Ghana - anyone been?

[ICriedAllTheWayToTheChipShop]

A holiday company that I've used in the past sent me their latest brochure this week, and I noticed they've started offering tours to Ghana. It looks really beautiful and full of interesting things to see, and now I feel very tempted to book ( it'll have to be in 2027 though, as I've already got this year and next planned!). Has anyone been recently? What was the scenery and food like, and are the roads halfway decent? TIA.

No but a good friend is Ghanaian and often goes back and from the photos it looks great. She’s from Accra so big city stuff. They have some very classy nighttime venues and everyone looks beautifully turned out. Have always fancied visiting.
I think they get quite a lot of Black Americans visiting and they have some interesting historical sites around the coast.
Not that helpful! But bumping and agree it looks like a great place to visit.
Best ever food review show did a visit there you can see on YouTube.

Thanks - it looks really good in terms of infrastructure and things to do, and all the pictures make it look beautiful. But an actual filmed show would give a better idea, so I'll definitely check that out.

I went in 2018. Not technically a holiday as I was working at a maths camp for gifted and talented kids.

The roads are mostly not good, although Accra has some decent ones. They’re fine if you’re in minibus or coach though and I’ve seen much much worse.

we went to cape coast and some of the slaving castles around there on a trip. Plenty of tourists.

english seemed pretty widely spoken.

Food - Accra has most of the usual western restaurants. Ghanaian food generally is quite spicy and often traditionally eaten with your hands. They understand the concept of vegetarian which is better than many other countries (looking at you France). The food is actually pretty nice.

restaurants are a lot rarer outside the big cities. Fruit is easily obtainable and cheap.

I’ve been a few times. Roads are terrible, sanitation isn’t good …. But people are lovely. Very sticky and humid
Visited Cape coast for the first time just after the Obamas

Thanks, it still looks interesting but as I wouldn't be going for a while I'll have to hold myself back from actually booking anything yet and see how I feel later. My usual pattern for holiday booking is to go through phases of feeling strongly about a series of varying destinations, and do lots of research, then suddenly book somewhere completely different on impulse. It's worked out for me so far but I'm not remotely impulsive in other areas of my life so I'm not sure why I'm like that about travel!

I read that as “the people are lovely, very sticky and humid”!

I've been on holiday to Ghana but it was about 20 years ago (pre dc) so my memories are a bit vague and things might have changed since then.

We were travelling independently (getting round on local buses etc) rather than on a tour.

The history was interesting - sites associated with the slave trade on the coast. We also had some very good wildlife experiences - elephant watching in a National Park and staying in a village where monkeys are protected.

It was one of the trickier places to travel independently. I remember the bus arriving in one small town and we couldn't get anything to eat that night because literally everywhere was closed when it arrived.

I've also got bad memories of the food. I'm vegan and my dp is vegetarian. We've been to other places where we couldn't find anything to eat except rice and beans and that can get a bit boring but is fine. But in Ghana, there were times when we could only get manioc which I really didn't like. It was also the first time I had had okra which just seemed slimy.

It was an interesting country to visit and we were glad that we had been but it was one of the few countries we've been to that at the end of the holiday, we didn't feel that we would like to go back again to see more of.

But that was a long time ago and going on a package holiday might be different anyway.

It’s on my to do list one day.

Been and lived there. Accra is not too touristy but there are still nice things to do there including the amazing botanical gardens. Slave fort/castles is interesting and for me emotional. Then you can go to restaurants by the water and watch boats coming in ot go our. Then Lake Bosomtwe - a lovely calm crater lake - and Royal museum in Kumasi. Kakum National park and Lake Volta. There beaches are OK but I didnt find them as attractive as other countries.

It can get very hot and humid so go in their coolest months.
Hospitality (I mean the real human not the commercial type) is amazing.

My family are proud Ghanaians. However I don’t thinking it fits the bill for what ‘westerners’ would want from an African holiday. There isn’t much of a safari scene (apart from mole national park) and the food is too spicy and, as someone mentioned up thread, eaten with hands like the savages we must be. It’s also unsanitary apparently. Plus the mosquitoes are brutal!

I think you should look elsewhere - it’s not really geared towards western tourists anyway and the visa process is a pain in the arse. Save yourself the bother.

Ghana is stunning and one of the most friendly places I have ever visited.
Amazing culture, history, music, dancing ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I wouldn’t drive there. The roads are not for someone of a nervous disposition.
But I would 💯 recommend a visit. Beautiful country. Beautiful people 💛🇬🇭

Trying to remember the coast I visited - it was stunning.

FFS can you please shush?! Don’t let the secret out. I don’t want it ruined.

I wouldn't be looking at Ghana if I was interested in a safari and I doubt if the food will be too spicy for me but I'm not sure if you're entirely serious in trying to put me off! Is the visa process really that bad?

As for unsanitary, I was thinking that the pictures and videos I'd seen (I started watching the food documentary mentioned further up) and Google streetview looked pretty clean on the whole. Certainly more so than Nepal, where I went a couple of years ago but still managed to not get ill by virtue of being careful what I put in my mouth!

I was being tongue in cheek, I had a rather similar conversation with some colleagues recently which was so patronising. 🙄 Plus some of the comments on this thread triggered me. You can get a tourist visa relatively easily, you apply online but they do ask for all sorts of pointless information and you have to send off your passport. Ours arrived in 2 weeks last year. I wasn’t joking about the mozzies, bastards!

Ghana has some amazing restaurants especially in Accra - Asmara is must. If you’ve been to other developing countries like Nepal, you already know to be careful with street food and to stick with bottled water, but there is no need to worry about restaurants. Having said that Osu has an amazing night food market and the best food. We have never gotten sick. Try some waakye for breakfast if you decide to go.

We took the kids to Elmina and Cape Coast castle last year, it was harrowing, a bit like visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau but must be done. Are you into art at all? If so there is a very lively art and cultures scene.

It is a wonderful country, but I would say that wouldn’t I. DH isn't Ghanaian and his whole family want to bloody move there! It’s also chock full of American tourists looking for their roots and driving up prices for knotless braids grrr.

I’ve said enough, go and enjoy my beautiful country. DM me if you have any specific questions,

@TeamGhanaJollof you must be an Off Menu fan...

My husband has Ghanaian heritage, so we've been thinking about visiting, thanks for the tips on this thread.

Thanks @TeamGhanaJollof . I need to go there and try the jollof so I can form an opinion on the Jollof Wars 😁