Accra Transportation Tips by Pieter11 Top 5 Page for this destination

Antrak Air

A very easy, but relatively expensive way to get to Accra and away is by flying with Antrak Air. This small airline has daily flights between Accra, Kumasi and Tamale.

For a trip from the capital to Tamale in the North it makes a difference of 15 hours by STC bus for US $ 17,- to 1:20 hours by plane for US $ 130,-. Especially when your time to visit the country is limited, it might be worth thinking about this option.

The flights between Kumasi and Accra don't really look useful to me. A bus ride "only" takes 6 hours, and the route is not that bad, so you'd better save your money and just take the STC bus on this track.

Antrak Air also has international connections to Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Nigeria and to my surprise also to Düsseldorf.

The tickets can be reservated at their website or at their offices in all the cities they fly to in Ghana. In Accra they have one at the Kotoka Airport and one at Danquah Circle in the north of the city.

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Phone: Antrak Air Accra: 021-769458

Type: Airplane

STC Busses in Accra

The most comfortable way to get around in Ghana are the STC Busses. These busses normally are fully airconditioned and have good, comfortable seats. The STC Busses that connect Accra with other cities in the country arrive and depart from two STC stations: the most important one that is going towards Cape Coast, Takoradi, Kumasi, Tamale and other destinations towards the north and west, is about 1,5 kilometre west from Nkrumah Circle, close to Lamptey Circle. This is also the headoffice of the organisation. The other one is close to Makola Market in the centre of the city. From here busses depart to the east: Ho, Tema, Aflao...

There are (several) daily connections to most of the destinations of STC like Kumasi, Cape Coast, Takoradi, Tema and Tamale. Some destinations are only offered a couple of times a week like Bolgatanga, Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), Hohoe and Abidjan (Ivory Coast). You can also take these busses to go to other places on the route, as the STC stops every two hours in the main towns on the route. You can just get off there, only thing is that you pay the full rate of the tour.

A single way ticket from Accra to Tamale costs about 175.000 Cedis (17 US$) and to Kumasi it's about 110.000 Cedis. To Cape Coast and Takoradi you pay 50.000. Make sure you book your tickets at the office at least a day in advance to be sure of a seat. For further destinations like Tamale and Bolga is it wise to even book it about 4 days before departure, because these connections are often full.

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Type: Bus

Tro-Tro's in and around Accra

The most important way of transportation in Ghana is the Tro-Tro. A Tro-Tro is every vehicle that is bigger then a normal car and smaller then a bus. It can be anything: vans, pick-ups, small busses...

Every trip in a Tro-Tro is an adventure. The vehicles always are at least 20 years old, they are extremely uncomfortable, and very, very packed. An a small van they can fit at least 18 people. But the Tro-Tro is the cheapest possible way of transportation, often it is the only way to get somewhere, and it is the perfect way to get to know the real Ghana and the real Ghanaians.

Every town in Ghana has its own Tro-Tro, or Lorry-station. In Accra though, there are at least five of them. It is impossible to tell at which station you need to be for which destination, because there are tens of different Tro-Tro's leaving from Accra. The best way to find out is to ask a taxidriver to take you to the right station. If you are going to Tema, just ask for "Tema Station", when you go to Aburi, ask for "Aburi Station" and so on...

Once you get to the tro-tro you have to buy your ticket, that is very, very cheap. The average price for an hour is about $ 1,-, or 10.000 cedis. Once you have your ticket you can get in and the tro-tro will leave as soon as the vehicle is completely packed. There are no schedules of the departure times, if there are no passengers, it does not drive. Most of the times though, it will leave within an hour after arriving at the station and in Accra normally even within 20 minutes.

From Accra, and of course also the other way, Tro-Tro's leave to these and other destinations:
Kaneshie Station: Cape Coast, Takoradi and other destinations to the west
Nkrumah Circle, or just named "Circle: Kumasi, Tamale and other far destinations to the north
Tema Station or also named "Accra": Tema, Aburi, and other local destinations
Tudu Station: Aflao, Ada, Hohoe, Akosombo and other destinations to the east and northeast
And then there are a few smaller places from where you can get Tro-Tro's.

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Type: Other

Taxi's in Accra

The vehicle you will see the most in Accra definitely is the taxi. Litterly thousands of taxi drive around in the city. Most of them are empty. In some areas in the city there are more taxi's then normal cars. Every taxi has a yellow/orange front and back, so they are easy to spot.

A part of these taxi's are used as shared taxi's, on fixed routes, but especially when you only spend a few days in Accra, these routes are difficult to know. In these cases you normally just take a drop-taxi to any place you want. Within the city centre the average price is 20.000 cedis for a trip by taxi, $ 2,-. For this amount you can spend up to about 30 minutes in a taxi: so the taxi's are very cheap.

If you want to go to destinations outside the Ring Road you have to be prepared on paying a little bit more, but for 30.000 cedis you will always get anywhere you want in and around the centre.

Mode: AROUND

Type: Car/Motor Home

Kotoka International Airport

If you travel to Ghana by airplane, you will always arrive at the only international airport of the country: Kotoka International Airport in Accra. It is situated at only a few kilometres away from the city centre, to the northeast. There are a few important things that are useful to know:

- A very big problem at the airport are all the taxidrivers who try to fool you when you get out of the airport. The arrival hall officially is closed for public, but even inside the airport there are people who try to take money from you. Don't trust anyone you don't know inside or outside the airport.

It's the best to arrange someone to pick you up at the airport, but if that is not possible, you should bargain a lot with the taxidrivers before you enter their taxi. When I once tried to take a taxi back to Accra from the airport, the driver that wanted to take began with the ridiculous price of 160.000 cedis ($16,-)! He made his own list with prices to show me he was honest with me, but after 10 minutes of bargaining I only had to pay the REAL price of 30.000 cedis!

- The other way, from the city centre to the airport the prices are the same as when you leave from the airport. Again, taxidrivers try to get you to pay much more then that, but a price between 30.000 and 40.000 cedis really is the maximum you should pay for a trip like that!

- And the final thing you need to know about the airport is that when you leave the country, most airlines ask you to show up up to four hours before departure! And that while there is almost nothing you can do at the airport: uncomfortable seats and hardly any shops. And to be honest: it is absolutely not necessary to be there that early. If you arrive three hours before departure, it is more then enough.

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Type: Airplane