Guides

All 23 guides, curated by a local.

Everything you need when you visit, from landing at Bole to your flight home. Search, or browse them all.

Skip the taxi touts: book a RIDE, Feres or Yango car in the app. 15 to 30 minutes to most hotels.

Two networks, both sold at the airport with your passport. Compare their visitor plans.

Banks and licensed exchange bureaus only; street exchange is illegal. Compare today's bank rates.

Cash in birr for most things. Cards work in big hotels; telebirr and M-PESA work almost everywhere.

Bole is the easiest first base: close to the airport, food and rides.

Long-running licensed operators, and how to check a guide's licence before you pay.

What you can film, where cameras aren't allowed, drone approvals, and asking people first.

RIDE, Feres and Yango work; Uber doesn't. Pay the driver in cash.

Fly with Ethiopian Airlines, book coaches in the Mengedegna app, or take the train to Dire Dawa.

Addis is calm, but some regions aren't. See where to go and what to avoid, from the UK, US and Japan advisories.

Show your passport when asked, don't film the police, and know your right to a lawyer and your embassy.

Mild all year at 2,355 m. Big rains from June to September; dry and sunny from October.

Malls have fixed prices, markets expect haggling, and online it's Zemen Gebeya in telebirr. Never pay before you get it.

What injera is and how to eat it, the dishes to try, the coffee ceremony and what to drink, with or without alcohol.

The apps that bring restaurant food, groceries and drinks to your hotel in Addis, and how to pay.

Phones and cameras are fine. Drones and binoculars need a permit before you fly.

Visas for business, which government office does what, how to invest and how work permits work, with the official sites.

Hello, thank you and how much, in Amharic script and Latin letters, with sound.

Clocks start at sunrise and the calendar is 7 or 8 years behind. See the time now and convert any date.

Often called a vegan paradise: Orthodox fasting food, free of meat, dairy and eggs, is served almost everywhere.

Mosques in every part of Addis and halal meat everywhere from Muslim butchers. Find a place to pray with Musalla.

One of the oldest Christian countries, with almost every denomination: Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant and more, plus services in English.

Beta Israel heritage, a synagogue in Addis, and kosher meals through Chabad Ethiopia.