up to my expectations. It is current and relevant to my needs and interests. It covers everythign your average guide does, as well as including useful information such as the currency conversions and personal tips from the authors, recommending where to eat, visit, etc.Although the authors worked together, their ideas are listed separately and this helps me to see an idea from the Ghanaian point of view as well as from a visitor's.

It is the best guide book I have ever read and I will refer to it each and everytime I return to Ghana. Thank you Godwin and Gayle! 

Sarah from England Fri, May 28, 2010

Hi Godwin and Gayle,

We had a very good time with your guide. It helped

a lot with timely information while I was in Ghana

with Ghanian friends in Feb. and Mar. 2010. They

also found it useful.

Thanks again,

Don Majors USA Fri, May 28, 201 

The Amazing Race Ghana

 For those planning to travel to Ghana for the first time, you may like to check out clips from a recent episode of the Amazing Race when it hit Accra, the capital of Ghana. I've just had a chance to see the clips for the first time myself and can vouch that there is nothing unusual in the experiences that the contestants had in Ghana.

That is, this is the Ghana I know and that you will encounter when you arrive. Some Ghanaians are annoyed by a "dirty" representation of Accra but, frankly, that's how Accra is.But we all have to deal with it. As did the racers.

You'll see inside a real market and also check out the famous coffin makers. Of course, you don't need to visit these places when you come to Ghana but you'd be missing out. We do cover how you can visit the coffin makers and markets in our Ghana Guide.

Ghanaweb is hosting the clips here.

The photo of the coffins at Teshie is by Walt Jabsco. A little explanation on the coffins. They're mostly "patronised" by the Ga people of Greater Accra. I say Ga, but I'm sure someone will disagree with me. The deceased may have expressed a desire to be buried in a coffin that represented their occupation in life, but also their vices or hobbies. You will see coffins shaped as cigarettes, bottles of beer, Coca Cola, pens, rockets, lobsters, and the lovely cow you can see in the photo above. Personally, I'd like to be buried in an Egyptian mummy with a bellydance coin motif coffin as well as some Adinkra symbols, kente designs, mud cloth prints and ancient Japanese text. Surely that's not too much to ask?

Ghana From the Beginning

This is my story, from when I left home in 2005 to now, five years later, in Ghana. Here's an excerpt from when I resigned and some of the reactions from colleagues in the then oil industry that I used to work in. Read the whole story at To Journey in Africa. If you're about to head to Ghana, you may find solace in the fears of another fellow traveler before she had any idea what she was getting herself into!

Time came to bid farewell to oil industry associates across the country. ‘You’ll have lots of fun in Ghana, but you won’t make any difference,’ quipped the Director of a reputable multinational. ‘Africans are ‘too tribal’ to ever make peace and they’ll never develop.’

A young German intern who had volunteered for the UN in Zambia advised me to take a cotton sleeping bag rather than silk or synthetic, ‘So you can wash and iron it. You must iron everything you leave to dry outside. You know these flies? Oh, what are they called? These flies they lay eggs in the clothes which hatch in your skin when you wear the clothes. They make bubbles in your skin and the worms burst out. You won’t die, but it’s disgusting,’ she smiled over the photocopier. Germans took the cake for directness. My colleague had taken a silk bag which, if she washed, she could not iron. So, she chose to sleep for two months, dirty, but peacefully, in an egg-free sleeping bag.