Cape Coast, in Ghana's Central Region, is where most visitors come to understand the Atlantic slave trade in person. The main things to do in Cape Coast are Cape Coast Castle in the town, Elmina Castle nearby, and Kakum National Park inland. Both castles are UNESCO World Heritage sites, and the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board (GMMB) runs them.

This guide gives the official opening hours, the history behind each castle, and the practical details. It also says plainly what we could not confirm, which is the current entry fee.

Things to do in Cape Coast at a glance

  • Cape Coast Castle: open 9:00 am to 4:30 pm daily, according to GMMB.
  • Elmina Castle: the same hours on GMMB's page, 9:00 am to 4:30 pm daily.
  • Entry fees: GMMB's pages still show amounts dated 1 July 2023 and a note that they pre-date a revision. The new tariff is not published, so confirm before you go.
  • Tours: guided tours of the Cape Coast Castle dungeons and museum are available.
  • Add a nature stop: Kakum National Park, covered in our own guide.

Cape Coast Castle

Cape Coast Castle began as a Portuguese trading post in 1555 called Cabo Corso, meaning Short Cape. Wikipedia records a Swedish lodge in the 1650s and says the English captured the site in 1664, renamed it Cape Coast Castle and reinforced it. Enslaved Africans were held in dungeons cut into the rock beneath the parade ground before being shipped across the Atlantic, and Wikipedia says the dungeons are estimated to have been built by 1682 and could hold about a thousand people.

After independence in 1957 the castle came under GMMB, which restored it in the early 1990s. It is now open to visitors with a museum, guided tours of the dungeons and the governors' chambers, and views over the Atlantic. UNESCO inscribed it in 1979 as part of the series Forts and Castles, Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions.

GMMB's page for the castle gives the opening hours as 9:00 am to 4:30 pm daily and lists a Cape Coast Castle telephone number, +233 3321 32529, for the GMMB Central and Western Regions office.

Cape Coast Castle

Elmina Castle

GMMB describes Elmina Castle as founded by the Portuguese in 1482 and as the first major European construction in tropical Africa. Wikipedia adds that the Dutch West India Company seized it in 1637, that it served as a depot for enslaved Africans, and that the Dutch continued the slave trade there until 1814. The British took over the Dutch territory in 1872, and Ghana has controlled the castle since independence in 1957.

Elmina Castle is on the same UNESCO listing, inscribed in 1979, and is preserved as a Ghanaian national museum. GMMB gives the same opening hours as for Cape Coast Castle, 9:00 am to 4:30 pm daily.

Elmina Castle

Entry fees: what we could and could not confirm

GMMB's castle pages say entrance fees were reviewed on 1 July 2023 and show a table of amounts, including GH₵20 for a Ghanaian adult and GH₵80 for a non-Ghanaian adult. GMMB's separate fees page labels the same table as the fees that applied prior to the recent revision, and it does not publish the revised tariff.

Because of that, we are not giving a 2026 price. To confirm it, email GMMB at official@gmmb.gov.gh or call the head office on +233 303 944 028, or ask at the ticket desk on the day. Other sites quote different figures without a source, so treat them with caution.

Adding Kakum National Park

Many visitors combine the castles with the Kakum canopy walk on the same trip, as our Kakum canopy walk guide describes. If you are travelling from the capital on a budget, our Accra to Cape Coast weekend guide covers transport and a two-day plan.

Visiting well

The dungeons and the Door of No Return are places of memory as well as tourist sights. Take the guided tour so the history is explained in context, and allow time rather than rushing between the two castles.

For the rest of the country, our guide to the best places to visit across the regions shows where the Central Region sits.

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