Skip to main content

Accra ⇄ São Tomé · TAP Air Portugal and regional airlines · São Tomé and Príncipe · Checked October 2026

São Tomé from Accra: chocolate islands on the equator

Two volcanic islands in the Gulf of Guinea, covered in rainforest, ringed by empty beaches, and scattered with the ruins of colonial cocoa plantations: São Tomé and Príncipe is one of Africa's smallest and least-visited countries. It also has a history that every Ghanaian cocoa farmer should know. Around 1900 these islands were the biggest cocoa producer in the world, until a scandal over forced labour helped hand that title to the Gold Coast. Here is how to get there from Accra, and what you will find.

São Tomé and Príncipe in brief

Key facts

  • Capital: São Tomé, on the larger of the two main islands.
  • Airport: São Tomé International Airport (TMS), a few kilometres from the city.
  • From Accra: TAP Air Portugal routes its Accra flights via São Tomé; regional airlines connect via neighbouring hubs.
  • Time: GMT, the same as Ghana.
  • Currency: the dobra (STN). Euros are widely accepted; cards much less so.
  • Languages: Portuguese (official), plus the creoles Forro, Angolar and Principense.
  • Independence: 12 July 1975, from Portugal.
  • Population: around a quarter of a million, one of Africa's smallest countries.

Flights from Accra to São Tomé

AirlineRouteHow oftenNotes
TAP Air PortugalAccra ⇄ São Tomé ⇄ Lisbon3 to 4 times a weekTAP's Accra flights stop in São Tomé. Check whether the Accra–São Tomé leg is sold on its own for your date.
Regional airlinesOne stop via Lomé, Libreville, Luanda or DoualaVariesRoutes and airlines in Central Africa change often; compare total travel times.

Read this before booking

Flights to São Tomé are few, and seats sell out. Check your date on flytap.com well in advance, and keep a buffer day on the way home: if a flight is cancelled, the next one may be days away.

TAP Air Portugal: the full guide Lisbon Lomé

Ghana and São Tomé right now

Local time in both places, the weather at this moment, and a converter between cedis, dobras and the main currencies.

Say it in São Tomé

  • Bom dia: good morning.
  • Obrigado / Obrigada: thank you (said by a man / a woman).
  • Leve-leve: "slowly, slowly", the islands' unofficial motto. You will hear it daily.

The islands sit on the equator: hot and humid all year, with a drier season, the "gravana", from about June to September.

Entry and arrival

  • Visa: São Tomé and Príncipe is not part of ECOWAS. Many nationalities can enter visa-free for short stays, and others can apply for an e-visa online. Check the current rule for a Ghanaian passport before you book.
  • Yellow fever: a vaccination certificate is required.
  • Cash: bring euros in cash. ATMs are few and do not always accept foreign cards.
  • Into town: the city is a short taxi ride from the airport; many guesthouses offer pickups.

The cocoa story: from São Tomé to the Gold Coast

Portuguese settlers arrived on the uninhabited islands in the late fifteenth century, and São Tomé became one of the first plantation economies in the Atlantic world, first for sugar, worked by enslaved Africans, later for coffee and cocoa. By the early twentieth century its great plantations, the roças, made it the world's largest cocoa producer.

The work was done by "contract labourers" brought from Angola and other Portuguese colonies, who in practice could never leave. When British journalists exposed the conditions, Cadbury and other chocolate makers stopped buying São Tomé cocoa in 1909. They turned instead to the Gold Coast, where cocoa grown by independent African farmers was booming. Within a few years the Gold Coast was the world's leading cocoa producer, a position that shaped modern Ghana. Today many roças stand as ruins, some reborn as guesthouses and small chocolate factories.

1,000 years of Ghanaian history Elmina, where the Portuguese began

What to see on the islands

  • São Tomé cityFaded colonial streets, the cathedral, the market, and the national museum in the Fort of São Sebastião.
  • The roçasOld plantation estates such as Agostinho Neto, Monte Café and São João, with their hospitals, workers' houses and drying yards.
  • Pico Cão GrandeA needle of volcanic rock rising out of the southern rainforest.
  • Obô National ParkRainforest covering much of both islands, with endemic birds and orchids.
  • Beaches and turtlesLagoa Azul in the north, and nesting sea turtles on the southern beaches in season.
  • Ilhéu das RolasA small island off the south coast where you can stand on the equator.
  • PríncipeThe smaller island, a UNESCO biosphere reserve, reached by a short domestic flight.

Tours on São Tomé: the roças, the rainforest, the beaches, and an airport transfer. Entrance fees are included in the tour price; tips are not included but always welcome.

Onward from São Tomé

Honest tips for São Tomé

  • Leve-leve is real: nothing happens quickly. Build slack into every plan, from ferries to restaurant meals.
  • Euros in cash: the most important thing to pack. Card payment is rare outside a few hotels.
  • Expensive for its size: almost everything is imported, so hotels and meals cost more than in Ghana.
  • Rough roads: the coast road in the south is slow and broken in places. Hire a driver with a four-wheel drive.
  • Learn some Portuguese: English is little spoken outside the tourist hotels.
  • Book everything early: with few flights and few rooms, the islands fill up in the dry season and at holidays.

More flights from Accra

GhanaFlights.info home All 24 airlines Accra International Airport Kigali Banjul

Read and listen across Africa

Before you fly, tune in to the country you are going to. Live radio from all over the continent, in one place.

All African Radio Stations

Search our Network. Start here.

Part of the Ghana-Net network

GhanaFlights.info belongs to an independent network of more than 70 travel, heritage and information websites, which began with ghana-net.com in December 2000. No Google advertising, no sponsored praise, no picture-postcard copy: just the routes and the places, as they are.

Ghana: Ghana-Net.com · Ghana-Net.net (Deutsch) · GhanaWeb-News.com · Travel News · MyGhana2027.com · GhanaHotels.biz · GhanaTrails.com · HoInGhana.com · Ghana3d.com · GhanaMirrors.com · Ghana Radio Live · Network map

Castles and forts: Elmina Castle · Cape Coast Castle · Cape Coast Castle Museum · Oguaa Fetu Afahye · Osu Castle · James Fort · Ussher Fort · Fort Vissão · Fort Good Hope · Fort Amsterdam · Fort William, Anomabo · Fort San Sebastian · Fort Orange · Fort Batenstein · Fort Metal Cross · Fort Prinzenstein · Kumasi Fort

Museums, memorials and history: GhanaMuseums.com · National Museum · Volta Regional Museum · Upper East Regional Museum · Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park · Nkrumah Mausoleum, Nkroful · W. E. B. Du Bois Centre · Cape Coast War Cemetery · Erased Graves · 1939 Earthquake Archive · Akosombo Dam · Alokoto, Gbawe

Nature and parks: Kakum National Park · Mole National Park · Paga Crocodiles · Shai Hills · Aburi Botanical Gardens

Africa: AfricanIndependence.com · Uganda · Ethiopia · Egypt · Morocco · DR Congo · Sierra Leone · NigerianRadio.com · Explore Nigeria · KenyaWebNews.com · Kenya National Parks · GambiaVibes.com · SenegalVibes.com · GuineaVibes.com · GuineaInfo.com · BeninVibes.com · BurkinaVibes.com · BurundiVibes.com · ZambiaVibes.com · Denegal.com

Beyond Africa, and the people behind it: BritainAdventures.com · GhanaNet.co.uk · KenyaWebNews.co.uk · 1001Radio.com · Thailand · Ghana0.com: Remo Kurka's blog · V2 and Peenemünde · GhanaPhotographer.com · Photography and web design · Last Minute Photographer

Updated and fact-checked: 28 October 2026. Flight information from TAP Air Portugal's published network; history from standard historical sources on the São Tomé cocoa trade. Entry rules change; always check the current visa requirements for your passport and confirm flights with the airline before travelling. Text and research by Remo Kurka for GhanaFlights.info. This website carries no Google advertising.