About a million years ago a meteorite hit what is now the Ashanti Region and left a hole roughly eight kilometres across. It filled with water. That is Lake Bosomtwe: Ghana's only true natural lake, and the closest thing the country has to a mountain lake weekend.

It is half an hour from Kumasi. Most people who live in Accra have never been.

What makes Lake Bosomtwe unusual

Ghana has plenty of water. What it does not have is a natural lake. The Volta is a reservoir, made by a dam. Bosomtwe is the exception: a crater lake about 49 square kilometres in area and 70 to 73 metres deep, sitting in a ring of forested hills that rise steeply on every side.

The drive in tells the story better than any description. The road climbs the crater rim, and then the whole lake appears below you at once.

What it means to the Asante

Bosomtwe is sacred ground. Traditional belief holds that the souls of the dead come to the lake to bid farewell to the god Twi, and a set of customs has grown from that: most famously the prohibition on modern boats, which is why fishermen on the lake traditionally use padua, flat wooden planks they paddle by hand.

You will see this if you go. It is not a performance for visitors; it is how people fish. Treat it accordingly: ask before photographing, and take seriously any restriction a local tells you about, including which days fishing does not happen.

What to do there

  • Swim. The water is calm and there is no current: this is one of the few places in Ghana where swimming is genuinely relaxed rather than a fight with the surf.
  • Take a boat out. Motor boats and canoes operate for visitors from Abono.
  • Walk the villages. There are around thirty settlements around the rim, and the paths between the nearer ones are walkable.
  • Hike the crater rim for the view down over the whole lake.
  • Sit still. A very large share of visitors come to do exactly this, and the lodges are built for it.

Abono

Abono is the main shoreline village and the place the tarred road ends. It is where the gate is, where the boats go from, and where most of the accommodation sits.

There is a gate on entry to Abono: around GH₵20 per car, with a Ghana Tourism Authority ticket issued. Keep it.

Getting there from Kumasi

Taxi

The easy option. Find a taxi anywhere in Kumasi and negotiate the fare before setting off: from the city centre, expect something in the region of GH₵30 to GH₵50 one way, more if you want the driver to wait. Half an hour to an hour depending on traffic out of the city.

Tro-tro

Vehicles run to Abono from the Kejetia terminal in Kumasi. The fare is small, roughly GH₵5 to GH₵10, and the journey takes an hour to an hour and a half. From the drop-off it is about a fifteen-minute walk to the water.

As with most Ghanaian day trips, the return is the part to plan. Vehicles back to Kumasi thin out through the afternoon, so ask about the last one when you arrive rather than at five o'clock.

From Accra

Bosomtwe is not an Accra day trip. It is a Kumasi overnight, or the second day of a Kumasi weekend: see our Kumasi travel guide for getting to the city in the first place.

Staying the night

This is the part that turns Bosomtwe from a stop into a weekend. There is a genuine range of lakeside accommodation around Abono, including Paradise Resort, Lake Point Guesthouse, Cocoa Village Guesthouse and Wildwin Resort: from simple guesthouse rooms to more comfortable lodges, most with the lake immediately in front of them.

Book ahead for weekends and holidays. There is not a lot of capacity and Kumasi knows about this place even if Accra does not. Our affordable hotels guide covers the budget end of Ghanaian accommodation more generally.

What it costs

  • Abono gate: around GH₵20 per car
  • Taxi from Kumasi: around GH₵30 to GH₵50 one way, negotiated
  • Tro-tro from Kejetia: around GH₵5 to GH₵10
  • Boat trips and guides: priced on the day, in cash
  • Accommodation: the real variable, from guesthouse rates upwards

Prices checked in August 2026. Everything here is a cash transaction and rates move. Negotiate the taxi before you get in, not after.

When to go

Bosomtwe is a year-round destination, which not much in Ghana is. The dry months give you reliable weather for swimming and the rim walk; the wet months give you a greener crater and fewer people.

Go on a weekday if you can. Weekends bring Kumasi out to the water, which is pleasant but is not the still lake in the photographs.

Tours & tickets — booking through these earns us a commission

Before you go

  • Cash. There is no card machine at a lakeside village.
  • Swimming things and a towel: the swimming is the point.
  • Sun cover. The crater is open water with no shade on it.
  • Insect repellent for the evening if you are staying.
  • Ask before photographing fishermen. They are working.
  • Agree your return transport when you arrive, not when you want to leave.

Related: the Aburi Botanical Gardens.