Elmina

Elmina is a city in Coastal Plain region of Ghana.



Its name comes from the Portuguese word for "Mine". The gold found in these mines are also the origin of the name "Gold Coast", which was the name of what is now Ghana, when it was a British Colony.

Get in
Take a Tro-Tro or Bus to Cape Coast. From there, a shared taxi costs less than 1 Gh¢ to Elmina.

Get around
Within Elmina, shared taxis are very common. The Beach Resorts in Ampenyi or Brenu Akinyim can be reached only by dropping cars and cost 10-12 Gh¢.

Do
The people in the town outside are generally friendly. However, be careful where you step if you walk on the beach. Apparently, the toilet facilities in the area are lacking.

Buy
During the tour of the Elmina Slave Castle, they bring you to a bookstore within the castle filled with reasonably priced books on the castle itself, slavery, important black leaders, and even some books on Ghanaian culture (the Ghanaian cookbook is worth a look). If you need more time to browse, return to this bookstore after the tour.

Eat
There is a restaurant inside the Elmina Slave Castle, but it's recommended that you eat elsewhere. The food is average, and you'll spend most of the meal swatting flies.

Go next
The main taxi and tro-tro station is outside the Wesley Methodist Cathedral. From here you can catch a tro-tro to Takoradi (C10) or passenger taxi to Cape Coast (C5).