Ghana's third most-visited attraction is not a castle and it is not in Accra. It is a forest reserve outside a junction town most people only know as the place they stop for meat pies on the way to Kumasi. Bunso Eco Park pulled 149,319 visitors in 2025, more than Cape Coast Castle, and a good number of them were Ghanaians on a Saturday out.

If you have driven the Accra–Kumasi road, you have passed the turning. Here is what is down it.

What Bunso Eco Park actually is

It began as an arboretum. A working collection of trees, planted for study rather than for visitors. That is still the bones of the place: sixteen hectares of preserved forest with species labelled and laid out, sitting inside the Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute at Bunso.

The eco park is what grew on top of it. A canopy walkway, a zipline, a horse ranch, a playground and a snack bar have turned a research forest into a family day out, which is why it appears in the national visitor figures at all. Purists call it two attractions sharing a gate. Most people call it a good Saturday.

The canopy walkway

This is what people come for, and it is worth being clear about how it compares to Kakum, because most visitors are choosing between them.

Bunso's walkway runs roughly 280 to 320 metres across five suspension bridges and six platforms, at about 12 metres above the forest floor. Kakum's is higher and longer, and it is the one that will frighten you. Bunso's is gentler: high enough to put you in the canopy, low enough that a nervous child or an older relative will actually cross it.

There are two routes: a shorter one built for younger children, and the full adult circuit. If you are bringing a mixed group, that split is the single best thing about the place.

Bunso or Kakum?

  • Bunso: closer to Accra on a better road, cheaper, easier walkway, more to do on the ground. Better with small children or a large family group.
  • Kakum: a taller, more dramatic walk in genuine rainforest, and it pairs with Cape Coast and Elmina in one trip. Better if the canopy walk is the point of the journey.

What else is on the site

The zipline and the horse ranch are separate tickets, and both are short. This is not an adventure park. The butterfly and birdlife is the quieter draw and the one most visitors miss, because it needs an early start. Get through the gate before 8 a.m. and the difference is not subtle.

There is a snack bar on site, but it is built for a soft drink and a light bite rather than lunch for six. Pack accordingly, or plan to eat at Linda Dor on the way back out.

What it costs

  • Park entrance: around GH₵5
  • Canopy walkway: around GH₵25
  • Zipline: around GH₵20
  • Horse riding: around GH₵10

So a full adult circuit lands near GH₵50 to GH₵60 before transport, which makes this one of the cheapest headline attractions in the country.

Prices checked in August 2026. Gate fees in Ghana move, and some sites charge residents and non-residents differently. Carry a little more than you think you need, and small notes. Do not count on change at the gate.

Getting there from Accra

Bunso sits about 165 km from Accra, roughly 4 km off the Accra–Kumasi road at the Bunso junction: the Linda Dor turning. Coming from Koforidua it is closer to a thirty-minute run.

Driving

The straightforward option, and the one most visitors take. Head out on the Accra–Kumasi road through Nsawam and Suhum, and turn at Bunso junction. Allow two and a half to three hours from central Accra on a normal morning, more if you leave after the Nsawam traffic has built.

By tro-tro

Take anything heading to Koforidua or Kumasi and ask to be dropped at Bunso junction, then take a taxi or a motorbike the last few kilometres to the gate. Doable, and cheap, but it makes the return leg the awkward part of the day. You are waiting at a junction for a vehicle with a free seat. If there are three or four of you, a dropping from Accra or a hired car for the day is worth the difference.

When to go

Early, on any day. The specific advice, before 8 a.m., is about the birds and butterflies, but it also gets you the walkway before the school groups. Weekday mornings are quiet. Saturdays in the dry season are the busiest the park gets.

The forest is greener and louder in the rains, roughly May to July and again in September and October, and the walkway is genuinely more slippery then. Sensible shoes are not optional on the bridges.

Make a weekend of it

Bunso on its own is a long drive for a couple of hours on site. It works far better chained with the rest of the Eastern Region: Aburi Botanical Gardens on the way out, or Boti Falls and the Umbrella Rock from a base in Koforidua the next morning.

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Before you go

  • Closed shoes with grip. The bridges and the forest floor both earn them.
  • Cash in small notes. Assume no card, and assume no change.
  • Insect repellent, especially early and after rain.
  • Water. The snack bar is small and it is a forest, not a mall.
  • Confirm the canopy walkway is open before you drive out: maintenance closures happen and are not announced anywhere you would think to look.