Explore Ghana
The Upper East Region rewards travellers who like their history close to the ground. Its places cluster around a handful of towns, and most share a thread of living culture: mud-brick architecture, sacred shrines, working palaces and markets that still run on their own rhythms. In Bolgatanga you can spend a morning at the Upper East Regional Museum, then walk to the Bolgatanga Craft Village next door, or visit the Baba Tree Basket Company to see Bolga baskets woven from elephant grass. The Bolgatanga Market, held every three days, is the big central trading ground for baskets, leather goods and smocks.
Navrongo holds a remarkable group of monuments: the mud-brick Navrongo Minor Basilica, the small museum attached to the Old Navrongo Catholic Cathedral, the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto built in 1933–34, the Navrongo Palace of the Navro-Pio and the three-day Navrongo Central Market. Near Paga, the Pikworo Slave Camp marks a transit site used from 1704 to 1845, while the Paga Border Market trades daily on the frontier and the Paga Pia Palace remains a decorated Kassena family compound.
The Tongo and Sirigu areas differ in character. Tongo offers the granite Tongo Hills, the Tengzug Shrine, the Tenzug Cave School, the Tongo Chief's Palace and the wider Tongo-Tengzuk Cultural Landscape. At Sirigu, SWOPA and the Martyrs of Uganda Parish Church show craft and mural traditions kept by local women.
Good to know
Bolgatanga is the natural base, with Navrongo, Paga, Tongo and Sirigu reachable as day trips, though you will want your own vehicle or a hired driver rather than relying on chance lifts. Markets here follow their own cycles: Bolgatanga and Navrongo trade every three days, while Paga Border Market is a daily affair, so check the day before travelling. Shrines, palaces and compounds are living cultural sites, so ask before entering or photographing, dress modestly and consider a local guide. Pikworo Slave Camp sits about 3 km west of Paga. Confirm opening arrangements for museums and SWOPA in advance, and carry cash, water and sun protection.
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Attraction · Bolgatanga
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 · Navrongo
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 · Navrongo
A mud-brick Roman Catholic cathedral and minor basilica in Navrongo, listed by the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board as the last of its kind in Ghana.
Photo: Sucram Yef · Source
Attraction · Navrongo
A stone shrine with an altar and a statue of the Madonna, built by Father Robert in 1933–34 at the White Fathers' Mission in Navrongo, Upper East Region.
Photo: Sucram Yef · Source
Attraction · Paga
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 · Sirigu
SWOPA is a community-based women's craft organisation in Sirigu, Upper East Region, founded in 1997, with a visitor centre, gallery, workshop and guesthouse.
Photo: shawnzam · Source
Attraction · Tongo
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
Tenzug Cave School is a historic rock-overhang school site in the Tongo Hills near Tongo, Talensi District, Upper East Region, where formal education began between 1965 and 1985.
Photo: Knowledge and philosophy · Source
Attraction · Tongo
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 · Tongo
A granite hill range near Tongo in Ghana's Upper East Region, known for balancing rock formations, caves and sacred Talensi ancestral shrines.
Photo: Uridl01 · Source
Attraction · Tengzuk
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 · Bolgatanga
An ethnographic museum in Bolgatanga, Upper East Region, preserving the material culture of the region since 1972 and housed at its current site since 1991.
Photo: Mac-Gbathy · Source
Attraction · Bolgatanga
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 · Bolgatanga
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 · Bolgatanga
The traditional seat and administrative centre of the paramount chief of the Bolgatanga Traditional Area, in the Atulibabisi community, Upper East Region, Ghana.
Attraction · Sirigu
Catholic parish church at Sirigu in Ghana's Upper East Region, known for church walls decorated by local women with traditional mural designs and for Gurune-language hymn singing.
Attraction · Navrongo
Navrongo Central Market is the main trading hub of Navrongo, the Kassena-Nankana Municipal District capital in Ghana's Upper East Region, operating on a three-day market cycle.
Attraction · Navrongo
The Navrongo Palace is the working traditional seat of the Navro-Pio, Paramount Chief of the Navrongo Traditional Area, and a ceremonial venue in Ghana's Upper East Region.
Attraction · Paga
Paga Border Market is the working cross-border market at Paga on the Ghana–Burkina Faso frontier, a daily informal trade hub in the Kassena Nankana West District.
Attraction · Paga
Paga Pia Palace is the chief's compound in Paga, Upper East Region, seat of the Paga Pio and a living Kassena extended-family compound with decorated mud walls.
Attraction · Sirigu
The Azukodaana Palace in Sirigu, Upper East Region, is the seat of the Paramount Chief of the Sirigu Traditional Area and the launch venue for the annual Azuko Festival.
Attraction · Sirigu
SWOPA is a women's craft cooperative and community tourism centre in Sirigu, Upper East Region, with a visitor centre, gallery, workshop and guesthouse.
Attraction · Sirigu
Sirigu, in Ghana's Upper East Region near Bolgatanga, is known for geometric murals painted by Kassena-Nankani women on the mud walls of inhabited family compounds.
Attraction · Sirigu
Community-run arts centre in Sirigu, Upper East Region, with a gallery, workshop and guesthouse showcasing local pottery, basketry and wall painting.
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