Lalibela to Dallol, booked properly.
Which Danakil convoy actually reaches the lava lake. How many days the eleven churches really need. What a Simien trek costs once the scout and the mules are in. Every tour in Ethiopia, reviewed.
The tours travellers to Ethiopia take most.
Every review →Addis city days, the Debre Libanos gorge run and the long northern loops — the bookings that fill up first, and what each one is really like.
1
Full Day Tour of Addis Ababa with Hotel Pickup and Drop-off
Review of Addis Ababa’s full-day city tour, with Lucy, Entoto views, Mercato, historic churches, lunch, hotel pickup, and practical tips.
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
from $160
8
3 Days Danakil Depression Tour
from $450
The six days Ethiopia is known for.
Churches cut down into rock, a salt desert below sea level, the tribal markets of the lower Omo, an escarpment full of gelada, a coffee ceremony that takes an hour, and the gorge day trip everyone in Addis does first.
The historic route, north from Addis.
Simien Mountains
DanakilEleven churches, cut down into the rock.
All Lalibela tours →
Bete Giyorgis stands in a pit shaped like a cross, hewn from the top down out of one block of red tuff eight centuries ago. Priests still hold services in all eleven. Two days covers both clusters without rushing the tunnels between them.
Both church clusters in one long day
North group first while the light drops into the trenches, tunnel through to the eastern churches after lunch, Bete Giyorgis last when the pit is in shade.
Yemrehanna Kristos and the cave churches
An hour and a half out of town, a wooden-and-granite basilica sits inside a cave behind a Zagwe-era wall. Fewer visitors, mummified pilgrims at the back, and a road that needs the higher clearance.
Lalibela inside the northern loop
Most travellers reach the churches on a circuit that also takes in Gonder, the Simiens and Axum, hopping the legs by air because the roads are slow.
Addis sits at 2,355m and starts most Ethiopian trips.
Lucy is in a basement case at the National Museum, Merkato spreads over several square kilometres, and the road up Entoto ends in eucalyptus with the whole city below it. Give the capital two days before you fly north — and take the first one slowly, because the altitude is real.
On the Simien escarpment, the cliff does the work.
The range drops three thousand feet in one step, and the ridge walk from Sankaber to Chennek runs along the lip of it. Gelada graze in troops of two hundred and barely look up; walia ibex hold the crags below Bwahit. Trekkers pay park fees at Debark and walk with a scout.
- 112 Days SIMIEN MOUNTAIN-LALIBELA-DANAKIL-TIGRAY CHURCHESfrom $1,641
- 26 Days tour Package (Simien Mountains, Lalibela, and Danakil Depression)from $1,435
- 3Danakil Depression, Lalibela, Omo Valley and Simien Mountainsfrom $3,410
What a day in Ethiopia costs.
The catalogue split three ways by price. A guided day in Addis costs less than dinner at home; a Danakil convoy or a northern circuit is a different order of money, and the gap between them is mostly fuel, permits and nights.
City days, museum and Merkato walks, coffee ceremonies and the shorter gorge runs out of Addis.
Debre Libanos with the Blue Nile gorge, two- and three-day Danakil trips, short northern hops with a driver.
- 1Taste of Ethiopiafrom $102
- 2Full-Day Private City Tour of Addis Ababafrom $160
- 3Day Trip From Addis Ababa To Debre Libanos & Portuguese Bridgefrom $100
Full northern circuits, Simien treks with scout and mules, Omo Valley expeditions and private 4x4 weeks.
- 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 only Ethiopia has.
Rock churches exist elsewhere. A coffee ceremony poured three times, an acid field in a place a hundred metres below the sea, and the lower Omo do not.
The Buna Ceremony
Coffee grows wild in the Kaffa forests and the country still drinks it the long way. Green beans are roasted in a pan at your feet, ground by hand, and brewed in a clay jebena over coals with frankincense burning alongside. It is poured three times — abol, tona, baraka — and leaving before the third round is bad manners. Budget an hour, not ten minutes.
- 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
Dallol and Erta Ale
The Danakil sits about 100 metres below sea level and is one of the hottest inhabited places measured anywhere. At Dallol, potash springs build yellow and acid-green terraces over a salt plain; on Erta Ale, one of the few permanent lava lakes on earth moves in its crater. Afar caravans still cut salt blocks by hand and walk them out by camel.
- 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 Omo Markets
South of Jinka the valley holds Mursi, Hamar, Karo and Dassanech communities, each with its own market day and its own week. Trips are built around that calendar, not around yours. Photography is negotiated and paid for per frame; a guide who explains the etiquette before you raise a camera is worth the whole fee.
- 16 Days Omo Valley Tribes Tours From Addis Ababa★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 33 reviews
- 2Lalibela, Axum, Danakil and Omo Valley 8 DAYS★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 29 reviews
- 33 Days Omo Valley Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 24 reviews
From Gheralta to Lalibela, the churches you climb to reach.
All rock-hewn church tours →
Ethiopia Tigray Tours: Guided tour of Tigray rock hewn churches
Read our review →
Lalibela churches , church museum & Yemrehan kirstose ( cave church)
Read our review →Tour 11 monolithic rock churches & museum in Lalibela & cave church with mummies
Read our review →Book these before you fly to Ethiopia.
Most of Ethiopia can be arranged from a hotel lobby in Addis the night before. These four cannot — they run on permits, park offices, market calendars and a pilgrimage that fills every bed in town.
- 013 Days Danakil Depression TourAfar regional permits and an escort are arranged in advance, and the 4x4 convoys leave Mekele on set departure days.
- 024 Days Trekking to Simien Mountain National ParkPark fees, a mandatory armed scout and mules are booked through the park office at Debark before anyone sets foot on the ridge.
- 036 Days Omo Valley Tribes Tours From Addis AbabaEach community in the lower valley holds its market on one fixed day of the week — the itinerary is built around that calendar.
- 04Visiting Lalibela churchesBeds in Lalibela go months ahead of Genna, the Christmas pilgrimage on 7 January, when tens of thousands of people arrive.
When the big rains come in July, go indoors and go slow.
Kiremt runs from late June into September and it is not drizzle — dirt roads to the Omo and the Danakil turn difficult and some close. The highlands, on the other hand, go brilliant green, and the best answers are under a roof anyway: a clay jebena over coals, a cooking bench, a museum basement, a market hall.
By place — where the trip starts
Addis Ababa124 tours
Lalibela11 tours
Bahir Dar7 tours
Gonder6 tours
Mekele5 tours
Arba Minch5 tours- Every tour in Ethiopia →
By experience — churches, deserts, coffee or climbs
The newest Ethiopia tour reviews.
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A perfect day trip to Lake wenchi from Addis Ababa
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Abuna Yemata Guh, Maryam and Daniel Korkor (if time allows)
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1Night/2 Days Omo Valley Tribal Tours: From Jinka
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3-Day Danakil Depression A Journey into Earth’s Fiery Heart
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3 days tour Danakil Depression (Dallol & Erta Ale)
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