Best Things to Do in Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa rewards curious travellers with three million years of human origins, royal Ethiopian history, vast open-air craft markets and one of the most distinctive food, coffee and live-music cultures on the planet.

1. Come face to face with Lucy (Dinkinesh) at the National Museum of Ethiopia. Descend into the palaeontology basement at Amist Kilo to see the 3.2-million-year-old Australopithecus afarensis skeleton discovered in the Afar depression in 1974 alongside the 3.3-million-year-old child fossil Selam and 4.4-million-year-old Ardi.
2. Tour Emperor Haile Selassie's palace at the Ethnological Museum. Walk through the wooded Sidist Kilo campus of Addis Ababa University into the former Guenete Leul Palace to see the Emperor's preserved bedroom, processional crosses, musical instruments and triptych icons.
3. Visit Holy Trinity Cathedral (Kidist Selassie). Admire the monumental copper dome, Afewerk Tekle stained-glass windows and the carved granite sarcophagi of Emperor Haile Selassie and Empress Menen Asfaw inside Ethiopia's most important Orthodox cathedral.
4. Explore the imperial halls of Unity Park and lakeside Friendship Park. Step inside the 19th-century Grand Palace compound founded by Menelik II to see the historic wooden Shengo Banquet Hall, the Throne Room and regional pavilions, then stroll the landscaped gardens of Friendship Park below.
5. Breathe the eucalyptus air at Mount Entoto and Entoto Park. Drive or hike up to the 3,200-metre ridge north of the city to walk shaded forest trails, visit Menelik II's modest first palace and octagonal Entoto Maryam Church, and gaze across the entire bowl of Addis.
6. Browse handwoven cotton shawls at Shiro Meda Market. At the foot of the Entoto road, shop calmly among long arcades of weavers selling soft white Ethiopian cotton scarves (netela and gabi) bordered with colourful hand-loomed tibeb geometric bands.
7. Navigate the spice and recycling lanes of Addis Merkato with a local guide. Dive into Africa's largest open-air market in Addis Ketema to smell sacks of crimson berbere chilli, green coffee beans and white frankincense, and watch metalworkers at Minalesh Tera.
8. Experience a traditional Habesha coffee ceremony and Tomoca Coffee. Watch green highland beans roasted over charcoal with smoking frankincense for three ceremonial cups, and stand at the counter of historic 1953 Tomoca Coffee in Piazza.
9. Share a sourdough teff injera platter and honey wine (tej). Gather around a woven mesob basket table for spicy doro wat, rosemary tibs or a colourful vegan beyaynetu spread paired with golden mead poured from a long-necked berele flask.
10. Spend an evening listening to live Ethio-jazz or watching eskista dance. Hear hypnotic five-note pentatonic brass grooves inspired by Mulatu Astatke or energetic traditional regional shoulder dances.