What to Wear in Accra

Accra is warm and humid twelve months of the year, with midday temperatures hovering around 30°C and sea breezes that ease the heat only when you are standing right along the waterfront at Black Star Square or Labadi Beach. Synthetic polyester shirts quickly feel sticky here; pack loose, breathable 100 percent cotton, linen or bamboo fabrics.

Ghana's "Friday Wear" tradition and custom tailoring

Across Accra, Fridays celebrate national textile pride under a tradition known as Friday Wear. Instead of Western business suits, bank staff, civil servants, creative professionals and restaurant hosts dress in custom-tailored shirts, dresses and skirts stitched from colourful Ghanaian cotton wax prints or accented with woven kente panels. If you pick up six yards of cotton fabric at Makola Market or the Arts Centre on your first morning, a local seamstress or tailor in Osu can stitch a made-to-measure shirt or dress in forty-eight hours.

Practical packing for monuments, markets and day trips

• Respectful casual dress: Ghanaians dress smartly and neatly when going into town. Shorts and sundresses are completely fine for tourists walking around Jamestown, Nkrumah Park or Osu, while swimwear belongs strictly on the beach or by the hotel pool.
• Closed-toe walking shoes or sturdy sandals: wear comfortable flat trainers or strapped leather sandals with grip for stepping over open roadside storm drains, climbing the stone ramparts of Ussher Fort or Cape Coast Castle, and navigating the crowded aisles of Makola Market.
• A light layer for air-conditioned interiors and Aburi hills: keep a thin cotton shirt or scarf in your daypack for strongly air-conditioned galleries and malls or breezy afternoons up at Aburi Botanical Gardens.
• Sun, rain and plug essentials: pack a wide-brimmed sunhat, polarized sunglasses, a compact umbrella for sudden May-to-June tropical cloudbursts, DEET mosquito repellent for outdoor evening terraces, and a British-style three-square-pin Type G plug adapter. Check seasonal weather before you pack.