A guide
Visiting the castles
Cape Coast and Elmina, and the time after them
What the castles are
Along roughly 500 kilometres of Ghana's coast stand the forts and castles built by European trading companies between the late fifteenth and the late eighteenth centuries. They were built for the gold trade, and became places where captive Africans were held before being shipped across the Atlantic. UNESCO lists them together as a World Heritage Site. (to verify)
Elmina, begun by the Portuguese in 1482, and Cape Coast, enlarged by the British, are the two most visited. Both are managed by the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board and are open to visitors with guided tours. (to verify)
What a visit involves
- A guided tour of about one and a half to two hours on foot, through courtyards, rooms and the dungeons.
- The male and female dungeons are underground, dark and close, with uneven floors. Some people find the air and the dark difficult.
- At Cape Coast, the tour ends at the Door of No Return. At Elmina, it includes the condemned cell and the governor's quarters above the women's courtyard.
- Guides speak directly about what happened. You can step out at any point; your guide or ours will wait with you.
Before you go
Read a little first, so the guide's account lands on something you already know. Eat beforehand and bring water. Wear shoes for stone floors. Mornings are cooler and quieter; we usually go early.
Children
Many families visit with children, and older children often find it important. Talk with them beforehand about what they will see. Our guides adapt how they explain things for younger listeners, and younger children can wait outside with one adult.
Photographs
Photography is allowed in most areas; rules are set at the gate and can change. We ask everyone travelling with us to keep cameras down in the dungeons, and never to photograph other visitors in distress.
Feeling it
There is no right way to feel in these rooms. Some people weep, some are angry, some feel nothing until days later. If you are travelling as part of a family or a group, it helps to agree beforehand that everyone can take the visit their own way.
Most people want time alone afterwards, so we leave the afternoon empty.
Time afterwards
We never schedule a market, a craft visit or a long drive straight after a castle. The afternoon is yours: your room, the beach, a garden, a long lunch, or a conversation with your guide. We put the two castles on separate days, and we balance the coast with Accra before and the forest at Kakum after.
Beyond the coast
The castles were the last stage of a much longer route. Our heritage path follows more of it, with a historian and with rest days between: the ancestral river at Assin Manso, where captives were bathed before the final march; the old slave market at Salaga; Pikworo, a rock camp near Paga; and the defence walls that the people of Gwollu built against raiders. (to verify) (to verify) (to verify) (to verify)
Read Before you go to Cape Coast in the journal, or see the questions people ask.
Let us help you plan your trip
Plan the coast with time to take it in
- A specialist who writes back by hand
- Days ordered one house at a time
- Time left free after the heavy days
Start a conversation
Leave your name and email and a specialist will write back by hand, usually within two working days. Or use the trip planner to send us more.