Free and independent · Updated 6 November 2026

Everything nobody tells you about living in Accra

Plain-English guides to Ghanaian bureaucracy, housing, money and daily life — for returnees, new arrivals, and Ghanaians who have simply never had to renew a roadworthy before.

Greater Accra, by district assembly. Choose one to open it on the map. Explore the map →

Explore Accra

Things to play with, not just read.

Everything to explore ➞

Start here

The things that block everything else. Until these are done, you cannot open a bank account, sign a lease or get paid properly.

Your first weeks In this order: each one unlocks the next.

  1. Get a Ghana Card The single ID that unlocks banking, SIM cards and your tax number.
  2. Find a place to live Agents, viewings, and the rent advance that eats your savings.
  3. Set up mobile money MoMo does more work in Ghana than most bank accounts.
  4. Learn to move Trotro routes, Bolt, okada, and why nobody uses street names.

Once you are settled When you have a minute, in any order.

  1. Register for NHIS It costs less than a plate of waakye a month and takes 90 days to start.
  2. Check your payslip Work out PAYE and SSNIT, and see if your deductions are right.
  3. Find a school How the system works, what it costs, and when to apply.
  4. Explore the city Jamestown, the beaches, the festivals and the road out.

Coming up in Accra

All events ➞

Public holidays Banks, offices and most schools shut

  • Farmers' Day

    Public holiday

    Nationwide

    The first Friday in December, honouring farmers and fishers.

  • Christmas Day

    Public holiday

    Nationwide

  • Boxing Day

    Public holiday

    Nationwide

  • New Year's Day

    Public holiday

    Nationwide

Organising something? List it free ➞

Work it out

All 17 calculators ➞

The same figures as the guides, worked out on your own device. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.

Salary calculator

What will you take home?

PAYE and SSNIT at this year's rates, worked out in your browser.

The numbers, today

How we keep them right ➞

Every figure on this site comes from one file, with its source, the day it was last checked and the day it must be checked again by.

Browse everything

All 192 guides ➞

Every guide, by subject, in the order you are likely to need them.

Moving to Accra 16 guides

Guides for the first weeks - visas, the Ghana Card, a place to sleep and a phone number that works.

  1. How to move to Accra
    1. Your first week checklist
    2. Visiting Accra
    3. Weather and seasons
  2. Getting a visa
    1. Residence permits
    2. Work permits
    3. The Right of Abode
    4. Ghanaian citizenship
    5. Dual citizenship
  3. Flying into Accra
    1. Kotoka airport, terminal by terminal
    2. Flying out of Accra
  4. Getting a Ghana Card
    1. Your digital address
    2. SIM cards and internet
All 16 ➞

Government paperwork 17 guides

Passports, certificates, licences and the agencies that issue them. The documents everything else in Ghana asks you for, and what to do when one of them is lost, wrong or in somebody else's name.

  1. The paperwork planner
  2. Getting a passport
    1. Police clearance certificates
    2. Authenticating documents for use abroad
    3. Swearing an affidavit
    4. Declaration of loss template
  3. Birth certificates
    1. Death certificates
    2. Getting married, and registering it
    3. Late birth registration declaration
    4. Changing or correcting your name
    5. Same person declaration template
    6. Change of name declaration template
  4. Driving licences
    1. Registering a vehicle
  5. Replacing lost documents
  6. Ghana's regulators, and who to complain to
All 17 ➞

Housing in Accra 19 guides

Finding a place, surviving the rent advance, checking a tenancy agreement and not buying land twice.

  1. How to find a place to live
    1. Where to live in Accra
      1. East Legon
      2. Cantonments
      3. Osu
      4. Airport Residential
      5. Labone
      6. Spintex
    2. Neighbourhood comparer
    3. Rent in Accra, district by district
    4. Rent advance calculator
    5. Housing and land scams
  2. The rent advance
    1. Your tenancy agreement
    2. Tenancy agreement template
    3. Rent advance receipt
    4. The Rent Control Department
  3. Buying land in Ghana
    1. Land law and conveyancing
All 19 ➞

Utilities and daily life 6 guides

Electricity, water, waste and the small infrastructure of an Accra household.

  1. Electricity and dumsor
  2. Water in Accra
  3. Internet and SIM cards
  4. Waste collection
    1. Giving things away
  5. Reporting broken infrastructure
All 6 ➞

Money in Ghana 23 guides

Mobile money, bank accounts, PAYE, SSNIT and what a month in Accra actually costs.

  1. Cost of living in Accra
    1. Cost of living calculator
  2. Mobile money
    1. Opening a bank account
    2. Types of bank account
    3. Bank account finder
    4. Sending money to Ghana
    5. Rate checker
    6. Receiving money in Ghana
    7. Sending money out of Ghana
  3. Income tax and PAYE
    1. Salary calculator
    2. VAT and the levies
    3. VAT calculator
  4. SSNIT and pensions
    1. The three pension tiers
    2. Pension tax relief
    3. Private and voluntary pensions
    4. Pension calculator
  5. Importing a car
    1. Customs clearance
    2. Using ICUMS
  6. Exporting from Ghana
All 23 ➞

Working in Ghana 7 guides

Finding a job, reading a Ghanaian contract, knowing your rights under the Labour Act and going freelance.

  1. How to find a job in Accra
    1. Employment contract checklist
  2. National service
  3. Your rights as an employee
    1. Resignation letter template
  4. Freelancing in Ghana
    1. Registering a business
All 7 ➞

Starting a business in Accra 16 guides

Most working people in Accra work for themselves. The paperwork, the money, choosing where to trade - and how to start twelve specific trades.

  1. Entrepreneurship in Accra
    1. Registering a business
    2. The traditional trades of Accra
    3. Starting a tech company
  2. Food
    1. Kenkey and waakye
    2. A chop bar
  3. Everyday services
    1. A barbershop
    2. A hair salon
    3. Tailoring and dressmaking
    4. Phone repair
    5. A car wash
  4. Retail
    1. A provisions shop
    2. A clothing boutique
  5. Licensed trades
    1. A creche or daycare
    2. A chemical shop
  6. Land-based
    1. A poultry farm
All 16 ➞

Getting around Accra 4 guides

Trotros, ride-hailing, okada and the DVLA.

  1. How to get around Accra
    1. Understanding trotro routes
  2. Driving in Accra
  3. Domestic flights in Ghana
All 4 ➞

Health and healthcare 10 guides

The NHIS, private insurance, where to go when you are sick and how to stay ahead of malaria.

  1. NHIS and health insurance
    1. Private health insurance
  2. Hospitals in Accra
  3. Finding a doctor
    1. Specialists
    2. Dentists and eye care
  4. Staying well
    1. Malaria and staying healthy
    2. Pharmacies and medicines
    3. Mental health
  5. Having a baby in Accra
All 10 ➞

Schools and education 9 guides

How Ghanaian schooling works, from creche to university - and what it costs.

  1. Schools in Accra
    1. Creches and daycare
    2. International schools
    3. School and university books
  2. What education costs
  3. Universities in Ghana
    1. Studying here as a foreigner
    2. National service
  4. Learning a trade
All 9 ➞

Services and everyday help 7 guides

Artisans, domestic help, hairdressers, vets and the professionals worth paying for.

  1. Finding a tradesperson
  2. Hiring help at home
  3. Hair, barbers and salons
  4. Gyms and sport
    1. Running in Accra
  5. Pets and vets
  6. Lawyers and accountants
All 7 ➞

Shopping in Accra 18 guides

Markets, malls, Melcom and Instagram vendors - where Accra actually buys things, and what it should cost.

  1. Where to shop in Accra
    1. Accra's markets
    2. Online shopping
    3. Buying food cheaply
    4. Buying second-hand clothes
    5. Buying fabric, and using a tailor
    6. Buying cosmetics and toiletries
    7. Buying electronics
    8. Buying kitchenware
    9. Buying furniture
    10. Buying building materials
    11. Buying car parts
    12. Buying baby items
    13. School uniforms and supplies
    14. Buying wholesale
  2. Books and bookshops
  3. Furnishing a home
    1. Importing and customs
All 18 ➞

Technology in Accra 12 guides

The apps everyone here actually uses, the startups and hubs building things, how to work in tech, and how not to be defrauded online.

  1. Buying a phone or laptop
  2. The apps you actually need
    1. Fintech apps
    2. Ride-hailing and delivery
    3. Online fraud, and how to avoid it
  3. Working in tech
    1. Learning to code
    2. Remote work from Accra
  4. Tech startups in Accra
    1. Starting a tech company
    2. Hubs and co-working spaces
    3. Communities and meetups
All 12 ➞

Living in Ghana 22 guides

Language, food, funerals, public holidays and the parts of daily life nobody writes down.

  1. Learning Twi and Ga
    1. Twi and Ga phrasebook
  2. Radio in Accra
    1. Listening from abroad
  3. What to eat in Accra
    1. Where to eat cheaply
    2. Chop bars
    3. Street food
    4. Breakfast in Accra
    5. Late-night food
    6. Eating vegetarian
    7. Waakye
    8. Jollof and the rice dishes
    9. Kenkey and fish
    10. Banku and tilapia
    11. The staples behind it
  4. Public holidays
  5. Ghanaian authors worth reading
    1. Books and bookshops
    2. Children's books
  6. Funerals and social obligations
  7. Emergency numbers
All 22 ➞

Food and farming in Accra 11 guides

What is in season when, what the city's staples become, and where its food is grown - from drain-bank lettuce to the Dodowa mango belt and the canoes at Chorkor.

  1. What to eat when, month by month
    1. Fruit in Accra
    2. Vegetables and leafy greens
    3. Mango season
    4. Fish seasons on the coast
  2. The staples behind Ghanaian food
  3. Farming in Accra
    1. When to plant what
    2. Starting a poultry farm
  4. Accra's markets
    1. Buying food cheaply
All 11 ➞

Exploring Accra and Ghana 15 guides

Beaches, history, festivals, nightlife and everywhere worth going within a weekend of the city.

  1. Things to do in Accra
    1. Accra's beaches
    2. Kayaking, surfing and water sports
    3. Drive Accra online
    4. Nightlife and live music
      1. Nightclubs
      2. Bars, rooftops and the local spot
      3. Live music
      4. Night out planner
    5. Tour guides and tours
  2. Out of the city
    1. Cape Coast and Elmina
  3. Festivals in Ghana
    1. Detty December
    2. Listing your event
All 15 ➞

Accra and Ghana in numbers 8 guides

What the census and sixty-five years of national data actually say about Accra and about Ghana - and how to tell which is which.

  1. How Accra grew
    1. Ghana's population in numbers
  2. Accra's economy in numbers
    1. Inflation and the cedi
    2. Money sent home to Ghana
  3. Education in Ghana in numbers
  4. Infrastructure in numbers
  5. How to read Ghanaian statistics
All 8 ➞

Calculators 16 guides

Ghanaian salary calculators, rent advance calculators and VAT calculators. Everything runs in your browser.

  1. Salary calculator
  2. Rent advance calculator
  3. Cost of living calculator
  4. VAT calculator
  5. Rate checker
  6. Bank account finder
  7. Neighbourhood comparer
  8. Twi and Ga phrasebook
  9. Import duty calculator
  10. Vehicle import duty calculator
  11. Withholding tax calculator
  12. Loan repayment calculator
  13. WASSCE aggregate calculator
  14. Business viability checker
  15. Pension calculator
  16. Night out planner
All 16 ➞

Letter and document templates 9 guides

Tenancy agreements, receipts, resignation letters, sworn declarations and checklists you can copy, print and adapt, and a planner for the paperwork they belong to.

  1. Paperwork planner
  2. Same person declaration
  3. Change of name declaration
  4. Late birth registration declaration
  5. Declaration of loss
  6. Tenancy agreement template
  7. Rent advance receipt
  8. Resignation letter
  9. Contract checklist
All 9 ➞
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