In short
Accra is an English-speaking West African capital, spread along the Gulf of Guinea. It is dense, commercial, and far more turned towards the Atlantic than its few beaches suggest.
Jamestown, the historic fishing quarter with its lighthouse and colonial houses, is the most photographed. Osu holds the restaurants and nightlife. Makola market, in the centre, is the city's commercial lung. Independence Square and the Black Star Gate carry the memory of 1957 — Ghana was the first sub-Saharan African country to gain independence.
Arriving and getting around
Kotoka international airport is a few kilometres from the centre.
Traffic congestion is considerable. The tro-tros, shared minibuses, are the popular transport; ride-hailing apps are the usual solution for a visitor.
English is the official language, which simplifies a great deal compared with the neighbouring francophone capitals.
What it really costs
Accra is affordable, but the expatriate districts charge international prices. The contrast between a neighbourhood chop bar and an Osu restaurant is considerable.
Mobile payment is very widespread.
When to come
November–March is the dry season.
The harmattan, a dust-laden wind off the Sahara, blows from December to February: veiled sky, dry air, reduced visibility.
The rains fall mainly from April to July.
What nobody tells you
Cape Coast and Elmina castles are two or three hours west. World Heritage listed, they are forts of the Atlantic slave trade, with their dungeons and their "door of no return". The visit is harrowing and is the most serious reason to come to Ghana.
The "Year of Return" in 2019, an official initiative inviting the African-American diaspora to come back, lastingly changed the country's visitor numbers and its tourist offering. The year-end celebrations in Accra still carry the mark of it.
The Ghanaian figurative coffin, shaped as an object representing the deceased's trade or passion, is a Ga funerary practice; workshops can be visited in the suburb of Teshie.
Not all of Accra's beaches are swimmable: currents and pollution vary sharply from one site to another.