In Ethiopia there are so many places worth visiting that it is difficult to determine where to start.

Of course it will depend on your preferences and on the time available.

You can also start by checking out our tour packages, but if you want to get an overview what can be seen or done, this page could serve as a first guideline.

Addis Ababa – the capital of the Ethiopia with Bole International Airport, the main airport for international flights and therefore starting point of most tours, offers several cultural views that can be visited within one or two days.

For Omo and the Rift Valley Lakes in the Southern part of the country you should plan several days, the tour packages usually allocate 7 to 14 days for covering all places worth visiting, but if you are very short of time, we can assemble a tailor made faster tour, depending on your preferences.

On this tour you could include the National Parks of Nech-Sar with its zebras and gazelles, of Mago where the Mursi People live (who are known for piercing their lips and inserting disks made of clay) and of Omo, the largest park in the country and virtually free of human habitation.

The historic North offers the old cities of Axum, which was built about 2000 years ago, Lalibela with its famous rock-hewn churches, and Gonder, the previous capital of Ethiopia with its picturesque medieval Castle; these places can easily be visited within one week if you rely on the airline connections, while going all the way by car would take quite a while – distances are even longer than they seem on the map due to winding and partially unpaved roads.

Lake Tana, the biggest lake in Ethiopia, is the source of the Blue Nile, which offers gorgeous waterfalls of 45 metres hight40 km downstream Lake Tana (driving distance of about 1 hour from Bahir-Dar, a city at Lake Tana with an airport)..

Harar  is an eastern city in Ethiopia which has been a major commercial centre for centuries, linked by the trade routes with the rest of Ethiopia, the entire Horn of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and, through its ports, the outside world. It is considered "the fourth holiest city of Islam" with 82 mosques, three of which date from the 10th century, and 102 shrines.

The Danakil Depression (or Afar Depression) is situated in the African Great Rift Valley and includes the lowest point in Africa, Lake Asal (-155 meters or -500 ft). There you find also Erta Ale, the most  active volcano in Ethiopia,  with one or sometimes two active lava lakes at the summit which occasionally overflow on the south side of the volcano. Volcanoes with lava lakes are very rare: there are only five in the world.

Trekking can be done as the main purpose for your visit, but you can also integrate a one- or two-day hike into your sightseeing tour. Best places for trekking are the Semien Mountains with its overwhelming view over a scenery of cliffy rocks and the Bale Mountains. Other excellent trecking areas are Dodola and Surma.

Desta Lalibela Tours' birding tours are guided by members of Ethiopia's Wildlife and Natural History Society, making the identification of 69 important birding sites spread throughout the country easy to find. It is important to note that most bird watching itineraries travel through the South of the country, while an itinerary in search of all the Ethiopia endemic birds would take a minimum of 3 weeks. To be sure, a tour of 10-15 days would guarantee that you see most of the endemic and several hundred more species of birds.