Accra

Accra's monumental core gathers the symbols of Ghana's history. Independence Square (Black Star Square), a vast seafront parade ground and one of the largest ceremonial spaces anywhere, is dominated by the Black Star Gate — topped by the lone black star of African freedom — and the Independence Arch, built to mark Ghana becoming the first sub-Saharan nation to win independence in 1957. A short distance inland, the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park and Mausoleum honours the country's founding president and a leading figure of Pan-Africanism, with a dramatic stepped mausoleum, fountains, statues and a museum set in landscaped gardens — one of the city's most visited sites. Together with the nearby W.E.B. Du Bois Memorial Centre, the former home of the African-American scholar who spent his final years in Accra, they make a meaningful half-day for anyone interested in African and diaspora history.

Jamestown (and neighbouring Usshertown) is the most characterful corner of Accra — an old, weathered fishing quarter strung along the shore beneath a red-and-white striped lighthouse you can climb for a view over the rooftops and the harbour. Below, brightly painted wooden fishing pirogues crowd the beach and the daily catch is landed and sold; the lanes are alive with street art, a famous local boxing tradition, and a community of photographers and artists. The area's creative energy peaks each year at the Chale Wote Street Art Festival, when the streets fill with murals, performance, music and crowds. A guided walk (best arranged with a local) brings the district to life and supports the community. It's the place that best captures Accra's blend of history, hardship, art and irrepressible spirit.

Everyday Accra is found in its markets, on its beaches and in its nightlife. Makola Market is the city's teeming commercial heart — a vast, loud, colourful maze where traders sell fabric, beads, food, household goods and just about everything else; go with a light bag and an open mind. The coast is the city's playground: Labadi Beach (La Pleasure Beach) is the liveliest, with live music, horse-riding, beach bars and big weekend crowds, while quieter sands stretch east toward Ada and the Volta estuary. As night falls, the Osu district's “Oxford Street” becomes the dining and nightlife hub, packed with restaurants, rooftop bars and clubs. The food is a highlight throughout: jollof rice (Ghana's pride in the great West African rivalry), banku and grilled tilapia with pepper sauce, waakye, kelewele (spiced fried plantain) and fresh seafood, eaten everywhere from street stalls to smart restaurants.

Accra is the springboard for the rest of Ghana, and several of the country's highlights lie within day- or weekend-trip reach. West along the coast, the Cape Coast and Elmina area holds Ghana's most significant heritage sites — historic seafront castles that are sobering UNESCO-listed monuments and an important destination for diaspora travellers — paired with the exhilarating canopy walkway strung high through the rainforest of nearby Kakum National Park. East of the city, the Volta Region rewards with the country's highest waterfalls (Wli Falls), the vast Lake Volta, and hiking in green hills. Inland lies Kumasi, the cultural capital of the Ashanti kingdom, with its great Kejetia market, royal palace and kente-weaving and craft villages. As Ghana's main international gateway, with Kotoka International Airport (ACC) at its centre, Accra is the natural place to begin and end a Ghanaian journey — and an increasingly popular base for the diaspora travel that the Year of Return and its successor programmes have built.