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Travel and Tourism in Ghana
Travel alerts, currency, climate, transit, health, and safety information for visitors to Ghana.
Practical Information
Travel alert status, currency, climate, and transit details.
- Travel Alert Status
- Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution
- Time Difference
- UTC 0 (5 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
- Currency
- cedi (GHC)
- Climate
- Ghana's climate is tropical with temperatures between 21°C and 32°C (70°F and 90°F). Rainy seasons extend from April to July (heavy rains) and from September to November (light rains). Annual rainfall exceeds 200 centimeters on the coast, decreasing inland. Accra”™s annual rainfall averages about 76 centimeters, low for coastal West Africa. The southern part of the country is humid most of the year, but the north can be very dry. It is coolest from May until October. In December the harmattan, a dry dusty wind from the Sahara, covers the country, and lasts through February. The desert wind reduces humidity, and early mornings and nights are relatively cool. Visibility during the harmattan can be poor, as the air is filled with fine dust.
- Language(s) Spoken
- The official language of Ghana is English. There are movements to make several local languages official as well. The Twi dialect of Akan is the language most commonly used on a daily basis to communicate between ethnic groups. Most Ghanaians are at least bilingual.
- Ethnic Groups
- Black African 98.5% (major tribes - Akan 44%, Moshi-Dagomba 16%, Ewe 13%, Ga 8%, Gurma 3%, Yoruba 1%), European and other 1.5%
- National Holiday
- Independence Day, 6 March (1957)
- Geographic Coordinates
- 8 00 N, 2 00 W
- Location
- Western Africa, bordering the Gulf of Guinea, between Cote d'Ivoire and Togo
- Airports
- 12
Destinations
Regions and cities, top sights, national parks, UNESCO sites, and festivals for visitors.
The Volta Region and Eastern Ghana
East of the main highway from Accra to Kumasi, Ghana opens up into a landscape dominated by one extraordinary feature: Lake Volta. Stretching from the Akosombo Dam in the south to within a few kilometers of the northern border, Lake Volta is, by surface area, one of the largest artificial lakes in the world, covering approximately 8,502 square kilometers — larger than the entire island of Cyprus. The lake was created by the construction of the Akosombo Dam, completed in 1965 under the Nkrumah government as a cornerstone of the newly independent Ghana's development strategy. The dam was built with American and British financial assistance despite Nkrumah's increasingly socialist international positioning, a reflection of the complex Cold War calculations of the era.
The construction of the dam flooded some 740 villages and displaced approximately 80,000 people, mostly from the Volta Region. This enormous human cost is rarely foregrounded in the promotional material for the lake, but it is an important part of its history and one that travelers with an interest in development justice will want to be aware of. The displaced communities received inadequate compensation, were often resettled on marginal land, and suffered long-term disruption to their agricultural and fishing livelihoods.
Health and Safety
Medical facilities, vaccinations, disease risk, and sanitation conditions.
Medical facilities in Ghana are limited, particularly outside Accra, the capital. Travelers should carry adequate supplies of any needed prescription medicines, along with copies of their prescriptions, the generic name of the drugs, and a supply of preferred over-the-counter medications. Documentation of Yellow fever vaccination is required upon arrival from all countries. Motor vehicle accidents, drownings, and water-related accidents due to Ghana's rough surf have been reported by U.S. citizens.