Accra Kotoka (ACC) Airport Guide 2026 — Terminal 3, Visa & Yellow-Fever Rules

Accra Kotoka (ACC) — The Complete 2026 Airport Guide

You will still see it called Kotoka on every ticket, board and taxi sign — it was officially renamed Accra International Airport in February 2026, but the code is still ACC and that change alters nothing about your trip. What will change your trip: unless you hold an African passport you need a visa sorted before you fly, everyone needs a physical yellow-fever card or they can be refused entry, and the arrivals taxi rank is a place to be careful, not casual.

Last verified: July 2026. Visa fees, transport prices and entry rules for Ghana change often — confirm the specifics on the official portals and at the counter before you travel.

Quick reference

The 2026 headline: “Accra International” now — but your ticket still says Kotoka

On 23 February 2026 the airport’s official name reverted to Accra International Airport, dropping the “Kotoka” it had carried for decades. The change is a political one — a long-running debate about naming the country’s front door after General Emmanuel Kotoka, whose 1966 coup overthrew Kwame Nkrumah, the president who built the airport. For a traveller, though, it is close to a non-event: the IATA code is still ACC, the ICAO code is still DGAA, and airlines, booking sites, maps and taxi drivers will keep saying “Kotoka” for years. Book to ACC and you are in the right place.

What actually deserves your attention before you fly to Accra is a short, unglamorous list: get your visa sorted at home (Western passports cannot count on buying one at the airport), carry the physical yellow-fever card or risk being turned back at the health desk, and have a plan for the taxi rank so the touts do not set your first-hour mood. Get those three right and Accra is one of the easier West African arrivals. The rest of this guide is mostly those three, in detail.

Terminals: one building that matters

For an international traveller, Accra is refreshingly simple. Terminal 3 is the only terminal you will use. Opened in 2018 as a $274 million build, it handles 100% of international and long-haul flights, is rated for around 5 million passengers a year (with room to grow to 6.5 million), has six air-bridges and can take aircraft up to the Airbus A380. It is a modern, air-conditioned terminal with proper lounges and duty-free — a world away from the old international hall.

Terminal 2 is domestic only — flights to Kumasi, Tamale, Takoradi and Ho on carriers like PassionAir and Africa World Airlines. Terminal 1, the original international building, no longer takes scheduled passenger flights and is slated to be redeveloped. If you are connecting from an intercontinental flight onto a Ghana domestic hop, that means a move from T3 to T2 — they are on the same airport but not connected airside, so you collect bags, clear into Ghana, and make your way over. Budget time for it.

Entry: the visa and the yellow card are the whole game

This is the section that catches people out, so read it twice. Two documents decide whether you walk into Ghana smoothly: your visa and your yellow-fever certificate.

If you hold an EU, UK, US, Canadian or Australian passport — arrange the visa before you fly

Ghana is not a visa-on-arrival country for Western tourists. You need a visa sorted in advance, and in 2026 the standard route is the government’s e-Visa portal at evisa.immigration.gov.gh (launched 25 May 2026). You apply online, upload your passport bio page and photo, pay, and receive an authorisation by email to show on arrival.

Be ready for it to be slow and not cheap. At launch the official portal listed the tourist e-Visa at around $260 for single entry and $468 for multiple entry, with faster processing available at higher fees; standard turnaround runs to several business days. Fees and timings on government visa systems move, so treat those as the shape of it and confirm the live figure on the portal — but plan for a few hundred dollars and apply at least two to three weeks ahead, not the night before.

If you hold an African passport — it just got much easier

From 25 May 2026 (Africa Day), Ghana grants visa-free entry to all African passport holders. In practice that means a free online travel authorisation rather than a paid visa — you still register in advance so you are screened, but there is no fee, and the stay is generous. It is part of a wider continental push on free movement; Ghana joined Rwanda, Benin, The Gambia and Seychelles in opening its doors to fellow Africans.

The yellow-fever card is mandatory — and they check it

Everyone entering Ghana must show proof of yellow-fever vaccination. This is not a formality you can talk your way past: at Accra a Port Health desk checks your International Certificate of Vaccination (the physical “yellow card”) before you reach passport control. It must be the real booklet, stamped by an authorised centre — photos, scans and phone screenshots are not accepted — and the dose must have been given at least 10 days before you land. Turn up without it and you can be vaccinated on the spot or refused entry; neither is a plan you want. Pack the card somewhere you can reach it before immigration, not buried in your hold bag.

Two more small things: your passport should have at least six months’ validity and a couple of blank pages, and there is no departure tax to pay at the airport — it is built into your ticket.

Getting into Accra without getting fleeced

Accra has no airport train and no metro, so this comes down to a taxi or a ride-hailing app — and the gap between doing it well and doing it badly is large. The airport is close (roughly 9–10 km from the centre, 20–30 minutes in light traffic, a good deal more at rush hour), so the trip should be cheap. The catch is the arrivals hall.

Use an app — Uber, Bolt or Yango

Uber, Bolt and Yango all operate in Accra, and they are the traveller’s best friend here for one reason: the price is fixed in the app before you accept, so there is nothing to argue about. Expect roughly GHS 30–90 (about $3–8) to central districts like Osu, Airport Residential, Cantonments or Circle, depending on distance and traffic; Yango often prices a touch lower. Order the ride from inside or just outside the terminal, and here is the local wrinkle — drivers usually cannot pull up to the arrivals door. The app will direct you to a designated pickup point at the car park or a nearby meeting spot; check the car’s plate against the app before you get in, and share the trip if you are travelling alone or at night.

If you take an airport taxi, agree the fare first — out loud, before you move

The marked airport taxis are legitimate, but Accra’s arrivals rank has a long-standing reputation for quoting new arrivals two to three times the going rate. There is no meter you can rely on, so the rule is simple and non-negotiable: agree the full price in cedis before you put a bag in the boot, and do not accept the first number. Ignore the freelancers who approach you inside the hall offering “taxi, taxi” — use the official queue or, better, the app. A fair metered-style ride into the centre is modest; the touts count on you not knowing that.

Rates in mid-2026 sit around GHS 12 to the US dollar and GHS 13.5 to the euro, and the conversions above use that. Cedis (GHS) are the only currency that matters on the ground — see the money note below for how to get them well.

Lounges

Terminal 3 has three independent lounges airside, all on the international side, and all take Priority Pass as well as pay-at-the-door walk-ins — handy if you are early for a long-haul or holding a lounge card:

• Akwaaba Pearl Lounge — airside on Level 5, open 24 hours, with a four-hour maximum stay. The largest of the three.
• Sanbra Priority Lounge — airside on Level 3 in the main departure hall, opposite Gate C3, open 24 hours, four-hour stay.
• Adinkra Lounge — airside past security (turn right towards Gate C4), open roughly 06:00–23:00.

If you are flying a premium cabin on British Airways, Emirates, Qatar, Turkish or the like, you will be pointed to the relevant contract lounge among these. For everyone else, a Priority Pass or the walk-in fee gets you air-conditioning, decent food and reliable Wi-Fi — worth it given how warm and busy the general gate area gets in the evening long-haul rush.

Connections and minimum times

Because all international flights now use Terminal 3, most connections through Accra are within a single building, which keeps things simple. Ethiopian, Turkish, Emirates, Qatar and Kenya Airways all use Accra as a stop on wider networks, and many “connections” here are actually the same aircraft continuing after a one-stop halt — you may not even change planes.

For a genuine change of flights within T3, give yourself a comfortable buffer and confirm the minimum with your airline — there is no single published connecting time worth quoting for every case, and it depends on whether you clear immigration, re-check bags, or stay airside. The one connection that needs real time is international-to-domestic: that means clearing into Ghana, collecting your bag and moving from T3 to the separate domestic Terminal 2, which is not a quick airside walk. Treat that as leaving and re-entering the airport, and do not book it tight.

Food, money and Wi-Fi

Money: the cedi (GHS) is a closed currency you cannot get before you arrive, so plan to draw cash on the ground. Use a bank ATM over the exchange desks for a better rate, and if an ATM offers to bill you in your home currency, decline it and choose cedis. Carry some cash — plenty of taxis, market stalls and small vendors are cash-only — but cards work fine in hotels and larger restaurants, and the ride-hailing apps let you pay by card so you need less cash than you might think.

SIM and data: a local MTN or Telecel SIM (or an eSIM bought before you land) is cheap and makes the ride-hailing apps far easier to use; registration needs your passport. Terminal 3 has free Wi-Fi, but it is patchy, so having your own data from the moment you land is the difference between ordering a Bolt smoothly and standing in the arrivals hall negotiating with a tout.

Food and practicalities: Terminal 3 has cafés, bars and grab-and-go outlets airside, plus duty-free; prices are airport-marked, so eat before you come if you are counting cedis. The terminal is fully air-conditioned, there are pharmacies and a medical point, and the departures process — with security, Port Health and immigration — can be slow at peak, so the standard three hours before a long-haul international departure is sensible here, not cautious.

Frequently asked questions

At a glance

Before you fly

• 📊 Check what a good fare to Accra looks like — our price-check tool shows the typical deal range so you know a bargain when you see one.
• 🧳 Baggage checker — confirm your airline’s carry-on and checked allowance before you pack.
• 🌍 Ghana travel guide — Accra, the Cape Coast castles, Kakum and when to go.