The first hour at Kotoka
Kotoka International Airport clears quickly unless three wide-body flights land together, when immigration can take 45 minutes. Keep your passport, visa printout and yellow fever certificate within reach rather than at the bottom of a bag, and write down the address where you are staying before you land.
The arrivals hall is where the first decisions get made. Men in orange vests will offer to carry your bags. They are not free porters, so agree a price before you hand anything over or carry your own. Drivers will approach you inside the hall, and some are not licensed. If nobody is meeting you, walk outside to the taxi rank or open Uber or Bolt and wait near the exit.
MTN, Telecel and AirtelTigo run SIM kiosks in arrivals. You need your passport to register a line and the queue can take 20 minutes. A tourist SIM with data usually comes in under GHS 100, but bundle prices change, so confirm at the counter. If the queue is long, take a taxi and buy a SIM in a mall the next morning.
- Yellow fever vaccination is a legal entry requirement. Carry the original card.
- Airport forex and ATMs are convenient but rarely the best rate. Change only what you need for day one.
- Keep any arrival slip or stamp. A hotel or an extension application may ask for it.
Money in cedis, and why small notes matter
Ghana runs on cash and mobile money, not cards. Hotels, malls and larger restaurants take Visa and Mastercard, sometimes with a surcharge and sometimes only when the network works. Market traders, tro-tro mates, chop bars and taxi drivers want cedis, so carry GHS 20 and GHS 50 notes as well as small change.
Change is the daily annoyance. Nobody wants to break a GHS 100 or GHS 200 note and many sellers cannot, so break large notes at a supermarket or a petrol station rather than a food stand.
ATMs from Ecobank, Stanbic, Absa, Fidelity and CalBank are widely available. Limits are often GHS 1,000 to GHS 2,000 per withdrawal and your home bank adds fees. Forex bureaux in Osu and in the malls generally beat hotel rates. Check the rate on your phone first.
Mobile money is how most Ghanaians pay, but a visitor cannot easily open an account without a Ghana Card. If a guide receives money on your behalf, that is normal, but keep your own cash.
- Sachet water is GHS 1 to GHS 3. Bottled water in a shop is GHS 5 to GHS 12.
- Tipping is not compulsory. Check whether a service charge is already on the bill.
Heat, dust and the harmattan
The coast sits between roughly 26C and 34C all year. What changes is the humidity and the dust. From December to February the harmattan blows down from the Sahara: dry air, hazy skies, cooler mornings and fine dust that settles on everything. It is the best time to walk around and the worst time for anyone with asthma or sinus trouble.
Rain comes in two rough seasons, the major one from about April to July and a minor one from September into October. Accra floods in heavy rain, and a road that was fine at noon can be a shallow lake by five. Northern Ghana has one rainy season from roughly June to September and is brutally hot in March and April.
Pack light cotton, one long-sleeve layer for air conditioning, and a rain jacket in the wet months. Bring closed shoes for markets, a hat, sun cream and rehydration sachets. Laundry is cheap, so pack less than you think.
- February and March are the hottest months on the coast.
- Harmattan dust can delay domestic flights.
Traffic decides your day
Accra traffic is not a minor annoyance. It is the structure of your itinerary. The bad windows are roughly 6.30am to 9.30am and 4pm to 7pm on weekdays. In those hours a 12 kilometre trip can take 75 minutes. Outside them, the same trip takes 20.
Use Uber, Bolt or Yango for most city movement. A short hop within Osu is often GHS 25 to GHS 55, and Kotoka airport to Osu or Labone runs GHS 60 to GHS 150 depending on the hour. Traditional taxis are everywhere, but agree the fare before you get in. The first price is rarely the final one.
The mistake first-timers make is planning five stops in a day. Plan two, and leave the middle of the day loose. To see Jamestown, Makola, Osu and Labadi in one day, hire a car and driver for GHS 500 to GHS 900 rather than chaining four separate rides.
- Friday afternoons are the worst, and so is the last week of December.
- Rain adds an hour to almost any cross-city trip.
Health preparation happens before you fly
Yellow fever vaccination is required to enter Ghana and the certificate is occasionally checked at the border. Get it at least ten days before travel. A travel clinic will also cover typhoid, hepatitis A, tetanus and, depending on your plans, rabies or meningitis for the north.
Malaria is the bigger risk. It is present across the country and transmitted by mosquitoes that bite from dusk. Whether you take prophylaxis is a decision for you and a clinician. If you do, start before you fly as instructed and finish the course after you return. Use repellent with DEET and treat a fever seriously rather than sleeping it off.
Do not drink tap water. Sachet and bottled water are cheap and everywhere. Food that is cooked hot and turning over fast is a safer bet than a lukewarm buffet. Pharmacies, usually called chemical shops, sit on most streets, but bring your own prescription medicines in their original packaging.
- Private clinics in Accra, including Nyaho and Lister, are used by visitors. Korle Bu and the 37 Military Hospital are the big public facilities.
- Travel insurance that covers medical evacuation is worth the extra cost.
Greetings, hands and photographs
Ghanaians greet before they do business. Walking into a shop and asking a question without a greeting reads as rude. A simple good morning with a handshake is enough. In Accra you will hear Ga, Twi and English in the same conversation, and younger Ghanaians will usually greet you first in English.
Use your right hand to give, receive, eat and pass anything. The left hand is considered unclean for those actions. Handshakes often end with a finger snap, which is a friendly gesture rather than a test.
Ask before photographing people, and expect a no sometimes. Do not photograph soldiers, police stations, the airport, or inside the dungeons of the castles. Some shrines restrict cameras. If someone asks for money after a photo, that is normal in tourist areas.
LGBTQ+ travellers should check current legal and safety advice before booking. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office says the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill is not law, while warning about existing legal restrictions and threats to LGBTQ+ people. Read its current Ghana safety advice and recheck before travel.
- Tipping a guide who has spent three hours with you is appreciated. GHS 50 to GHS 150 is reasonable.
- Funerals are large public events, especially on Saturdays. Do not wander into one uninvited.
Small things that save a day
Power cuts still happen, though less often than a few years ago, so bring a power bank. Ghana uses UK-style three-pin plugs at 230 volts. British visitors need no adapter and everyone else needs one.
Carry tissues or a small roll of toilet paper. Public toilets usually charge GHS 2 to GHS 5 and do not always supply paper.
Timekeeping is looser than in northern Europe or North America. A meeting at 10am may begin at 10.40. Getting annoyed will not speed anything up, so build slack into days that end with a flight or a bus and confirm bookings the day before. Bargaining in markets is expected and friendly. Shops and malls have fixed prices.
- English is the official language. Learning maakye and medaase is well received.
- Keep your phone charged and download offline maps. Coverage drops outside the cities.