The Best Things To Do In Ghana

This is the definitive list of the greatest things to do in Accra and Ghana, including history & heritage, live music, museums, markets, and more. Accra is one of the most fascinating cities in the world right now, and there is so much to do here that it can be difficult to know where to begin. Fortunately for all visitors, we’ve got you covered. Check out our introduction to Ghanaian slang phrases, then head to the city for an unforgettable experience.

Bars and nightlife in  Ghana

1. Hear live bands at Rockstone’s Office

Visit Rockstone’s Office to witness some local and touring bands perform live. Weekends are always exciting, with thriving hiplife playing till the early hours of the morning. Their balcony is ideal for drinking cocktails and people-watching.

2. Take in the views from Skybar 25

SkyBar 25 is a members-only rooftop venue located at the top of one of Ghana’s tallest buildings, the Alto Tower, within the Villagio Vista complex. It consists of a bar, restaurant, and a rooftop pool. Don’t miss the breathtaking sights.

3. Pre-party drinks at AM:PM

AM&PM, a stylish yet casual bistro-meets-sports-bar, is located in the landmark Villaggio Towers. The cuisine offers something for everyone. AM&PM is a casual setting for a relaxing night out with friends or before a party. A great way to start your day, weekend, or evening.

4. Sample wines at SAI Wine & Champagne Bar

Sai is just what Accra has been looking for: a wine bar that prioritizes wine in its offerings. It also hosts regular events, such as a reading club and ‘Bottomless Bubbly’ for a few hours on Friday evenings.

5. Drink a cocktail at One2One at the Mövenpick Hotel

This stylish bar has heralded a new era of refined socializing and a return to the glitz of the hotel lounge bar. It represents the Mövenpick Hotel’s contemporary style and feeling of elegance. The resident mixologists can whip up a killer drink, and there’s a decent selection of nibbles and light meals.

6. Get dressed up and enjoy drinks at Firefly

Firefly is a self-assured nightclub, with whitewashed brickwork, dark lighting, and edgy tunes that attract a posh international crowd. A backlit bar shines with quality blends, as cocktail enthusiasts, spirit lovers, and wine drinkers alike pull up stools to converse with friendly staff wearing braces and the occasional jauntily tilted hat.

7. Get down old-skool at Twist

Twist Club and Lounge is one of Ghana’s longest-running nightclubs. Located in the heart of Labone, you can dance all night or observe others from people-watching-perfect booths.

Best traditional food in Ghana

8. Grab your waakye at Auntie Muni’s

Auntie Muni’s has a formidable reputation in Accra for waakye (waa-chey), a mixture of dark black-eyed beans and rice, with meat and some fish, usually eel. Customers line at a netted bar to select ingredients. Stringy noodles, hard-boiled eggs, assorted vegetables, and chunks of steamed beef fall into the waakye (only available on weekends) like an unwieldy salad. The centerpiece of the dish is shitor, a spicy sauce prepared from chili, dried shrimp, and ginger.

9. It has to be tilapia Philipo’s

A local Ghanaian eatery that serves banku and tilapia. Philipo’s is set up as a conventional roadside tavern, with a large open area beneath a canopy. It provides banku alongside a well-seasoned fish and pepper. Located across from Jerry’s Pub in Atemuda, East Legon.

10. Kenkey Boutique

Kenkey Boutique has developed a reputation for offering the hottest kenkey and the freshest fried fish. The food served is cooked on-site and is always hot and delicious.

11. Hot kenkey at Duncan’s

This tavern in Osu serves more than just drinks; the food is also a local favorite. The tables are always packed, the music is loud, and the aroma of freshly grilled fish greets customers. The most popular meal by far, evident from the enormous waits, is the banku and tilapia.

12. Check out the music +233 Jazz Bar & Grill

A tremendously popular venue, and possibly the greatest spot in Accra to see live music right now. This jazz club attracts the best musicians, both local and visiting. There is adequate seating for the audience and a large outdoor space.

13. Be inspired by performance art at the Alliance Française d’Accra

Every week, the Accra branch of the French cultural center hosts a diverse range of artistic activities. It excels at live music events, but there are also frequent art exhibitions and discussions by foreign artists. One of Accra’s top locations for cutting-edge cultural events.

14. Feel the love at Labadi Beach

Reggae DJs perform on Wednesday nights near an open bar loaded with local and imported drinks. There are occasional live bands, acrobats, and other forms of entertainment. Reggae groups hail from Accra and neighboring countries. The beach attracts international students, reggae enthusiasts, and Rastafarians.

15. See the city’s best at Republic Bar & Grill

They will never stop suggesting this pub because it remains one of the best in Accra, thanks to its laid-back attitude toward the finer things in life: drink, fried food, and amazing music. It’s a small area that spills out into the street when things really get going late on a Friday or Saturday. There is always live music on Wednesdays.

16. Hear highlife at Chez Afrique

This renowned restaurant frequently hosts live bands, including highlife performers. The cuisine is fine, but the music is superior. Many sets begin with a mix of reggae and other (odd) hits before transitioning into a highlife set that gets everyone up and dancing. The musicianship is typically great.

17. Snap up tickets for excellent acts at the Goethe-Institut

This German cultural facility has operated in Ghana for almost 50 years and hosts a diverse range of musical events, art exhibitions, dance performances, and cinema screenings. Links between German art and Ghana are highlighted, whether through sound installations, mixed media pieces, performance art, photography, or painting.

Top restaurants in Ghana

18. Escape the crowds for lunch at Buka

Buka, which is conveniently located near Osu’s center, is without a doubt one of the best lunch venues in the city, and it is frequently packed. Buka, located on the first floor, offers a sense of seclusion from the crowd. The cuisine is mostly based on Ghanaian and Nigerian specialties, such as okra stew and eba (a dough ball eaten with stew).

19. Dine in style at Santoku Restaurant & Bar

Despite tough competition, particularly from Urban Grill, a stablemate in the same group, Santoku remains Ghana’s top restaurant, if not West Africa’s. Dining here is a world-class experience, with professionally educated service and a variety of well-executed and innovative Japanese meals that go far beyond sushi and sashimi (though both are excellent). Santoku also serves some of the best cocktails in town, including’saketinis’, which are best savored on their new, ultra-cool terrace.

20. Do your date night right at Bistro 22

Bistro 22 serves a balanced cuisine that includes gourmet burgers and local fish specialties. The restaurant’s lush terrace out back is ideal for an evening dinner or a romantic date night.

21. Impress guests at La Chaumiere

For more than a decade, La Chaumiere has served excellent French meals to Accra’s discerning diners. It includes a few North African flavors, such as grouper with harissa and mint yoghurt, but the core is basic and honest French food, from a crispy niçoise salad to a deliciously thick and sticky onion soup au gratin. It’s popular among visiting dignitaries.

22. Satisfy your carnivorous cravings at Urban Grill

Urban Grill is one of those places that exudes quality: the food, the decor, and the atmosphere are all exceptional. Essentially a high-end steakhouse, the meat is corn-fed and imported directly from Nebraska before being roasted to perfection on a charcoal barbecue. The greatest steaks in Ghana.

23. Delve into authentic flavours at Heritage Indian Restaurant

Ghanaians enjoy Indian cuisine, and Heritage is frequently referred to as one of the best curry establishments in the city. The food is equally appetizing, authentic, spicy, and comes from a varied menu of mostly North Indian specialties.

24. Splash out at Le Magellan Restaurant

Le Magellan is a fantastic eating option, especially in the evenings, when business colleagues, friends, and couples gather to unwind at the end of the day. Service is kind and professional, and the menu, which includes pasta, seafood, and steaks, as well as the wine list, reflect the fact that this is still one of Accra’s more upscale dining alternatives.

25. Polo Club Restaurant

This restaurant, located in one of the most exclusive areas of the city and facing the Polo Club’s playing field, has a lovely environment. It’s one of Accra’s most magnificent buildings, with effective use of wood both inside and out. It is also refreshingly subtle. The recently redesigned menu is unmistakably Italian, featuring risottos, gnocchi, and spinach and ricotta ravioli. The steaks and grilled seafood are also superb. They provide attentive service here as well.

Art and exhibitions in Ghana

26. Immerse yourself in history at the National Museum of Ghana

The National Museum houses some of Ghana’s most fascinating historical treasures. This museum takes you through the country’s history from both an archaeological and ethnographic standpoint.

27. See Ghanaian art at the Nubuke Foundation

The Nubuke Foundation is one of the city’s most notable art galleries, focusing on Ghanaian visual art, culture, and legacy. It was established to provide an artistic platform for Ghanaian artists to showcase their talents. It also hosts a variety of cultural events, including poetry evenings, Saturday workshops, art walks, films, and music.

28. See the original at Kane Kwei Carpentry Workshop

This is one of the first studios for fantasy coffins, which are today collected and shown as contemporary art throughout the world. Caskets shaped like birds, fish, planes, shoes, beer bottles, cars, and anything else that piques the imagination are displayed as art and occasionally sold as miniatures.

29. Uncover a treasure at the Arts Centre (Centre for National Culture)

The Arts Centre is located on the beachfront, near Black Star Square. Hawkers attack from all sides as soon as you arrive, but if you’re not exhausted by the crowds, you can find carvings, baskets, drums, bags, beads, textiles, sandals, sculptures, stools, rugs, and, on rare occasions, antiques. Haggling is expected. There is also an art gallery that sells prints and paintings at reasonable prices.

30. Don’t Miss Chale Wote Street Art Festival

Artists take to James Town’s streets for this bright outdoor art festival, which includes acrylic street painting, stencil work, sidewalk painting, chalk art, and large graffiti murals. Previous events have included massive art installations, photography displays, live music, DJ sets, theater, and spoken word performances. The festival takes place on High Street in James Town, between the Light House and Ussher Fort.

31. Go contemporary at Gallery 1957

Gallery 1957 is a gallery that curates modern Ghanaian art and hosts exhibitions, installations, and performances by the country’s most prominent artists.

32. Browse and marvel at the Artists Alliance Gallery

Ablade Glover, a highly acclaimed Ghanaian artist, founded this well-known arts facility, which has grown to become one of Ghana’s most prominent. There are three enormous floors of art, all displayed in cold marble galleries. Some are by known artists, such as Owusu Ankomah and George Hughes, whose work is evocative of Jean Michel Basquiat and Willem De Kooning, while others are by emerging artists, such as Ebenezer Borlabie.

33. Love local art at Loom

Frances Ademola of Loom has a popular gallery that features paintings and sculptures by some of Ghana’s most prominent artists, as well as a few passionate Nigerian pieces. The tiny area has been here since 1969 and is jam-packed with approximately 100 artists’ works.

34. Shop for keepsakes at Wild Gecko Handicrafts

This multifaceted workshop-cum-art-shop emporium is first and foremost a workshop where craftsmen manufacture uniquely Ghanaian and West African things. It’s filled with handcrafted art objects, collectibles, homewares, furniture, purses, musical instruments, and other creative products, many of which were developed as part of humanitarian programs in Ghana.

35. Grab some culture at the Goethe-Institut

This German cultural facility has operated in Ghana for almost 50 years and hosts a diverse range of musical events, art exhibitions, dance performances, and cinema screenings. There’s also a nice pub on the premises.

Heritage and history in Ghana

36. Stroll around Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park & Mausoleum

A national park dedicated to Osagyefo (the Messiah) Doctor Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president and founding father. It was built on a former British polo field and served as the site of Nkrumah’s 1957 independence declaration.

37. Meet Mr Du Bois at the WEB Du Bois Memorial Centre

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, an African-American civil rights crusader, became a Ghanaian citizen in the 1960s. He was dubbed the ‘Father of Pan-Africanism’. The center, where he and his wife had lived and are now buried, has his personal library and a tiny museum with a few personal items such as his graduation robes.

38. Independence Square and Independence Arch

The stands encircling Independence Square can seat 30,000 people and are designed in modernist and Soviet styles. The massive field, erected under Kwame Nkrumah, is intended for large events and military marches, but it is typically empty save for a few troops seeking shade from the sun. The square only comes alive for commercial events like concerts and fashion exhibitions, which take place all year.

39. Learn about Ghana’s history at the National Museum of Ghana

The National Museum houses some of Ghana’s most fascinating historical treasures. The museum allows visitors to explore the country’s history from both an archaeological and ethnographic standpoint. Much of the display is dedicated to indigenous art and crafts, including regalia, musical instruments, and the all-important royal Asante chairs.

40. Respect the past at Cape Coast Castle

The city was created by the Portuguese in the 15th century, and the solid white bulk of the castle served initially as a fortified headquarters for controlling the shipment of gold and other products before’market forces’ prompted a shift toward people trafficking. The Castle is now a World Heritage Site, and looking down from its historic ramparts at the late-afternoon crowd of fishermen and red-dust players, it’s difficult not to be moved by the human cost of its history.

41. Remember Ghana’s history at Osu Castle

Osu Castle is a continual and poignant reminder of the slave trade, which was mostly run from the building and was frequently used to keep captives before they were taken to the Americas.

42. Visit Elmina Castle

Elmina Castle is a significant historical attraction. It, like its Cape Coast counterpart, has historical links to the slave era and is designated as a World Heritage Site.

43. Gain a new perspective at Jamestown Lighthouse

The colonial-era lighthouse was built in the 1930s. It’s not a typical tourist destination, with no gift stores or ticket offices, but if you walk within twenty metres, you’ll be approached by a ‘guide’ offering to take you to the top for a few cedis. If you’re ready to pay the price, the summit of the (perhaps not particularly safe) spiral staircase offers a nice panoramic view.