Best Things to Do in Djibouti City

Djibouti City combines an atmospheric turn-of-the-century Red Sea port town with rapid access to active rift-valley geology and pristine coral reefs. Balance your mornings on the water or in the desert crater with late afternoons exploring the historic quarters and seafood ovens of the peninsula.

1. Walk the whitewashed arcades of Place Ménélik and the European Quarter. Admire the colonnaded coral-stone merchant houses built around the turn of the 20th century, pausing for a morning espresso and warm croissant under the shaded arches.
2. Stand on the salt crust of Lake Assal. Drive 110 kilometres west into the Afar Triangle to reach a crater lake sitting 155 metres below sea level, where blinding white salt flats meet waters ten times saltier than the ocean.
3. Snorkel alongside whale sharks in the Gulf of Tadjoura. Between October and February, plankton blooms in the sheltered bays of Arta Plage and Ras Korali attract gentle juvenile whale sharks that swim calmly near the surface.
4. Boat out to the coral reefs of Moucha and Maskali Islands. Just thirty minutes by launch from the city port, this small coral archipelago offers mangrove lagoons, white sandbars and clear snorkelling over brain coral and reef fish.
5. See the stone minaret of Hamoudi Mosque and Place Mahmoud Harbi. At the meeting point of the European and African quarters stands the 1906 Hamoudi Mosque alongside the lively square of Place Mahmoud Harbi and the central market stalls.
6. Swim and snorkel from the volcanic coves of Khor Ambado. Fifteen kilometres west of the capital along the southern shore of the Gulf of Tadjoura, dark basalt cliffs shelter a sandy bay backed by casual beachside fish grills.
7. Look down into the Goubet al-Kharab (Devil's Cauldron) and Ardoukôba Volcano. On the road toward Lake Assal, stop above the dramatic fault line where the Gulf of Tadjoura narrows into a deep volcanic bay dotted with black basalt islands.
8. Dine on clay-oven mukbaza Yemeni fish in the evening. Join families in central Djibouti City as Red Sea red snapper or kingfish is split open, brushed with spices and baked flat inside a blazing cylindrical clay oven.
9. Stroll the seafront promenade at La Siesta and Plateau du Serpent. Catch the late afternoon breeze along the rocky eastern shoreline watching container ships and wooden dhows navigate the Bab-el-Mandeb approaches.
10. Cross the gulf by ferry to whitewashed Tadjoura. Take a full-day excursion across the water to the ancient Afar sultanate town of Tadjoura, known as the White City for its seven mosques and coral walls backed by the Goda Mountains.