Historic Statues at the Africa Culture - Kumasi Centre for National Culture

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Craft centres in Ghana

Centre for National Culture, Kumasi · Photo: Jude Hammond · License: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

Ghana's craft centres are places where things are still made by hand, and where visitors are usually welcome to watch. Across the country you can see kente being woven in Bonwire, adinkra cloth stamped in Ntonso, Bolga baskets shaped from elephant grass in Bolgatanga, and pots hand-built and smoke-blackened at Fesi near Kpando. Some are working workshops, some are markets, and some are cultural centres with museums and galleries attached.

What they share is that the craft is local and the makers are present. What differs is the setting and the rhythm. The Accra Arts Centre is a busy city marketplace with free entry, while Bolgatanga Market comes together every three days and Koforidua's beads market is held on Thursdays. Others, such as the Centre for National Culture in Kumasi, with its Asante craft workshops and the Prempeh II Jubilee Museum, or the Centre for National Culture in Tamale, with its crafts village, are year-round institutions. A few are quiet community projects, like Tafi Abuife in the Volta Region or the Baba Tree Basket Company in Bolgatanga.

One entry here, Kente Village Kpetoe, is a planned project that is not yet an operating attraction, so it is worth knowing before you travel.

Good to know

Before you go

Craft sites are spread across the Ashanti, Eastern, Volta, Upper East, Northern and Greater Accra regions, so group them by area rather than trying to see them all in one trip. Bonwire and Ntonso sit close to Kumasi and pair well together; Koforidua's beads market and the Eastern Regional cultural centre are in the same town; Vume, Fesi and Tafi Abuife are all in the Volta Region. Market days matter: Bolgatanga Market is held every three days and Koforidua's beads market on Thursdays. Before setting out, check that a workshop is open and receiving visitors, and ask before photographing makers or their work. Buying directly from weavers, potters and basket makers is the simplest way to support them.

Start here

Places to explore

Attraction · Aburi

Aburi Botanical Gardens

Aburi Botanical Gardens is a 64.8-hectare botanical garden in Aburi, Eastern Region, Ghana, opened in March 1890 and known for its plant collections and recreation areas.

Photo: Nkansahrexford · Source

Attraction · Bolgatanga

Bolgatanga Market

Bolgatanga Market is the large central market of Bolgatanga, Upper East Region, held every three days and known for crafts including baskets, leather goods and smocks.

Photo: Adam Jones, Ph.D. - Global Photo Archive · Source

Attraction · Bonwire

Bonwire Kente Museum

A museum and craft centre in Bonwire, the historic Kente-weaving town in the Ejisu Municipality of Ghana's Ashanti Region, about 18 km from Kumasi.

Photo: Stephen Acheampong · Source

Attraction · Bonwire

Bonwire Kente Weaving Centre

Bonwire Kente Weaving Centre is the visitor hub for kente weaving in Bonwire, Ashanti Region, where tours, weaving demonstrations and village craft shops are based.

Photo: Mwintirew · Source

Attraction · Koforidua

Centre for National Culture, Eastern Region

The Eastern Regional office of Ghana's National Commission on Culture in Koforidua, with a craftshop, traditional training school and a reported 1,500-seat theatre.

Photo: Jude Hammond · Source

Attraction · Kumasi

Centre for National Culture, Kumasi

A government-supported cultural centre in Kumasi, established in 1956, with Asante craft workshops, a gallery, a crafts shop and the Prempeh II Jubilee Museum.

Photo: Jude Hammond · Source

Attraction · Teshie

Kane Kwei Carpentry Workshop

A working carpentry studio in Teshie, Accra, where Ga craftspeople make design coffins — abebuu adekai, "boxes with proverbs" — and welcome visitors to watch the work.

Photo: D-Stanley · Source

Attraction · Koforidua

Koforidua Beads Market

A weekly Thursday beads and crafts market in Koforidua's Gallaway neighbourhood, beside Jubilee Park, described by the local assembly as one of Africa's largest bead markets.

Photo: Warmglow · Source

Attraction · Ntonso

Ntonso Adinkra Craft Village

Ntonso Adinkra Craft Village in Kwabre East, Ashanti Region, is Ghana's best-known centre for hand-printed adinkra cloth, with guided tours of dyeing, stamping and embroidery.

Photo: ZSM · Source

Attraction · Ntonso

Ntonso Adinkra Village

A craft centre in Ntonso, Kwabre East District, Ashanti Region, about 15 km north of Kumasi, where guided tours cover adinkra dyeing, stamping and embroidery.

Photo: ZSM · Source

Attraction · Tafi Abuife

Tafi Abuife Kente Weaving Village

Tafi Abuife is a small Ewe kente-weaving community in Afadzato South District, Volta Region, where visitors can watch weavers at work and buy cloth directly.

Photo: Warmglow · Source

Attraction · Vume

Vume Pottery Community

Vume is a small town near Sogakope in Ghana's Volta Region, long noted for household pottery workshops and roadside pot displays along the Accra–Aflao highway.

Photo: Enock4seth · Source

Attraction · Vume

Vume Pottery Village

The pottery-making quarter of Vume in the South Tongu District, Volta Region, where roadside workshops along the Accra-Aflao highway make and display household pots.

Photo: Enock4seth · Source

Attraction

Attraction · Accra

Accra Arts Centre

The Accra Arts Centre (Centre for National Culture) is Ghana's largest arts and crafts marketplace, in central Accra off Atta Mills High Street, with free entry.

Attraction

Attraction · Bolgatanga

Baba Tree Basket Company

A design-led basket-weaving company and artisan community in Bolgatanga, Upper East Region, producing handwoven Bolga baskets, lampshades and wall pieces from elephant grass.

Attraction

Attraction · Bolgatanga

Bolgatanga Craft Village

A craft market and artisan centre in Bolgatanga, Upper East Region, built by the municipal assembly in 2003 and adjacent to the Upper East Regional Museum.

Attraction

Attraction · Tamale

Centre for National Culture, Tamale

The Northern Regional office of Ghana's National Commission on Culture, in Tamale's Central Business District, with a crafts village, sewing centres, bars and a restaurant.

Attraction

Attraction · Fesi

Fesi Pottery Village

A pottery and ceramic craft site at Fesi in the Kpando Municipal area of Ghana's Volta Region, listed by the municipal assembly among its cultural heritage assets.

Attraction

Attraction · Kpetoe

Kente Village Kpetoe

Kente Village Kpetoe is a planned, still-uncompleted kente weaving centre and cultural tourism project at Kpetoe in Ghana's Volta Region, not an operating attraction.

Attraction

Attraction · Kpando

Kpando Pottery Fesi Shed

A women's pottery cooperative and craft centre in Fesi, Kpando, Volta Region, founded in 1998, where pots are hand-built and smoke-blackened.

Attraction

Attraction · Tamale

Kukuo Pottery Centre

Kukuo Pottery Centre is a traditional pottery-making community near Tamale in Ghana's Northern Region, listed by Visit Ghana among the region's key attractions.

Attraction

Attraction · Liati Wote

Liati Wote Clean & Green Hub

A community-owned craft and upcycling centre in Liati Wote, Volta Region, where recovered plastic waste is turned into goods sold at the on-site Nuku Arts shop.

Attraction

Attraction · Fantevikope

Nkyinkyim Museum

Nkyinkyim Museum is an outdoor museum and evolving sculpture installation in Nuhalenya-Ada, Greater Accra, created by artist Kwame Akoto-Bamfo to honour enslaved African ancestors.

Attraction

Attraction · Loho

Nubuke Centre for Textiles and Clay

Nubuke Foundation's craft centre in Loho, near Wa in the Upper West Region, devoted to the region's weaving and clay traditions.