Mount Entoto Park, Unity Park, Shiro Meda and Addis Merkato

Over the past few years, Addis Ababa's green spaces and imperial landmarks have undergone a remarkable transformation: the once-closed 19th-century Grand Palace compound and the eucalyptus forests of Mount Entoto are now flagship public parks, easily paired with the city's famous textile and spice markets.

Unity Park (inside the Grand Palace) and Friendship Park

Occupying forty acres on a hill near Arat Kilo, the National Palace (Menelik's Grand Gibbi) served as the seat of Ethiopian emperors and heads of state from 1887 onwards and was closed to the public for more than a century. Today, the historic core is open as Unity Park (book your timed ticket online via the official Unity Park portal or with your passport and birr at the commercial bank counter by the gate). Highlights include Emperor Menelik II's timber-vaulted Shengo Banquet Hall, the gilded Throne House, Menelik's three-storey residence with his elevated observation kiosk (Enkulal Bet / Egg House), a pavilion of Ethiopia's regions and an indigenous botanical garden housing black-maned Ethiopian lions. Directly below the palace hill, stroll through Friendship Park (Sheger Park) with its artificial lake, rose gardens and terraced amphitheatres.

Mount Entoto, Entoto Park and Shiro Meda Weavers' Market

Rising to 3,200 metres along the northern rim of the city, Mount Entoto was where Emperor Menelik II established his first court in the early 1880s before moving down into the warmer valley. Today, Entoto Park turns the eucalyptus forest into a car-free network of walking trails, wooden coffee pavilions, art galleries and cliffside viewing decks overlooking all of Addis Ababa. At the historic summit nearby, visit the octagonal Entoto Maryam Church, its royal museum of crowns and robes, and Menelik and Taytu's humble palace.

On your drive back down the mountain road, stop at Shiro Meda Market. Stretching along the roadside arcades, hundreds of weavers sell hand-loomed Ethiopian cotton shawls (netela), warm double-layer blankets (gabi) and embroidered dresses (habesha kemis) at friendly prices.

Navigating Addis Merkato

In the western district of Addis Ketema (reached via Light Rail or taxi), Addis Merkato covers several square kilometres. Because its grid of specialist zones is vast, visit in the morning with a local guide. Focus on the fragrant spice and incense market (piled with red berbere, mitmita, cardamom and frankincense), the woven grass mesob basket stalls, coffee warehouses, and Minalesh Tera, the recycling quarter where tinsmiths turn scrap metal into stoves and coffee roasters before you head for an injera lunch.