Accra travel guide by district
From the old Ga towns and forts by the sea to Black Star Square, the markets of Makola and the campus at Legon. Learn Accra’s districts, find the places worth traveling for, and get to know the city in ten short sections.
- Population
- About 5.5 million (Greater Accra Region, 2021)
- Area
- About 3,250 km² (region)
- Districts
- 29 districts in the region, 22 mapped here
- Language
- English (official), Ga and Twi
- Capital since
- 1877, of the Gold Coast and then Ghana
- Best months
- November to March, the dry season
Thirteen districts
Accra Metropolitan
Jamestown, Ussher Town and the Ga towns where Accra began, with Makola Market, the Nkrumah memorial park and the lighthouse above the fishing beach.
From Jamestown on the shore up to Legon, and east along the coast to Teshie and Nungua. Select a district to read it, then play the map and try finding all thirteen. The old Accra Metropolitan Area has been split into these municipal districts since 2008. The second round goes out to nine suburbs, from Weija in the west to Madina, Adenta and the port city of Tema.
A little Accra before you go
Geography & significance
A capital on the Gulf of Guinea.
Accra lies about five and a half degrees north of the equator, and the prime meridian runs through Tema on its eastern edge. The point where the two lines cross lies out in the Gulf of Guinea, a few hundred kilometers to the south. Cape Coast Castle had been the seat of British rule, but Accra’s drier air was thought to carry less fever, and the town already traded briskly through its three forts. The move made Accra the center of the colony and later of independent Ghana.
Accra sits in the Dahomey Gap, a dry stretch where the coast lines up with the monsoon winds and cool water rises offshore in summer. The city gets well under half the rain of Abidjan or Lagos, and grassland rather than forest surrounds it. Greater Accra is the smallest of Ghana’s regions by area but the most densely peopled, with about five and a half million residents in 2021. Government, banking, the port of Tema and most large companies are there, and migrants arrive from every region.
Commonly asked2 questions
- What makes Accra’s place on the map unusual?
- Accra lies about five and a half degrees north of the equator, and the prime meridian runs through Tema on its eastern edge. The point where the two lines cross lies out in the Gulf of Guinea, a few hundred kilometers to the south.
- Why did the British move the Gold Coast capital to Accra in 1877?
- Cape Coast Castle had been the seat of British rule, but Accra’s drier air was thought to carry less fever, and the town already traded briskly through its three forts. The move made Accra the center of the colony and later of independent Ghana.
The places you came to see
Black Star Square
The vast parade ground of 1961 with the Independence Arch and the Black Star Gate. Walk out onto it early, before the heat, and look out to sea.
Fifteen landmarks, museums, parks and waterfront stops. Essential is our starting shortlist for a first visit; worth a detour helps you go further. These are editorial priorities, not visitor-number rankings.
Keep going one place deeper
When you have had your fill of Accra, the country around it has a guide of its own, and so does the language you will hear on its streets.
District boundaries: OpenStreetMap contributors. ODbL. District boundaries retrieved September 2026, simplified for display. Twenty-two of the 29 districts of the Greater Accra Region are shown. This learning map is not a survey or a boundary authority. Boundary source and license. Guide references: Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Ghana Tourism Authority, Ghana Statistical Service: 2021 census. Check official attraction sites for current admission and access details. Photographs are from Wikimedia Commons and credited on each one.