The Perfect Ethiopia Northern Circuit Itinerary (Ethiopia Itinerary 2 Weeks more or less)

The most popular sites in Ethiopia are in the northern part of the country. Tours by established western tour companies are outrageously expensive, you can do it much cheaper via Independent Travel with little loss of comfort. I spent a couple weeks in the area and learned from my itinerary mistakes to provide you with the best 2-Week Ethiopia Northern Circuit Itinerary.  Since the best Attractions are in northern Ethiopia this could also be considered for a great  choice for an Ethiopia Itinerary 2 weeks.

Day 1 – Fly to Bahir Dar & Blue Nile Falls

Morning

Fly from Addis Ababa to Bahir Dar  in northern Ethiopia & transfer to your accommodation. Most hotels will provide shuttle service.

Afternoon

Take a tour to the Blue Nile Falls. The Blue Nile river starts in at lake Tana and this beautiful waterfall is some miles away. It’s well worth the trip although it’s been said that the volume of water is much lower in dry season. The departure times for these tours vary but I recommend going at 2pm or earlier. I went at 3pm and by the time we got there, we were pressured into taking the more expensive boat tour and it was getting a little too dark for the falls. It was completely dark by the time we arrived back in BD.   As an alternative to a tour, you can be more adventurous and visit Blue Nile Falls independently,  but allow more time for this.

Stay: Manhaie Backpackers. Private, basic room. Shared hot shower & toilet. Rooms with private bathroom are also available. Wi-fi isn’t great there but you can go to a nearby hotel for adequate wi-fi for the cost of a juice or breakfast. Nati, the manager here is great and can arrange tours in BD and farther for good prices.  Check Rates and Availability.

Day 2 – Lake Tana Churches and road to Gondar

Morning

Take a half day tour to the Monasteries along Lake Tana. This can be arranged by your hotel. Do find out if admissions to the Monasteries are included, often they are not and entry to each is about 100 ETB ($4).

Afternoon

Take a bus or shared taxi to Gondar 80 ETB ($3.50). The drive takes 3 hours on a good road with nice views and you will be dropped in the center of Gondar near Meskel Square

Stay

Gondar: Lodge du Chateau. A favorite guesthouse for westerners with a nice courtyard and adequate wi-fi. The breakfast is huge – fresh juice, avocados, choice of eggs or pancakes. Served on a rooftop deck overlooking a valley. Great location – just across the street from Gondar castle. Restaurants nearby.  Check Rates and Availability.

Day 3 – Full day Gondar

Morning

The Fasil Ghebbi (Gondar Castle) complex opens at 8 am. Ticket is 200 ETB ($8). Make sure you hold on to the ticket because it allow you to visit the pool and return to see the castles in the afternoon light. Spend a couple hours walking around the complex – there are lots of interesting buildings to explore. Take a guide (you can hire there) or a good guidebook to explain each of the buildings.

Next take a tuk tuk (or 2 km walk) to visit the interesting Fasilidas’s Pool. Note that both the pool and castles close for lunch hour at 12:30 daily

Afternoon

Walk or take a tuk tuk to visit Debre Berhan Selassie church. Entry is 100 ETB ($4). This church has some of the best paintings in all the churches I visited in Ethiopia. I loved the paintings of angels (Habesha faces & wings) on the ceiling.

Then either return to the castles for afternoon light, or take a tuk tuk to Woleka to visit the synagogue and shop for ceramics (they sell super cute little ceramic chickens).

Stay

Second night in Gondar

Day 4 – One-Day tour of Simiens National Park

Note: If you are traveling with others, I recommend you get a car and driver for the next 5 days (to Mekele). You can get public transport to some of these places, but Simiens and Tigray requires use of private vehicle. Add a couple days to this itinerary if going by public transport. Also, catching public transport from Debark to Axum is difficult and I’ve heard stories of people needing to pay $300 for a taxi to make this trip, so you might as well consider paying $140-150 per day for the longer trip.

Morning

Get an early start at 6:30 or 7:00 with your private driver. It will be a 2 hour drive to Debark. Ask your driver to stop at the viewpoint at Kossoye (a green patch of grass with views of mountains below).

Stop at the national park office, which opens at 8:30, and pay your entry fee and hire your mandatory scout (was 150 ETB for entry and 150 ETB for entry and scout when I visited, but the fees rose considerably in 2018). You may also hire a guide here although they are not mandatory. If you have a good map and know exactly what you want to do, a guide is not necessary. All the things you will do on a one-day tour of the park are along the main road.
Have your driver drop you near Michibiny and hike along the escarpment.

Afternoon

Drive further into the park to the car park area for Jinbar waterfall. The hike is around ½ hour each way on a semi-steep trail, but the view is worth it. We found a grass spot overlooking the falls and had our lunch snacks here.

We stopped in the Sankaber area to check it out as there is an inexpensive mountain hut to stay, but the place was actually quite dirty and smelly from scores of campers and cooking that goes on there.

Simiens is a place you do not want to miss. There is National Geographic style wildlife – from birds and klipspringers to the famous Gelada monkeys that are happy to eat grass and groom themselves as you watch from a short distance.

Stay

The Sona Hotel in Debark has singles, doubles, and triple rooms.  Buffet Breakfast.  Wi-fi.  Bar and restaurant for decent dinner.  Check Rates and Availability.

Day 5 – Debark to Axum by Road

Morning

You can have a more relaxed morning today and start your roughly 7 hour drive from Debark to Axum on a partially gravel, partially paved road (improvements are being made so it will be quicker in the future). The views leaving Debark are incredible. There are several waterfalls as you make your way down the switchbacks of the escarpment. When you get to the valley there are great views of the Simiens from below for many miles.

Afternoon

Continue your drive to Axum. Stop for Ethiopian coffee along the way in one of the villages and enjoy the views. Arrive in Axum by mid to late afternoon.

Walk over to the Axum Stelae Park and buy your ticket 50 ETB ($2) which is good for 2 days. Visit the largest stelae (spires) in the late afternoon sun for the best photography

Night

Axum has many great Cultural Houses for song and dance shows and Ethiopian food. These shows are popular with the locals so it’s a fun night out.

Stay

There are several hotels from the very cheap to moderately expensive.  None are too exciting.    Check the latest reviews and Check Rates and availability for your Axum hotel here.

Day 6 – Full Day in Axum

Morning

See the other historical sights in town and visit the museum near the Stelae Park.

For 200 ETB ($8) you get entry to three churches (2 if you are a woman) and a religious museum. The gaudy modern church is one of the larger churches in Ethiopia. The museum is dusty but has some nice relics. We couldn’t visit the second church because women are not allowed, and we couldn’t visit the third church because it was closed for some reason.

Afternoon

If you have a driver (like we did) consider having him drive you to the other sites that are outside the center of town including Dongar Palace (easily walkable from town) and tombs and Monasteries north and east from town.

Stay

Second night in Axum

Days 7 – 8 – Two Days touring the Tigray region churches

The Tigray region churches are spread out and much less visited than the other historical sites like Gondar, Axum, and Lalibela. But this was part of the attraction for me. See here for a suggested two-day itinerary to some of the more accessible Rock Hewn Churches of Tigray.

Stay

Atse Yohannes , Mekele. Western hotel, good location, Ethiopian airlines on site, wifi, buffet breakfast.  Check Rates and Availability

Days 9 – 11 – Three-day tour to Danakil Depression

You cannot visit Danakil independently. You must take a tour with security protection.  Read here for info on the Danakil Depression Tour.  It’s possible to do 3- or 4-day tours and do everything or 2-day tour to see either Dalol or Erte Ale. I recommend 3-days.

Day 12 – Fly to Lalibela & see some sights

Morning:

Fly to Lalibela from Mekele (note: this flight does not operate 7 days a week so check). Take the shuttle to town which is quite far from the airport (fixed fee price per person)

Afternoon:

Lalibela is perhaps the best known of the Ethiopia Tourist Places.  Buy your ticket (a very steep $50, or the bank equivalent ETB conversion on that day, but good for 4 days. Note this is one ticket in Ethiopia that can be paid in dollars – the less expensive churches take ETB only).

Head over to the most famous St. George Church for a visit and then enjoy the view as the sun goes down (note: closing time is just before sunset so the guard will likely shoo you from the grounds before sunset).

Night:

Head over to the Torpedo House to try the variations of honey wine. I found the wine here to be quite pricey compared to honey wine I had in Omo Valley, but this seems to be a place to have clean, authentic honey wine if you haven’t had it.

Stay:

Honey Land Hotel. This cute new hotel is on the hill overlooking town. Great owner. Great views. Breakfast in the garden.  Clean rooms.  Great Restaurant and salads.    Check Rates and Availability.

Day 13 – Full day Lalibela

Morning:

Spend the whole morning visiting the Northwestern and Northern church clusters of Lalibela. Sunday mornings are especially interesting because more worshipers are visiting, but you will not be able to visit inside most of the churches during services. Either have a good guidebook with maps explanations or use a local guide as the church complex is a bit of a maze.

Afternoon:

Take a tuk tuk up, up, up the hill to the car park of Asheton Maryam. Take a short hike along a high ridge to this Monastery (150 ETB, $6). Check out the winding rock hewn caves and get a blessing with holy water as you check out the incredible views. For the super fit, you can scramble up to a secret mediation spot of the king who founded Lalibela.

Sunset:

Have your tuk tuk take you directly to Ben Abeba restaurant for a drink to watch the sunset. I recommend going back to town for dinner as I found the food overpriced and not particularly good.

Stay:

Second night in Lalibela

Read more tips for visiting Lalibela here.

Day 14 – Fly to Addis Ababa

If your flight isn’t until afternoon, consider visiting your favorite churches again. But keep in mind the airport is very far from town so give yourself enough time.

This itinerary is just a guideline. I highly recommend purchasing this guidebook to give you detailed descriptions, maps, hours of operations, etc. It’s the best researched guidebook for Ethiopia.

Variations to Ethiopia Itinerary if you have more time

• If you’re into hiking, you can extend your time in the Simien Mountains and take treks of 2 to 10 days. Highly recommended.
• If you want to see Danakil at a more relaxed pace, consider taking the 4-day tour.
• Of all the historic sites, if you have one day to add, you could add it at Lalibela. There are some community based hikes nearby and churches outside of the town. If you visit on Saturday, there’s a great market. Lalibela Tip: If staying longer and planning to use your Lalibela pass on days 3 and 4, the guards become more and more stringent about checking IDs. Luckily I had a credit card on me with my name that matched the ticket or they wouldn’t have let us in.

Variations to Ethiopia Northern Circuit Itinerary if you have less time

• An easy way to cut 2 days from this itinerary is to fly directly to Gondar and skip Bahir Dar
• It is possible to fly between many of the cities of the north, so you could fly Gondar to Axum, Axum to Lalibela. In many cases this cuts ½ to a full day of driving.
• Danakil Depression isn’t for everyone – you need to have a basic level of fitness. Additionally, if you are traveling in the summer it could be unbearably hot. There really isn’t a reason to visit Mekele if you aren’t doing Danakil Depression. However, if you are doing the Tigray churches, Mekele is close and has good airport services.
• People who are more interested in historical sites skip Simiens National Park, but I think this park is a highlight.
• If you don’t have your own vehicle, you might want to skip the Tigray churches as most are difficult to visit by public transport.

Click here for 66 more travel tips for Ethiopia.

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