Everything that can go wrong on arrival in Accra goes wrong before you land, at check-in, or in the twenty minutes after you clear customs. The flight itself is the easy part.
Before you board: the two documents
A visa, unless you are exempt. Ghana checks this at your departure airport, not at Kotoka, and an airline that boards you without one is liable for flying you back. ECOWAS nationals do not need one; most others do.
A yellow fever certificate. This is checked on arrival at Kotoka and it is enforced. Without one you may be vaccinated at the airport at your own cost before you are allowed through.
Do not book a flight before you have the visa question settled
Being turned around at Kotoka is expensive and slow, and being refused boarding in London or New York is worse. If you are applying on arrival or on an e-visa, confirm your eligibility with a Ghanaian mission before you buy a ticket.
Landing
Arrivals at Terminal 3 run in this order:
- Health check — yellow fever certificate.
- Immigration. Biometrics are taken. Have your address in Ghana written down; “a hotel in Accra” is not an answer.
- Baggage reclaim.
- Customs. Green and red channels, and the green channel is not a formality — bags are scanned.
Peak arrival time is late evening, when the European and Gulf flights land within an hour of each other. Expect the immigration hall to be full.
Customs, and what actually gets stopped
Personal effects are fine. What draws attention:
- New electronics still in retail packaging, especially several of the same thing. That reads as trade goods, and trade goods attract duty.
- Drones, which need clearance.
- Large amounts of cash. Declare it above the threshold; the penalty for not declaring is worse than the paperwork.
- Medicines in quantity, without a prescription.
The first twenty minutes after customs
This is where visitors lose money.
- Ignore everyone who approaches you. Airport staff are behind counters. The man who knows your name read it off your luggage tag.
- Do not let anyone carry your bag unless you have decided to hire a porter and agreed the price.
- Get cash from an ATM, not the forex counter, whose rate is the worst you will see.
- Book a ride in the app rather than accepting a quoted fare, or agree the fare before you get in.
- Have your address written down, in a form a driver can actually use. Accra runs on landmarks, not street names. — Your digital address
Getting into town
- Ride-hailing — cheapest and most predictable.
- A hotel pickup, worth it on a first arrival at night.
- An airport taxi, negotiated before you get in.
The airport is inside the city, so most of Accra is twenty minutes away in theory. In practice it depends entirely on the hour.
The first week
— Your first week checklist — Internet and SIM cards — Where to stay and live
If you are moving here rather than visiting
The arrival is the same; what follows is not.
— How to move to Accra — Residence permits — Getting a Ghana Card
Where the flights come from
— Every nonstop route into Accra, mapped — Kotoka airport, terminal by terminal