Elmina
Elmina is a town and the capital of the Komenda/Edina/Eguafo/Abirem District on the south coast of Ghana in the Central Region.
It is situated on a bay on the Atlantic Ocean, 12.2 km (7.6 mi) west of Cape Coast. Elmina was the first European settlement in West Africa and it has a population of 33,576 people, as of 2013. The current Municipality chief of Elmina is Solomon Ebo Appiah.
Getting to Elmina
From Accra, Kumasi or Takoradi by bus or Trotro, get off at Elmina Junction. Shared taxis are available there to take you into town or the castel From Cape Coast, You can also take a shared taxi to Elmina town
Worth seeing
- 01Elmina Castle
Built in 1482, Elmina Castle is the oldest European structure in Africa and incidentally the oldest slave fort.
- 02Fort St
The original building was made out of earth by the Dutch in order to launch attacks on the Portuguese-owned Elmina Castle, and in the 1660s, the Dutch replaced that structure with this fort.
Things to 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.
Where to 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.
Getting around Elmina the local way
- Get inShared taxis are available there to take you into town or the castel From Cape Coast, You can also take a shared taxi to Elmina town
- Get aroundWithin Elmina, shared taxis are very common.
- Go nextThe main taxi and tro-tro station is outside the Wesley Methodist Cathedral.
- Go nextFrom here you can catch a tro-tro to Takoradi (C10) or passenger taxi to Cape Coast (C5).
From Wikivoyage: Elmina, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-08.
Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons (see Commons), Wikimedia Commons.