Fort Prinzenstein, Keta-1784

Explore Ghana

Heritage sites in Ghana

Fort Prinzenstein · Photo: Khobbyyyy · License: CC0 1.0 · Source

Ghana's heritage sites tell the country's story in stone, earth and timber. Along the coast, a chain of forts and castles — Elmina Castle, Fort Metal Cross at Dixcove, Fort San Sebastian at Shama, Fort Gross-Friedrichsburg at Princes Town and Fort Apollonia at Beyin — marks centuries of trade between Europe and West Africa, and the painful history of the slave trade. Inland, the Asante Traditional Buildings at Besease and Ejisu Besease preserve shrine houses of earth and timber, while the Bonwire Kente Museum celebrates the weaving town that gave kente its name. Further north, the Dakpema Chief's Palace in Tamale and St. Andrew's Cathedral in Wa show Dagbon and Upper West traditions, and the old Sudano-Sahelian Dondoli Mosque stands nearby.

What these places share is that they are living heritage, not museum pieces alone. Some are active shrines, palaces or places of worship; others are cared for as monuments and museums. They differ greatly in condition and access. Elmina Castle and Fort Apollonia are established visitor sites with museums, Fort Good Hope at Senya Beraku and Fort Gross-Friedrichsburg offer rest-house stays, while Fort Augustaborg at Teshie, Fort Fredensborg at Old Ningo, English Fort Komenda and Dondoli Mosque are ruins. Fort Santo Antonio at Axim is closed, so check before travelling.

Good to know

Before you go

Plan your route by region rather than trying to see everything at once: the Central and Western coastal forts sit in one arc, the Asante sites cluster around Kumasi, and Wa, Tamale and Keta lie far to the north and east. Roads between the main towns are generally good, but expect longer, slower journeys on the smaller coastal and northern routes, and consider a car with a driver for the more remote forts. Before setting out, confirm opening times and access, as several sites are ruins, in partial ruins, or closed — Fort Santo Antonio at Axim has been closed since 18 December 2025. Dress respectfully at shrines, palaces and churches, ask before photographing people or ceremonies, and take water, sun protection and cash for smaller towns.

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Places to explore

Attraction · Accra

James Fort

James Fort is a 17th-century British fort in Jamestown, Accra, built in 1673, later a prison and now a GMMB-managed heritage site that is currently listed as temporarily closed.

Photo: Newfoundlandguy · Source

Attraction · Accra

Jamestown Lighthouse

Jamestown Lighthouse is a 28 m red-and-white banded tower in Jamestown, Accra, built in 1932 to replace an 1871 lighthouse, with 112 steps to summit views.

Photo: Dan Sloan · 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 · Kumasi

Kumasi Fort and Military Museum

A fort and military museum in Kumasi's Uaddara Barracks, tracing the Anglo-Asante wars and the Gold Coast Regiment's evolution into the Ghana Armed Forces.

Photo: Noahalorwu · Source

Attraction · Accra

Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park

Accra's memorial park and mausoleum honouring Ghana's first President, Kwame Nkrumah, and his wife Fathia, on the Old Polo Grounds.

Photo: Nardi Boobo · Source

Attraction · Abono

Lake Bosomtwe

Lake Bosomtwe is Ghana's only true inland natural lake, set in a million-year-old meteorite crater about 30 km south-east of Kumasi, in the Ashanti Region.

Photo: Noahalorwu · Source

Attraction · Larabanga

Larabanga Mosque

A Sudano-Sahelian adobe mosque in Larabanga, Savannah Region, described by Ghana's tourism authority as thought to be the oldest mosque in Ghana and West Africa.

Photo: Stig Nygaard · Source

Attraction · Accra

Makola Market

Makola Market is Accra's largest and most famous open-air market, a 1924 trading district in the city's Central Business District on Kojo Thompson Road.

Photo: Benggriff · Source

Attraction · Kumasi

Manhyia Palace Museum

A historical museum in Kumasi's Manhyia Palace complex, housed in the old palace built in 1925 and opened as a museum in 1995.

Photo: Dan Sloan · Source

Attraction · Accra

National Museum of Ghana

Ghana's national museum on Barnes Road in Adabraka, Accra, opened in 1957 and run by the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board.

Photo: Yanajin33 · Source

Attraction · Navrongo

Navrongo Basilica Museum

A small museum attached to the Old Navrongo Catholic Cathedral, a mud-brick national monument in Ghana's Upper East Region.

Photo: Mwintirew · 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 · Accra

Osu Castle

Osu Castle (Christiansborg) is a 17th-century fort at Osu, Accra, run by the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board and part of a UNESCO World Heritage listing.

Photo: Danieljatuat · Source

Attraction · Paga

Pikworo Slave Camp

Pikworo Slave Camp is a rock-cut heritage site at Paga Nania, about 3 km west of Paga in Ghana's Upper East Region, active as a slave-trade transit camp from 1704 to 1845.

Photo: Celestinesucess · Source

Attraction · Salaga

Salaga Slave Tree

A replacement baobab at the site of the former Salaga slave market, where enslaved people were reportedly chained and displayed for sale.

Photo: Gonzo Gooner · Source

Attraction · Salaga

Salaga slave wells

A heritage site in Salaga, Savannah Region, marking the town's role as one of West Africa's largest slave markets, with slave wells, statues and a museum.

Photo: Cdilalo47 · Source

Attraction · Takoradi

Takoradi Harbour

Takoradi Harbour is Ghana's oldest seaport, a secured working industrial port in Sekondi-Takoradi commissioned in 1928, with restricted public access.

Photo: Kees Torn · Source

Attraction · Tongo

Tengzug Shrine

Tengzug Shrine is the paramount shrine of the Talensi people, set among sacred shrines in the cliffs of the Tongo Hills, about 15 km southeast of Bolgatanga.

Photo: Alhaj Darajaati · Source

Attraction · Tongo

Tongo Chief's Palace

The royal court of the Paramount Chief of the Talensi Traditional Area, and a stop on the official Tongo-Tengzuk Cultural Landscape tour in Ghana's Upper East Region.

Photo: Knowledge and philosophy · Source

Attraction · Tengzuk

Tongo-Tengzuk Cultural Landscape and Sacred Shrines

A Talensi cultural landscape of balancing rock formations and sacred ancestral shrines at the base of a horseshoe-shaped hill chain near Tongo, Upper East Region.

Photo: Munkaila Sulemana · Source

Attraction · Accra

Ussher Fort

Ussher Fort is a 17th-century Dutch-built fort in James Town, Accra, now home to the Ussher Fort Museum on the history of the slave trade in Ghana.

Photo: Twi inaccr · Source

Attraction · Wa

Wa Naa's Palace

Wa Naa's Palace is the traditional palace and official residence of the Wa Naa in Wa town, Upper West Region, and a gazetted national monument in Sudano-Sahelian mud-brick style.

Photo: U.S. Embassy Ghana · Source

Attraction · Ejisu

Yaa Asantewaa Museum

A museum in Ejisu, Ashanti Region, honouring Yaa Asantewaa, Queen Mother of Ejisu and leader of Ashanti resistance in the 1900–1901 War of the Golden Stool.

Photo: Noahalorwu · Source

Attraction

Attraction · Ada Foah

Ada Foah Presbyterian Church and Missionary Cemetery

A missionary church in Ada Foah, described as built by the first generation of Ghanaian Christians around 1890, with an adjoining cemetery of colonial-era and later graves.

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