Over Easter, my sister and I embarked on a Nigeria Ghana road trip from Lagos to Accra via Grand Popo and Lome. We spent 2 days in Grand Popo, Benin, half a day in Lome, Togo and a total of 6 days in Accra and Cape Coast, Ghana. This cost breakdown is based solely on our experience and is only intended for trip planning and to present a fair idea of how much to budget.
All prices stated here are either approximate values or exact values at the time of this writing. If you have recently embarked on this trip, leave me a comment here and I’ll update the pricing on this post.
What's Covered in this Post
Nigeria Ghana Road Trip: Stop 1 – Benin Republic
I have previously written a breakdown for Benin when I visited Fidjrosse and Ouidah for N20,000 only. You can find that here. This time, my sister and I stayed in Grand Popo and here’s a breakdown of our trip.
Transportation
Getting from Lekki to Seme: We took a bus to CMS for N200, to Mile 2 for N400 and Badagry for N800 (See the detailed route here). A shared taxi from Badagry took us to the Seme border for N300.
Getting to Grand Popo from Seme: We grabbed a bike from the border into the town for N400 and a shared taxi into Cotonou for 1,000cefa each. Then another taxi from Cotonou to Grand Popo for 2,500cefa each.
Crossing the Seme Border
Crossing the border should be free but unfortunately, it isn’t. What this means is that you can and should haggle your way through immigration if you must get your passport stamped. Or be prepared to wait for hours if you refuse to pay. Crossing the border for the first time attracts a different fee from an ‘old crosser’. You need a valid passport and yellow card to cross these borders. Here’s what to expect.
On the Nigerian side:
There are about 4 stops/shacks. The first isn’t a stop but they ask for money anyway. You can get away without paying anything there. The second is the ‘Port Health’ stop. If you’re crossing for the first time (with your valid yellow card certificate), they’d ask for N1,500. We paid N1,000 for my sister. I didn’t have to pay.
The next stop is where you ‘register your passport’ (LOL, even writing this is ridiculous!). Anyway, first-timers pay N500. I don’t think you can haggle your way out of paying this. After that is the ‘immigration office’. They asked for a total of N1,000 in the two rooms. We paid N500. And that was all for the Nigerian side.
On the Beninese Side:
There are three stops. First is the main immigration office. PS: Don’t pay money to the guys outside the shack if you want to get your passport stamped. The price for first-timers is N2,000 and the old-timers are N500. Next is the Port Health stop. The price for first-timers is N1,000. (I paid N500, my first time). Old-timers go for free. Last is a bike stop where first-timers pay another N500.
Of course, you can escape all of this by taking a standard bus from Lagos. They manage all the border formalities on your behalf.
Accommodation, Feeding & Entertainment: Nigeria Ghana Road Trip
We stayed at the Auberge de Grand Popo and it cost us N40,000 for two nights (including lunch on arrival day and breakfast for 2 days). Lunch on day 2 cost us N4,000.
We didn’t get up to much in Grand Popo as we had money issues but we got an offer to tour some key places for N7,000.
(Scroll down for an overview)
Nigeria Ghana Road Trip: Stop2- Ghana
Transportation
Getting to Accra from Grand Popo: We took a motor taxi (bike) from our hotel to the Hillacondji border for N1,400. After crossing the border, we shared a taxi to a stop in Lome and a motor taxi to the Aflao border. The cost was N2,400. From the Aflao border, we hopped on an STC bus into Accra for N4,000.
Getting from Accra to Cape Coast and back: Our onward journey with STC was billed at N3,800, while our return journey with another service cost us N5,000.
Our return journey to Lagos from Accra using ABC transport service cost us N21,600 each.
Crossing the Hillacondji & Aflao Borders
On the Benin Republic side, there’s just one stop and first-timers are asked for 2,000cefa. It’s the same on the Togo side as well. For the Aflao border, I can’t say much because we crossed for free. But we were asked for 3,000cefa each on the Togo side.
(See, only a few lines. Seme border is the worst!)
Accommodation, Feeding & Entertainment
Our first three nights were spent at a guest house in Accra. We paid N6,000/night. Then we moved to Urbano hotel which cost us N35,000/night and in Cape Coast, we stayed at Almond Tree Guest House for N16,500/night. We spent our last night in a lovely apartment hotel (Earl Heights), hosted by Meyiwa & Juliana.
We spent a total of N25,000 on food and another N30,000 on tours in Accra and Cape Coast.
Total Costs for a Nigeria Ghana Road Trip
Here’s an overview of everything we spent on our Nigeria to Ghana Road Trip;
Again, this is solely based on our experience. Therefore, these prices may differ due to various reasons.
PS: Here’s a list of all the articles in the Nigeria to Ghana Road Trip series;
Road Tripping from Lagos to Grand Popo
Accra to Cape Coast (The Castles & Kakum National Park)
This is the best first hand post I have seen on a trip that is written to guide fellow newbies. I appreciate. A few questions.
1. On a scale of 1-10 , how safe did you feel?
2. DId you travel with your laptop or you left that behind?
3. Currency exchange. At which point did you change currencies? I notice you paid Naira up to a point and CFA then Ceddis.
4. Did you use you debit card or you were cash loaded?
Hmmm. Maybe I should have read the comments first in case someone has asked this already.
Hey Taiwo, happy you found the post helpful. On a scale of 1-10, I’d say 8. Generally felt safe everywhere we went. We tried to be cautious and alert at all times too but there was no feeling of paranoia.
2. I travelled with my laptop. We had an incident with some thugs at the border because of this but it wasn’t a big issue. If you stand your ground, you’ll be fine.
3&4: Changed money at the different borders. Our cards never worked throughout the trip, so I’d always advice to travel with cash.
You just stated what happened when I traveled to Cotonou this week. Those guys at the border can deceive to enrich their pocket. Please, I would like to get to Ghana next time. Will I be able to get there in a day from Lagos? I love traveling too.
Hi Maranatha, it’s great having you here. Thanks for your comment.
Yes, you can get to Ghana in a day or slightly more than that. There are buses that go directly from Lagos but they always make stops along the way. If you’re lucky, these stops will be short and you’ll arrive in GH sometime around 11pm. I’ve heard people getting in as late as 2am or 4am the following day. For our return trip, we arrived in Lagos at 11pm after taking the bus directly from Ghana.
Hi Amarachi
Going with a standard bus will still get my passport stamped at borders right?
Yes. It’ll be easier too
Thank you so much for this help. Please if you should subtract the money for hotel and all that big food how much will it be? Because all the money you spent is a very large amount of money, so I’m afraid because that amount is a rich man show. So help me, if poor man want to travel too is there any other way to travel with out spending all this amount of money?
Hi Osy, thanks for your comment. The prices stated here are for 2 people travelling and we visited quite a number of places. You can cut down on some of these places if you want to save some money.
I also mentioned in the post about cheaper accommodation, you can research more about these or look up my post about couchsurfing to see if it’s an option you’d consider. I hope this helps.
This is quite impressive. Bueno
In fact, am so impressed on your write up, very interesting. I wish to know more about how to go to Ghana straight from Nigeria at the cheapest cost. Thank you for your commitment to do this, its great.
Thank you, Victor.
‘Cheapest cost’ is relative but you can subtract the cost of our accommodation in Grand Popo to give an idea of the costs directly to Accra. Keep in mind that these prices are subject to change.
This is super helpful! Thanks!
I really enjoy you Ghana post. We are association of students from a Nigerian University south south. We are planing an excursion to Ghana come November 2017. Could you pls provide us with information or contact with specific organizations that can handle all traveling arrangements at a considerable cost for about 25 students. Thanks
Thanks Nsikan. You could contact any one of these guys in this post: https://www.travelwithapen.com/2016/10/6-travel-enthusiasts-changing-face-tourism-nigeria/
This is just amazing
Hi there,
So happy I found your blog, I was desperate to find any blog from travellers who have travelled the less common touristic roads such as South Africa, Kenya etc…
I am planning a road trip from November this year to Ivory Coast (Abidjan), Ghana (Accra), Togo (Lome) and Nigeria (Lagos).
I would only take a direct Bus between Countries… I am a bit concerned about the safety; I have not been able to find a website giving all options and prices to be able to workout a budget.
Can you help me with these or guide me to where I could find the information please:
1. Direct buses/coaches from Abidjan to Accra; Accra/Lome and Lome/Lagos?
2. Where to book accommodations (booking.com & hotels,com) don’t always have the best options for the west or central African countries. Is there a website typically aimed to Africa?
Thanks a lot
Great blog 🙂
Hi Laly,
Super excited you found my blog and your trip already sounds very exciting! To your questions;
I haven’t been to Abidjan yet but I know that the Intercity STC buses ply the route from Abidjan to Accra and vice versa. (I did a quick search on the fares and it’s about 75Cedis + 7K Cfa – probably need to confirm but this should give you an idea of how much to budget)
STC also goes from Accra to Lome, along with several other bus services. You shouldn’t have a problem here. There’s ABC (if you can get on the Sprinter, that’ll be better), GUO, Eagle, etc… From Lome, you can hop on any of these buses into Lagos (apart from STC, I don’t think they go to Lagos right now).
PS: Most of these parks are easy to find. If you ask the locals, google maps or cab drivers, they will help you locate them.
For accommodation, you can try looking at Jumia Travel. I’ve seen that they sometimes have listings of hotels that aren’t in booking.com
I hope this helps. Feel free to send me an email should you have any other inquiries.
Hey Amarachi,
So nice to hear from you; thank ever so much for all the details above; they are very valuable as I am planning my trip right now… feel free to find me on Instagram at “Jasenomade”; I am the worst blogger on earth… so you’ll find me more there… Keep inspiring us x 🙂
Hello amarachi, I love your blog. I am planning a vacation exactly like this but i have a number of questions.
1. Do i change my naira before getting to the border? 2. I want to use Auberge de grand popo hotel as well- do they take cefa or can I pay in naira ( I did a booking online and it came down to about 54,000naira for 3nights)? 3. What is the distance from Gracie Jones guest house to Abc Transport? ( i ask because Abc leaves accra quite early and I do not want to miss my bus back to lagos)
Hello Ogale, thanks for your comment. For your questions; you can change your money at the borders. The hotels would typically accept cefa (or dollars as this is more universal). Not so sure about the naira. I don’t exactly remember the distance between Gracie Jones to the ABC bus park but I reckon it should be a 20-30mins taxi ride at most.
Love this.
Amarachi thanks for the information.
Wow I like how you write….like I am on the trip myself. Planning a trip to Ghana in September with two of my friends. We have passports but I wanted to know if the yellow card must be from port health in lagos. We plan to go with ABC Also what is the name of the 6000/night guest house? We don’t want to spend so much. Thank you in advance
Hi Ngozi, thanks for reading! Glad you enjoyed the post. As for Yellow cards, yes, you have to get it from the Port Health office. It used to be given in hospitals in the past, but last time I checked, they no longer do so. The name of the guest house is ‘Gracie Jones’. It’s located off Osu road, not too far from Urbano hotel.
Well detailed Ama. I’ve surfed internet to get breakdown and finally got it from your blog. Unfortunately for me, it didn’t address my need of driving down to Ghana. I intend going with my car in October between 5th and 15th.
I am also looking for at least 2 people that can join me in my car for the trip to keep me company.
Amarachi, I will appreciate if you have idea of the cost of acquiring documents that allow me drive my car within the 3 countries
Hi Damilola,
I don’t have these details but I’m going to ask the community of Instagram and Twitter to see what we can find. In the meantime, I think there might be some info on Nairaland, so you might want to check that site..
No nairaland forum anything close. Getting the info will be much obliged
Hello, did you go on the trip or still planning to? I am planning a weekend trip to Ghana and would like to cut back on my expenses by sharing fares, etcetera. Send me a mail on …