One of the most admirable and coveted residential areas in Accra, located northeast of central Accra, 10 minutes from the Accra Mall, 20 minutes from Kotoka International Airport and bordered by the Tema motorway, Spintex and the Legon-Madina road, is the neighbourhood of East Legon.

Best of Both Worlds:

East Legon boasts beautiful residential houses and commercial buildings and is also fast developing a commercial edge, flaunting what was considered Ghana’s first mall, the A&C shopping centre; a drive-through KFC; numerous banks on Lagos Avenue, several hotels as well as many restaurants with excellent food for the very multicultural inhabitants of the area.

There are Chinese, Indian, French, Turkish & Ghanaian eateries in the area. Popular spots like Starbites and Cahaya in the Adjiringanor area feature live-band music and kizomba dancing on certain nights. Other popular spots include Vida e Café, NourishLab Smoothies and Coffee Lounge among others.

With the famed American House at its core, there are also a decent number of quality wine/liquor outlets, spas and beauty parlours, gyms like Lizzy’s Sports Complex and well-trusted hospitals in the area with some specialising in women’s health and fertility, eye and dental care.

With many good roads and an excellent transportation system, you can easily get a “trotro” or a taxi to your destination from multiple locations within East Legon. Almost all the communities here are well-developed in terms of social amenities and infrastructure. Most streets are tarred and named which makes moving around and finding your way a lot easier. The East Legon – Spintex tunnel gives you short yet traffic-choked access to Spintex, Tetteh Quarshie and the international airport.

While the population of East Legon is hard to establish, the constituency under which it falls, Ayawaso West Wuogon is estimated to be about 70,667**. If we had to guess, East Legon is probably 8,000 inhabitants strong. Below is a map of East Legon for the curious adventurer.

East Legon Map

Drip Drop:

There are two major downsides to living in East Legon. One is that there is unreliable water supply, moving most residents to either install a borehole or have water supplied frequently by a water tanker. Secondly, though electricity supply is a known problem all over Accra, East Legon is one area that gets the short end of the stick with very unpredictable, unreliable and long blackouts which have forced many residents to get power generators.

Money & Modem Matters:

One of the perks that come with living in East Legon is that almost all the banks that exist in Ghana have at least one branch in the area, mostly on the Lagos Avenue. Standard Chartered has an interesting digital branch here where money can be deposited and withdrawn from ATMs. Major telecommunication giants – Vodafone, Airtel, Tigo, Surfline and Glo – all have offices in the area to serve the needs of their clients. MTN, Vodafone, Airtel & Tigo work reliably in the area according to residents who out Glo as being “not so reliable.”

International Schools Galore:

For families with children, there are several reputable international and local schools catering to ages ranging from 12 months to high school level, some Ghanaian owned, and also Lebanese and American. These schools offer foreign academic curricula and well-rounded, advanced learning environments, and boast great facilities like astroturf football pitches, swimming pools and digital labs.

Price Tag:

For all that East Legon has to offer, it is not surprising that renting or buying property in the area is not cheap. It is a little further from other prime areas though, so costs are lower than Cantonments and Dzorwulu, for instance. Unfurnished 2-bedroom rentals cost GH¢3,477* on average (GH¢5,720 for a furnished place).

Think this could be a great place to call home or work in? Leading online property search website meQasa agrees and can help you find the perfect house, apartment or condo in East Legon to rent or buy. Enjoy other neighbourhood profiles in our LIVING IN neighbourhood series as well.

*Calculated based on data from meQasa.com, February 2016

** Source: Ghana Statistical Service.