12 Days Highlight of Ethiopia Tours

Day 01 Arrival and Addis Ababa City Tour          

You will meet our staff upon arrival from your international flight and after breakfast, begin your exploration of Addis Ababa with visits to some of the city’s most iconic historical, cultural, and religious sites. The day includes the following highlights:

• Entoto Maryam Church: Located on the Entoto Hills, this is one of the oldest Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo churches, built in 1877 by Emperor Menelik II. The church features traditional Ethiopian architecture with octagonal domes. Inside, you’ll find a collection of royal artifacts, including Emperor Menelik II and Empress Taytu’s crowns, ceremonial garments, their royal bed, and a mirror gifted to the Empress by Queen Victoria.
• Entoto Hills: At an elevation of 2,900 meters above sea level, the Entoto Hills offer a stunning panoramic view of Addis Ababa. This area, once the capital before the city moved to its current location, holds great historical and spiritual significance.
• Ethnological Museum: Situated within the main campus of Addis Ababa University, this museum is housed in the former palace of Emperor Haile Selassie. It offers a deep insight into Ethiopia’s diverse cultures, with exhibits covering anthropology, music, and traditional life. It is also recognized as the first university museum in Ethiopia.
• National Museum of Ethiopia: One of the most important museums in sub-Saharan Africa, it showcases Ethiopia’s rich archaeological heritage. Here, you will find the world-famous fossil remains of Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis), as well as Selam, a remarkably complete child hominid fossil estimated to be 3.3 million years old.
• Merkato: Conclude your day with a visit to Africa’s largest open-air market. Established during the Italian occupation in the late 1930s, Merkato spans several square miles and hosts over 7,000 businesses. It offers a dynamic experience of the city’s daily life, where you can find everything from spices and textiles to handmade crafts and electronics.

Overnight Aya Addis hotel Addis Ababa

Day 02 Fly Addis Ababa to Semera and drive to Ahmed Ella

This day after breakfast you will be taken to the airport for your flight to Semera. You will meet upon arrival and drive to Afdera it is used for salt extraction. It is named after the saline Lake Afdera, located in the southern part of the Afar Depression. It is a major source of salt extraction in Ethiopia, where the Lake water is pumped to saltpans for solar evaporation. After lunch we will drive to Ahmed Ella visiting beautiful landscape of solidified lava, rock, sand and occasional palm lined oasis after you pass several small hamlets start visiting Ahmad Ella village total population of more than 500 people to see the life style of the local Afar people. Finally, precede to Salt Lake Asale a huge salty lake where you will swim in a natural pool while enjoying sunset reflections of the salty ground.

Overnight camping at Ahmed Ella

Day 03 Visit Dallol Then Drive to Erta Ale

Morning tour Drive to Ragad (Asebo), the place where the localities are mining salt. Look the activity of breaking the salt from the ground, cutting in to rectangular pieces and loading on camels. You drive ahead to Dallol and visit the difference landscape formed by volcanic activity (125 meter below sea level, one of the lowest and hottest places in the world) colorful salts mining and different terrestrial places formed by volcanic activity like bubbling oily lake creates a different experience of your trip. Then we back to Ahmad Ella for lunch then proceed to Erta Ale. We spend the night watching the dramatic action of the boiling lava. Erta Ale ranks one of the most alluring and physically challenging natural attractions anywhere in Ethiopia. It is a shield volcano with a base diameter of 30 km and 1km square caldera at its summit. Erta Ale contains the world’s only permanent lava lake. Erta Ale is 613 meters, with a lava lake, one of only five in the world, at the summit. It is notable for being the longest existing lava lake, present since the early years of the twentieth century.

Overnight camping at Erta Ale

Day 04 Drive Erta Ale to Hawzen via Mekelle

After Breakfast we will drive to Hawzen via Mekelle. On the way will visit the

Church of Abreha wa Atsbeha, was built in East Tigray around 15 km from Wukro, Cut from a single mountain rock between 335 and 340 AD by the two famous twin-brothers kings Ezana and Sayzana, later on, named Abraha and Atsbeha, this is one of the several hundreds of important rock churches in Tigrai. Their bodies are claimed to be entombed in the church. At one time the church served as a monastery but now operates as a parish church the ceiling was blackened by soot due to Queen Gudit setting a fire in the building nine centuries earlier.

Overnight Vision Hotel Hawzen

Day 05 Climb Abuna Yemata Guh Church & drive to Axum

This day after breakfast you will visit the church of

Abuna Yemata Guh. It is a monolithic church dating from the sixth century and dedicated to Abuna Yemata, one of the nine Syrian saints. The interior reveals many religious paintings, very well preserved and many religious books dating from the 13-14th century. The paintings of a few centuries younger are intact and paint the arrival of Christianity in Ethiopia in the fourth century. It is situated at a height of 2,580 meters and has to be climbed on foot to reach. The 360 ​​degree view of the surroundings is amazing. Later drive to Axum on the way you will visit

Yeha Temple, also known as the Great Temple of Yeha, is one of the most important and oldest archaeological sites in Ethiopia. Date of Construction Believed to be built around 700 BCE (8th century BCE) with Cultural Affiliation of Pre-Aksumite civilization (linked to the Sabean culture of South Arabia) and materially carefully cut and polished limestone blocks (dry stone masonry, without mortar)

Overnight Sabean Hotel Axum

Day 06 Fly Axum to Addis Ababa

After breakfast you will visit Axum a city more than 2500 years of history, once the center of a great empire and ancient civilization, home of the original Ark of covenants. Axum is the prime historical site in the north of Ethiopia. Take a city tour that includes:-

The Church of Saint Mary of Zion and the religious complex the sanctuary Chapel which is the repository of the ‘Ark of covenant’

The coronation yard, Stele Park

Tomb of Kaleb and his son Gebre Meskel

Ezana’s Inscriptions

Queen of Sheba’s Bath, Queen of Sheba’s palace ruins and Axum Museum, Later drive to airport your flight to Addis Ababa.

Overnight Aya Addis Hotel Addis Ababa

Day 07 Fly Addis Ababa to Lalibela

After breakfast you will be taken to the airport for your flight to Lalibela. You will be met upon arrival and taken to your Hotel. After lunch you will Visit

Bete Golgotha‑Mika’el: a twin‑church complex marking the most sacred area, featuring the Selassie Chapel within Bete Golgotha said to house the tomb of King Lalibela and striking carved reliefs of saints inside Bete Mika’el

Bete Maryam: possibly the oldest church in the site, with an intricately painted ceiling depicting biblical scenes and windows symbolizing the Trinity and crucifixion

Bete Meskel: a small chapel carved into the courtyard of Bete Maryam, the “House of the Cross”

Bete Denagel (House of the Virgins): an intimate, grotto‑like chapel adjacent to Bete Maryam, reputed to commemorate fifty Christian nuns martyred in late antiquity

Bete Medhane Alem: the largest free‑standing monolithic church in the world, shaped like a Greek temple. Inside, dozens of columns support the vaulted ceiling, and the polished stone floor reflects shafts of light from high‑aperture windows. In one corner stand three symbolic empty graves for the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Later in the afternoon, you’ll visit the western group’s standalone masterpiece:

Bete Giyorgis (Church of Saint George): isolated on a sloping rock terrace to the southwest of the village, this church is carved in the shape of a perfect cross and often considered the most elegant of all 11. It stands in a sunken pit and is reached via tunnels and trenches

Overnight Maribela Hotel Lalibela

Day 08 Fly Lalibela to Dire Dawa via Addis Ababa

After breakfast, you’ll spend the morning exploring the remaining rock hewn churches of Lalibela like:-

• Bete Gabriel‑Rufael (House of Archangels Gabriel and Raphael)
• Bete Marqorios (St. Mercurius/Mark the Evangelist)
• Bete Emmanuel (House of Emmanuel)
• Bete Abba Libanos (House of Abbot Libanos)

These southeastern cluster churches, carved into volcanic rock, showcase exceptional Aksumite architectural features and intricate decorative motifs unique to Lalibela, After visiting these sacred sites, you’ll be transferred to Lalibela Airport to catch your connection flight to Dire Dawa via Addis Ababa. On arrival transfer to Hotel refresh and begin sightseeing of Harar. The Best Experiences of Harar is to see the hyena man .These hyena men feed hyenas just outside of the city walls from a stick held between their teeth or with their bare hands. The practice has been going on for hundreds of years and the practice is going on today. We will see this unique interaction.

Overnight Royal Sun Shine Hotel Harar

Day 09 Fly Dire Dawa to Addis Abeba

This day after breakfast you will visit Harar, it’s the fourth most important city in Islam, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it was home to the French poet Rimbaud and it offers a brilliant, immersive experience into Ethiopian culture. Emir Nur built a protection wall called Jegol in the 1560s. The old city is now still circled by this wall a new one extended outside of the wall. It has 5 gates to enter into the old city. It has narrow streets with colorful houses, lots of mosques, and shrines. Later drive to Dire Dawa passing through Aweday chat market. Upon arrival in Dire Dawa you will catch flight back to Addis Ababa.

Overnight Aya Addis Hotel Addis Ababa

Day 10 Fly Addis Ababa to Jinka Drive to Turmi

This day after breakfast you will be taken to the airport for your flight to Jinka. You will be met upon arrival and drive to Key Afer to visit

Mursi village, the Mursi women, like their Surma cousins, live on the other bank of the Omo River, are famous for their large round (and not only) lip plates worn by women. There are several theories of the wearing of lip plates: disfiguring to prevent enslavement by Arabs in antiquity; protection against the penetration of evil spirits into the body through the mouth; determination of social status, showing the amount of cattle that the groom must pay as a dowry for the bride owning the plate. Mursi are unsurpassed masters of scarification. The scars on their bodies symbolize social status and past merits. The scars are created by using a razor blade and camel thorn. To achieve a bulge, an ash or a fly larva is planted in the wound, which, among other things, eliminates all possible infections. Later drive to Turmi to visit

Hammer people, distinguished by the fact that their women wear leather skirts decorated with shells, wear several copper bracelets on their hands and heavy iron necklaces around their necks, symbolizing their social status, and their hair is colored with ocher and animal fat. Men, in case of victory over the enemy or a dangerous beast, fix the hairstyle with clay and decorate with ostrich feathers. This hairstyle is carefully guarded the Hamar sleep with a special borkotos chair under their neck. they are also known for their unique custom of “bull jumping,” which initiates a boy into manhood, practice of body adornment and wearing a multitude of colorful beads.

Overnight Paradise Lodge in Turmi

Day 11 Drive Turmi – Nyangatom tribe — Karo tribe – Banna – Jinka

This morning, we continue through the savannah with shrubs and umbrella acacia trees.

Kangaten (Nyangatom tribe) To adore their long and lean bodies, the Nyangatom women wear numerous necklaces and long Skirts from goatskins that are richly decorated They are indeed fierce warriors which is supposedly demonstrated by their custom to scar their chest; one scar for each killed enemy. Herds of cows are their most valuable property. Later drive to Kolcho, the village of

Karo people at the eastern bank of Omo River with beautiful views, Karo are famous for their intricate face and body painting practices, which they apply on their heads and torso before major events and on the weekly markets. Karo is the smallest tribes of the Omo Valley and Karo men also sculpts and shave their hair into extravagant shapes, with special ochre “caps” of hair usually containing several ostrich feathers. Then back to turmi for lunch and proceed to the

Banna tribe the closest relatives of the famous Hamer, but less visited by tourists. Banna is one of the most beautiful and distinctive tribes of the Omo Valley with a settlement territory north of Turmi. Banna speak Omotic languages. Most of the Banna tribe bull jumping happens on Friday. The main ritual of the Banna men, which is a rite of passage entering adulthood that is, becoming a man, the future man must four times run over the backs of 10-20 cows and bulls. Contester performs the ceremony naked, which symbolizes the childhood that he is going to leave. After successfully completing the rite, the young man is considered a maza now he has the right to marry later drive to Jinka.

Overnight Eco Omo Lodge in Jinka

Day 12 Visit Ari Tribes and Fly to Addis Ababa

After breakfast you will visit

Ari people, the largest population in the lower omo valley, the women wear skirts from the banana like tree, called Enset are expert in pottery, blacksmith and distillation of traditional Liquor. Later drive to Jinka airport your flight to Addis Ababa.