Eleven churches cut down into rock. Then the road north keeps going.
Which Lalibela tour reaches the eastern cluster as well as Bete Giyorgis. What three days in the Danakil costs, and the months it is too hot to try. Reviews of every tour you can book in Ethiopia.
Four bookings an Ethiopian trip gets built around.
The capital day that gives you your bearings, the drive north to the gorge, the churches, and the salt flats. What each one costs, and what the travellers who took it say.
01The first dayFull Day Tour of Addis Ababa with Hotel Pickup and Drop-offEntoto, the National Museum and the Merkato in one loop, hotel pickup included. The day that turns a stopover into a trip.
02The drive outDay Trip From Addis Ababa See Historical Monastery,Stunning Nature,Animals,BirdsA cliff-edge monastery, the Portuguese bridge and the gorge, ninety minutes north of the capital.
03The churchesRock Churches of Lalibela Guided TourThe rock-hewn churches with a guide who knows which of them the morning light reaches first.
04The salt flats3 Days Danakil Depression TourThree days at 120 metres below sea level: sulphur springs, camel caravans and a night above the lava lake.
Ethiopia’s most-booked days out.
The whole Ethiopian shelf →The days out travellers in Ethiopia book ahead of everything else, and what each one gets you for the money.
1
Full Day Tour of Addis Ababa with Hotel Pickup and Drop-off
Spend 6 to 7 hours exploring Addis Ababa with hotel or airport pickup, a driver-guide, museum visits, Mount Entoto views, Merkato, lunch at historic Taitu Hotel, and St. George Cathedral. Guides such as Luel and Desale are praised for adapting the day to your interests, making this a useful choice for a short stay or long layover.
From · $69
Read our review →
2
Taste of Ethiopia
from $102
3
Day Trip From Addis Ababa See Historical Monastery,Stunning Nature,Animals,Birds
from $90
4
Debre Libanos, Blue Nile Gorge, and Cave Tour
from $94
5
Addis Ababa Guided City Tour With Airport & Hotel Pick Up
from $55
6
Breathtaking Nature, Wildlife and Cave Church Tour – Free Pickups
from $80
7
Full-Day Private City Tour of Addis Ababa
8
3 Days Danakil Depression Tour
from $450
Addis Ababa, the historic north, and the deep south.
A capital at 2,400 metres, churches quarried out of red rock, a salt desert on the Eritrean border, an escarpment where the geladas graze, and the tribal south. Six starting points, and the best day out in each.
The best days in Addis Ababa start with a car and a guide.
The capital spreads up a mountainside and the sights it is known for sit an hour apart, or ninety minutes outside town. Four kinds of day, what it costs to start each one, and how long to leave for it.
★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · Addis Ababa Guided City Tour With Airport & Hotel Pick Up
The full city loopEntoto, the National Museum, the Merkato, and lunch in between.
North to the Blue Nile gorgeA cliff-edge monastery, the Portuguese bridge, geladas on the rim.
The coffee ceremonyGreen beans roasted in front of you, three rounds, nobody hurrying.
A layover dayFive or six hours between flights, luggage handled, back before boarding.
All 107 days that start in Addis →
The Danakil Depression is the hottest inhabited place on earth. People still go.
Acid-yellow springs at Dallol, salt cut by hand out of the flat and walked out by camel, and a lava lake at Erta Ale you reach on foot after dark. Three days, a convoy, and a guide who has done it before. Nobody drives in there alone.
Lalibela, Axum and Gondar are why most people fly to Ethiopia.
Everything in Lalibela →
Churches quarried down into the rock at Lalibela, a castle compound at Gondar, granite stelae at Axum and painted monasteries on the islands of Lake Tana. Flying between them costs less than the drive and saves two days of it.
- 112 Days SIMIEN MOUNTAIN-LALIBELA-DANAKIL-TIGRAY CHURCHESfrom $1,641
- 2Visiting Lalibela churchesfrom $200
- 3Visit the rock hewn churchesfrom $165
One day in Lalibela, or two
The northern cluster and Bete Giyorgis fit into a long morning. The eastern group and the cave church out at Nakuta La’ab want the second day, and the light inside is better after lunch.
Tigray, if you can climb
The Tigray churches sit on top of sandstone towers, reached by handholds cut into the rock and, at Abuna Yemata Guh, a ledge with a drop under it. Guides bring the rope and the shoes.
The circuit, flown not driven
Bahir Dar, Gondar, the Simiens, Axum and Lalibela in one run. Booked as a circuit the internal flights are bundled, which is the only reason it fits inside a week.
The Omo Valley runs on market days, not on your calendar.
Hamer, Karo, Mursi and Dassanech villages each trade on a different day of the week, and that timetable decides the whole route. Six days out of Addis is the short version; nine gets you past the villages nearest the road.
Every Omo Valley tour →
The Simien escarpment drops away for a kilometre, and the geladas graze on the edge of it.
Three days on the escarpment covers Sankaber, Geech and the Jinbar waterfall; a day trip up from Gondar only reaches the first viewpoint. Nights sit near freezing at 3,600 metres, whatever anyone told you about Africa.
- 1Trekking at Bale Mountains 3 Daysfrom $1,538
- 23 Days Bale Mountains Trekkingfrom $410
- 34 days semien mountain national park trekking,
Half of Ethiopia happens around one shared plate of injera.
A market walk before the heat, a class that finishes as lunch, a roast that takes an hour because it is meant to. The Wednesday and Friday fasting platters are all vegetable, and they are the best eating in the country.
Ethiopian day rates, from a city morning to a week on the road.
Every tour on the site, grouped by what it costs. City days and church visits sit at one end, the long runs north and south at the other.
City walks, church visits, coffee ceremonies and the short hops out of Addis.
Full days with a car and a guide: the gorge at Debre Libanos, Lake Tana, the crater lakes.
The long ones: the Danakil convoy, the Omo circuit, the northern historic route.
- 13 Days Danakil Depression Tourfrom $450
- 23 Days Danakil Depression Tours Via Semerafrom $420
- 312 Days SIMIEN MOUNTAIN-LALIBELA-DANAKIL-TIGRAY CHURCHESfrom $1,641
Three things that only happen in Ethiopia.
Old churches and hot deserts turn up all over the world. Churches quarried downwards out of solid rock, a salt plain still mined by camel caravan, and an hour-long coffee ceremony do not.
The Churches of Lalibela
Eleven churches were quarried out of the rock in the twelfth century, roof first, working down until a whole building stood free inside its own pit. They are still parish churches: priests in the doorways, pilgrims on the steps, nothing between you and any of it. Bete Giyorgis, the cross-shaped one, sits on its own away from both clusters.
- 1Visit the rock hewn churches★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 39 reviews
- 2Tour 11 monolithic rock churches & museum in Lalibela & cave church with mummies★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 37 reviews
- 3Ethiopia Tigray Tours: Guided tour of Tigray rock hewn churches★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 36 reviews
Dallol and the Salt Plain
The floor of the Danakil lies 120 metres under sea level and the ground turns acid yellow and green wherever the springs push through it. Afar families still cut salt out of the flat by hand and walk it out on camels. Trips run in convoy with a guide, and in the hot months with an escort.
- 13 Days Danakil Depression Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 135 reviews
- 23 Days Danakil Depression Tours Via Semera★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 47 reviews
- 312 Days SIMIEN MOUNTAIN-LALIBELA-DANAKIL-TIGRAY CHURCHES★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 45 reviews
The Coffee Ceremony
Green beans are washed, roasted over charcoal in front of you, ground in a pestle and brewed in a clay jebena. It is poured three times and leaving after the first round is rude. Grass on the floor, incense going, an hour gone. Coffee came from these highlands, and this is what it was for.
- 1Ethiopian Culinary Tour – Market, Food, Coffee Ceremony & more★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 65 reviews
- 2Market Tour and Cooking Class with a Coffee Ceremony at a Home in Addis Ababa★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 32 reviews
- 3Vintage Coffee Shops, Restaurants, Sightseeing in Addis Ababa★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 17 reviews
Four Ethiopian bookings that will not wait.
Most of a trip here can be arranged from a hotel lobby the same morning. These four run on convoys, permits, market days and domestic flights that fill weeks out.
- 013 Days Danakil Depression TourThe Danakil goes in as a convoy on set departure days, with a permit per head. Miss one and the next is not tomorrow.
- 026 Days Omo Valley Tribes Tours From Addis AbabaThe southern villages trade on fixed market days. A route booked late arrives on the wrong day of the week and there is nothing to see.
- 0312 Days SIMIEN MOUNTAIN-LALIBELA-DANAKIL-TIGRAY CHURCHESEvery trek needs a park permit and a scout assigned at the gate. Both are arranged before you fly, not at the trailhead.
- 0412 Days SIMIEN MOUNTAIN-LALIBELA-DANAKIL-TIGRAY CHURCHESOne small airport, and Timkat in January fills every bed in town. Flights and guides both go early.
Ethiopia’s big rains run June to September, and they close roads, not cities.
The kiremt floods dirt roads across the highlands, parks cloud on the Simien escarpment and puts the Danakil track out of reach for weeks. Addis carries on: museums, kitchens, workshops, the churches and the coffee houses, none of them weather-dependent.
By place — the capital, the north, the south
By kind of day — church, crater, kitchen or trail
Bahir Dar, Gondar, the Simiens, Axum, Lalibela: the loop almost everybody flies first.
Just reviewed, still warm from the road.
Keep reading down the pile →
Debre Libanos Monastery & Scenic Portuguese Bridge Tour
Read our review →
Day trip Adadi Mariam, Melka Kunture and Tiya stele
Read our review →
Addis Ababa Essentials: Flexible Full-Day City Sightseeing
Read our review →
Addis Ababa city tour from Bole airport and All Hotels
Read our review →
A perfect day trip to Lake wenchi from Addis Ababa
Read our review →
3 Days Desert Adventure: Discover Danakil’s Hidden Wonders!
Read our review →
2 Days Tours To Harar Hyena Feeding & Walled City Tours
Read our review →
5 days Exploring North Ethiopia’s Rich History and Culture
Read our review →
