The castles are a day trip from Accra. So is the rainforest.
What the Cape Coast run costs and how long it really takes. Whether Kakum earns the early start. Which Accra city tour gets you inside Makola rather than past it. Reviews of every tour you can book in Ghana.
The castles, the capital, the falls, and a loom in Bonwire.
Four days that between them cover most of what people fly to Ghana for. What each one costs, and what travellers said afterwards.
01The coastThe Cape Coast Day TourCape Coast and Elmina in one run from Accra, back through the evening traffic. A long day out, and the reason most people come.
02The capitalExperience the Beauty, History and the Culture Of Accra in a DayIndependence Square, Jamestown, Makola and the Nkrumah mausoleum in a single day, with a guide who knows which gates are open.
03The green dayBoti Falls, Umbrella Rock, Aburi Gardens & Cocoa Farm TourBoti Falls, Umbrella Rock and the Aburi hills, finishing at the farm where Tetteh Quarshie planted the first cocoa pods.
04Ashanti clothBonwire Namimg Ceremony and Kente Tourist CenterThe kente looms at Bonwire outside Kumasi, where the cloth is still woven in narrow strips and named before it is sold.
Cape Coast and Elmina: three ways to spend the day.
The two forts stand about forty minutes apart on the Gulf of Guinea, three hours down from Accra. Nearly every tour takes both. What changes is whether the Kakum canopy or the river crossing at Assin Manso goes in as well, and how long that makes the day.
★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · The Cape Coast Day Tour
The two fortsBoth castles, the dungeons and the Door of No Return, back in Accra by night.
Forts and canopyThe same coast run with the Kakum rope bridges added before the drive home.
By way of the riverThe crossing at Assin Manso, where captives were washed, on the road to the coast.
The longer returnRoutes of several days through Accra, the forts and Kumasi for travellers tracing a return.
All 84 heritage days in Ghana →
These are the Ghanaian days out that fill first.
Every tour we have reviewed in Ghana →The days out carrying more travellers than anything else in the country, with what each costs and how long it runs.
1
The Cape Coast Day Tour
Review of the Cape Coast Day Tour from Accra, covering castles, Kakum’s canopy walkway, transport, cost, timing, and practical tips.
From · $155
Read our review →
2
Experience the Beauty, History and the Culture Of Accra in a Day
from $80
3
The Cape Coast Tour
from $170
4
Cape Coast, Elmina Castle & Kakum Park Day Tour
from $110
5
Accra Detailed City Tour
from $80
6
Accra Guided City Tour Experience
from $45
7
Accra Guided City Tour Experience
from $70
8
Accra To Cape Coast And Elmina Day Tour
from $165
Rainforest, waterfalls and the hills behind the city.
The Eastern hills start where the Accra traffic finally thins. Rope bridges strung through the Kakum canopy, the drop at Boti, the gardens the colonial governors laid out at Aburi, and baboons on the rocks at Shai Hills.
2
3What a day out in Ghana actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. Ghana prices higher than you might expect because almost everything here is private and almost everything includes the car and the driver.
City walks, the Makola market round, a cooking class in somebody’s kitchen, and the shorter runs up into the Aburi hills.
The full-day standards: the coast forts, Kakum, Boti Falls, Shai Hills and the naming ceremonies.
- 1The Cape Coast Day Tourfrom $155
- 2The Cape Coast Tourfrom $170
- 3Cape Coast, Elmina Castle & Kakum Park Day Tourfrom $110
A car and driver for a week, the long haul north to Mole, and the routes that string the coast and Kumasi together over several days.
- 1Ghana Heritage Tours – Beyond The Returnfrom $3,595
- 2Full-Day Accra Safari and Boat Cruise Private Tourfrom $285
- 310 Days Ghana Cultural and Heritage Tripfrom $3,500
Accra, the coast forts, the Ashanti capital, and the road north.
Ghana is small enough to cross in a day and varied enough that people rarely do. Six anchors, and the best day out at each of them.
Three things this country has that nowhere else does.
Rainforest and coastline are ordinary enough in West Africa. A walkway strung forty metres above the canopy, kente woven in strips on a Bonwire loom, and the tree the whole cocoa trade grew out of are not.
The Kakum Canopy Walkway
Seven rope bridges run between the tallest trees in Kakum, roughly forty metres above the forest floor, built in the nineties by a Canadian and Ghanaian team. The full circuit takes about half an hour and the planks underfoot are a single foot wide. Take the first walk of the morning: the forest is still noisy, and far fewer people are on the bridges.
- 1Cape Coast, Elmina Castle & Kakum Park Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 144 reviews
- 2Cape Coast ,Elmina Castle and Kakum Full-Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 62 reviews
- 3Cape Coast/Elmina Slave Dungeon and Canopy Walkway Private Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 24 reviews
The Bonwire Kente Looms
Kente is woven in narrow strips on a wooden loom, then cut and sewn into one cloth, and Bonwire outside Kumasi has been doing it for centuries. Every pattern carries a name and a meaning attached to it. Weavers will sit you at the loom and let you work the pedals, and cloth bought at the village costs a fraction of the airport price.
- 1Bonwire Namimg Ceremony and Kente Tourist Center★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 40 reviews
- 2Tour Kumasi City Like a Local★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 34 reviews
- 3Traditional naming ceremony For African Diasporas in Kumasi★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 10 reviews
Tetteh Quarshie’s Cocoa Farm
A blacksmith carried cocoa pods home from Fernando Po in 1876 and planted them at Mampong in the Akuapem hills. Inside thirty years Ghana was the largest producer on earth. The farm is still standing and still worked, and the guides split a fresh pod so you can taste the white pulp around the beans.
- 1Boti Falls, Umbrella Rock, Aburi Gardens & Cocoa Farm Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 72 reviews
- 2Experience Boti Waterfalls, Aburi Botanical Gardens & Tetteh Quarshie Cocoa Farm★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 38 reviews
- 3Escape Accra City to Aburi Gardens and Tetteh Quarshie Cocoa Farms★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 32 reviews
Four Ghanaian bookings that will not wait.
Most of Accra can be sorted the night before over a plate of waakye. These four cannot. They run on driving distances, on small groups, and on ceremonies somebody has to prepare for.
- 01The Ancestral Naming Ceremony and Home Coming ExperienceA naming ceremony is prepared for you. The elders, the cloth and the name itself are arranged in advance, not on the morning you turn up.
- 023 Days Grassroots Safari To MoleMole sits far up in the north. The trips that do it properly run over two or three days with beds attached, and those beds are booked well ahead.
- 03Cape Coast, Elmina Castle & Kakum Park Day TourThe canopy walkway takes small groups across the seven bridges in turn. The first slot of the morning is the quiet one, and it goes first.
- 04Home Cooking Class by Auntie KCooking classes run in a home kitchen for a handful of people, and the market shopping happens before you arrive.
The Ghanaian coast takes its rain in June, and the day still works.
The heavy rain falls in May and June, with a shorter run in October. It arrives hard, sits for an hour or two, and clears. The forest days are the ones that suffer for it. The kitchens, the workshops, the markets and the museums carry on regardless.
By place — coast, capital, hills and north
By kind of day — fort, forest, kitchen or loom
New write-ups, from the coast road to the northern savannah.
More of the recent ones →
Experience Cape Coast Castle and Kakum National Park
Read our review →
Discover Ghana – Wli Waterfalls, Mountain Afadjato, Monkey Sanctuary & Akosombo.
Read our review →
Cultural Tour Of Ghana And South Africa 12 Days
Read our review →
2-Day Monkey Sanctuary, Waterfall and Hiking Tour
Read our review →
City Highlights Half-day Guided Tour with Transfers
Read our review →
3 Days Elephant Safari at Mole Park with round trip flights
Read our review →
Experience Aburi Botanical Gardens And Boti Water Falls In A Day.
Read our review →
