Ho

What to do

Things to do in Ho

1. 

   1.Volta Regional Museum

   The best single hour in Ho. Run by the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board, this ethnographic museum opened in 1973 in a building that had been the Office of the Regional House of Chiefs, and it holds the region's story in a handful of rooms: the Chair of State of the last German colonial governor, Ewe kente designs, masks, chiefs' stools, swords, drums, pottery, a canoe and net, maps of the Ewe state, and displays on Asante shrines. Renovations completed in 2021, part-financed by the German government, refreshed the building.

   Tip: Ghana's regional museums are underfunded and opening hours can be optimistic, so ring ahead or accept that a closed door is possible. Guides are available and worth taking.

2. 

   2.Ho Central Market (Ho Asigame)

   One of the biggest trading centres in the Volta Region, and the reason Ho exists as a regional capital. The market moved to its present site in the early 1970s, from the Ho Civic Centre, and runs on a four-day cycle rather than daily. On a market day it is dense with people and produce: yam, cassava, plantain, cocoyam, garden eggs, okra, pepper, groundnuts, palm oil, corn dough, groundnut paste, fish, cloth, beads and charcoal, much of it cheaper than on ordinary days.

   Tip: Go in the morning, and check which day of the four-day cycle you are on before you plan around it. Traders come from as far as Kete Krachi and Togo, so it is a genuine regional market rather than a tourist one.

3. 3.Climb Mount Adaklu

   The flat-topped inselberg that fills Ho's southern skyline, about 12 km from town and roughly 580 metres above sea level. It is venerated by the Ewe villages around its base — nine of them, including Helekpe, Avanyaviwofe, Goefe, Sikama, Abuadi and Kordiabe — and it is a genuine climb rather than a stroll. Kordiabe sits about a quarter of the way up and makes a natural resting point on the Helekpe path. From the summit you look over the Volta plains, the Kalakpa reserve and, on a clear day, Togo.

   Tip: Start at first light, carry water, and take a village guide from Helekpe or another of the surrounding communities. Tours are organised locally and the profits are invested in the community. Treat the summit as sacred.

4. 4.Asogli Te Za, the yam festival

   Ho's great public occasion, held each September across the Asogli State and its surrounding towns such as Sokode, Abutia, Klefe and Akrofu. The month is packed: clean-ups, health walks, football galas, a yam-weighing competition, a women's day, a summit of Ewe chiefs from Ghana, Togo and Benin, and street jams in every division. The ritual heart of it is the hailing of the new yam and Dzawuwu, when the gods and ancestors are served first. It ends with a grand durbar of chiefs at Jubilee Park, where Togbe Afede XIV sits in state.

   Tip: The Asogli State Council lays a customary ban on funerals across the state for the month before the festival, so plan around it. Accommodation in Ho fills up for durbar week — book early or come another week.

5. 5.Walk the German colonial traces

   Ho was part of German Togoland until the First World War, and the evidence survives quietly: mission architecture, an old German cemetery, and the German-period collections in the regional museum. The National Commission on Culture lists the ancient German cemetery and the town's colonial architecture among the area's attractions, alongside the Galenukui mountains. Almost nobody points these out, which is precisely why they reward a slow walk with a local guide.

   Tip: Pair this with the museum, where the German Togoland material gives context to what you are looking at on the streets. Ask at the museum for directions rather than hunting on your own.

6. 6.Kalakpa Resource Reserve

   About three kilometres from the foot of Mount Adaklu, near Abutia, Kalakpa is one of Ghana's gazetted protected areas and one of the least visited. The habitat is Guinea savannah and dry hill forest, and the fauna includes kob, African buffalo, harnessed bushbuck, olive baboon, hooded vulture, pied crow and rainbow agama, with good birding. It is not set up for casual visitors, which is part of its appeal for anyone who wants the Volta without the crowd.

   Tip: Arrange your visit in advance through the Wildlife Division rather than turning up, and expect facilities to be minimal or absent. Bring everything you need.

7. 7.Kpetoe kente village

   South-east of Ho in Agotime, Kpetoe is the recognised heartland of Ewe weaving. Ewe kente is a separate tradition rather than a variation on the Ashanti cloth: where Ashanti designs are geometric, Ewe kete is figurative, with animals, stools, human figures and, since the 1940s, written text woven in. The reason is political — the Ewe had no royal court imposing design rules. The cloth woven here, with more cotton in the mix, is thicker and sturdier than the lighter commercial weave sold elsewhere.

   Tip: The Agbamevoza festival, meaning 'cloth from the loom', falls in August. Watch the looms and buy at source rather than from a middleman.

8. 

   8.Ho Municipal Park

   Listed as a public recreational green space in Ho, the Municipal Park is the kind of open ground that matters in a hot, busy regional capital — somewhere to sit in the shade between the market and the museum. Its identity and current facilities remain unverified, so treat it as a pleasant pause rather than a destination in its own right, and check locally what is open and usable when you arrive.

   Tip: Ask at your accommodation or the museum what the park currently offers before making a special trip. It works best as a rest stop folded into a walk around the centre.

9. 

   9.Ho Airport

   Ho Airport, ICAO code DGAH, is a GACL-operated regional airport built to serve the Volta Region. Construction was completed in 2017, but it did not open to commercial traffic until December 2021, when Passion Air began flights to and from Accra. Scheduled service was suspended in March 2022, with the airline citing low patronage and high fuel costs, and Africa World Airlines also decided against launching flights. It remains a striking piece of infrastructure — a 1,900-metre runway and a terminal built for far more passengers than it has seen.

   Tip: Do not plan to fly to Ho. Check current status before you build any itinerary around the airport, and assume your journey will be by road.

In pictures

Ho in pictures