What to buy in Ghana

Cloth: kente and adinkra

Ghana's most iconic souvenirs are its textiles. Kente — the dazzling, handwoven strip-cloth of the Ashanti and Ewe — is the country's signature fabric, sold by the strip, the stole or the full cloth, and ranging from affordable machine prints to precious hand-weaving. Adinkra cloth, hand-stamped with symbolic motifs, makes a meaningful, more understated buy.

For the real thing and the best choice, buy near the source — the craft villages around Kumasi (Bonwire for kente, Ntonso for adinkra), covered in our Ashanti craft villages guide. To understand what you're buying, read our kente and textiles and adinkra symbols guides.

Carvings, baskets and beads

Beyond cloth, Ghana's craft traditions run deep. Wood carvings — masks, the classic Ashanti stool, the akuaba fertility doll, animals and bowls — are widely available (Ahwiaa near Kumasi is the carving village). Bolga baskets, the beautiful, tough woven baskets from Bolgatanga in the north, are a favourite and pack flat-ish. And Krobo glass beads, made from recycled glass in the Eastern Region, are colourful, cheap and endlessly collectable.

Each of these has a home region and a market, but you'll find them across the country. Our Krobo beads guide goes deeper on beads, and our market shopping guide helps you navigate the stalls.

Shea butter, black soap and chocolate

Some of the best gifts are practical and edible. Shea butter, produced by women's cooperatives in the north, is pure, versatile and prized worldwide. African black soap (alata samina) is a traditional, natural cleanser beloved for skin. And Ghana, one of the world's great cocoa producers, makes genuinely good chocolate — a delicious, light souvenir with a real story.

These are easy to pack, useful, and support local production. Buy shea and black soap in reputable form (they're widely sold), and see our chocolate and cocoa and shea butter and black soap guides for what to look for and where.

Where to buy

You have three good options. At the source — the craft and bead villages — gives the widest choice, best prices and most authenticity, and lets you watch the making. The Arts Centre (Centre for National Culture) in Accra gathers carvers, weavers, bead-sellers and traders under one roof, ideal if you're short on time. And ordinary markets everywhere carry cloth, crafts and natural products.

Buying well and getting it home

A few practical notes. For large or fragile pieces — big carvings, drums, framed cloth — plan how you'll carry or ship them, and pack carefully; some traders can help with packing. Buy ethically made work where you can, favouring genuine artisans and cooperatives over mass-produced imitations, which keeps money with the makers. And remember the story is part of the gift — ask the maker about the symbol, the weave or the village.

Questions people ask