5 reasons why travelling to Ghana is a great idea

I have 21 years of Ghana experience and have lived in this West African country for 12 years. A simple conclusion would be that travelling to Ghana would always be a good idea according to me.
Often that is indeed true, yet in this blog you are also going to find reasons why you don’t have to come to Ghana.

But let’s start with why this African country should definitely be on your bucket list.

Ghana is a fantastic destination for a vacation

Beautiful nature, easy to travel, very diverse, beautiful beaches, friendly people. Ghana is therefore called Africa for Beginners. If you’ve always wanted to travel to this continent, and you don’t want to join a group, but enjoy independence. Then definitely come!
I have written a blog for Moon&Star guesthouse about the Ghana top 10.

Spend your holiday in Ghana – 10 reasons why

Travelling to Ghana on your own is not a problem

Another very good reason to come is a solo trip. You can travel around here just fine on your own. Of course you have to use your common sense, but that’s a good thing to do everywhere in the world…. Also as a female feel free to come to Ghana alone. For sure you’ll get a lot of marriage proposals, but there are good ways to deal with that. Just be clear and use a bit of humor in your rejections.

A pleasant country to stay for a longer period of time

If you want to get away from it all for a while, consider Ghana. There are many projects you can join, but also when you want to travel and get to know the culture, this country is highly recommended. Ghanaians are very social and accept you very quickly into their lives. So as a traveller you should not be surprised when you suddenly find yourself at a funeral or wedding of a stranger. If you make friends with, for example, a store owner, you can spend days watching the daily Ghanaian life.

No mass tourism

There is no mass tourism here. You can actually decide if you want to meet other travelers during your trip, or not. There are places where you are guaranteed to meet other travelers, like Busua, Mole National park and the popular backpackers hostel Somewhere nice in Accra. But there are also beautiful off-the-beaten-track destinations where you hardly meet other travelers and where you have the chance to really get to know beautiful Ghana.

Decent internet, so you can work or study in Ghana

The Internet is generally pretty good and reliable. It does depend on the location where you are staying. Not all networks are equally good throughout the country. There is some occasional disconnection, but my father complains about that regularly in the Netherlands as well. I recently wrote a blog about internet and Wi-Fi in Ghana. Click here to read it!

3 reasons not to travel to Ghana

As mentioned at the beginning, Ghana is really not suitable for every traveler. I’ll give you 3 reasons below to avoid coming in the first place.

Ghana has no grand tourist attractions

Yes, you can go on safari in Ghana, there are beautiful waterfalls, beautiful mountains etc. But we have no Niagara falls, no mountain Kilimanjaro or the big five. When you come to Ghana set yourself up for extraordinary encounters, beautiful landscapes, amazing people and know that the journey itself is also an adventure, not just the final destination.

Getting rich quick/easy doing business

Ghana is really not a country where doing business is easy. Starting a business as a foreigner is very expensive. And even when you have started the business it is difficult to keep your head above water. The taxes, permits and bureaucracy scare many people. Living in Ghana can be quite expensive, especially if you want to live in Accra or Kumasi.

Stay home when you want to save the world

There are countless gap year and volunteer projects in this country. There are some really good ones among them, but there are also some really wrong organizations. I know some of you won’t like reading this. But you don’t have to be travelling to Ghana or any other African country to help the poor people, or to put a smile on the face of those cute little kids. That said, there is nothing wrong with volunteering. Just check very carefully what you are going to do! I highly recommend reading the following article if you are seriously thinking about volunteering in Africa!

Gap year programs | 5 no-go’s in volunteering abroad