Accra
Ghana · West Africa
Trotros before traffic lights.
Accra runs on informal infrastructure — the 69-route trotro network moves more people daily than any formal transit system in West Africa, and the city's commercial logic follows those routes, not the colonial street grid.
Accra moves at an unrelenting pace — trotro minibuses pack the Graphic Road corridor from dawn, Makola Market operates at full volume six days a week, and the generators that backstop load-shedding hum through the night in Osu and Labone. The city's architectural register is colonial-era bungalows giving way to unfinished concrete and glass towers on the Airport City skyline, a transition that is still visibly mid-sentence. English is official and widely spoken, which eases daily navigation, but visitor infrastructure outside the Ridge and Cantonments districts requires patience — metered taxis are rare, and signage is inconsistent. Kotoka International Airport positions Accra as West Africa's most functional hub, with direct flights to London, Amsterdam, and New York making it a genuine regional gateway rather than a detour.
Essentials
The things every first-time visitor should know.
Deep cuts
What the locals know, and most visitors miss.
Day trips
Where to go when the city needs a break.