# Addis Ababa: map, what to do and when to go

Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, sits at 2,355 m, and people come for museums, a market and food that explain the country. Founded in 1886, it is the seat of the African Union and uses its own thirteen-month calendar.

Canonical: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/adis-abeba/
Language: en. Extended author commentary and itinerary notes may remain in Portuguese. Dates below belong to individual sources; this is not live availability.

## Direct answer
- **Addis Ababa: Why book the domestic flight only after the international one?** Anyone who books Lalibela or Gondar before having an inbound flight on Ethiopian loses the reduced domestic fare and pays full price.
- **Addis Ababa: How do you get a visa for Ethiopia?** The terminal expanded in 2019 has capacity for about 22 million passengers a year.
- **Addis Ababa: What's in Bishoftu, and how do you get there?** Bishoftu is 45 km southeast along the Adama highway, about 1 hour by car or by train, and has five crater lakes with lakeside hotels, boats and bird-watching.

## The skeleton, the palace, and the first jebena
Start at the National Museum of Ethiopia, in Arat Kilo, right at opening, and head straight to the basement to see Lucy before going up to the floors of sacred art and modern painting.
- National Museum of Ethiopia
- Ethnographic Museum, at Addis Ababa University
- Holy Trinity Cathedral (Kidist Selassie)

## Piazza, Merkato, and a night of masinko
Go to Merkato early in the morning, with a local guide arranged through your hotel, and stick to the spice, coffee, and recyclables sections; leave your camera and a bulky wallet in your room.
- St. George's Cathedral and its museum
- Merkato
- Meskel Square and the Red Terror Martyrs Memorial Museum
- Adwa Victory Memorial Museum

## Entoto, Shiro Meda and Unity Park
Head out at six in the morning to Entoto Park or the steps of Meskel Square and walk alongside the groups of runners; the air is cleaner before the traffic.
- Unity Park, at the Grand Palace of Menelik
- Mount Entoto and Entoto Maryam church

## National Museum of Ethiopia
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/adis-abeba/#g-lugar-museu-nacional-da-etiopia
Adis Abeba
Holds “Lucy” (Dinkinesh in Amharic, “you are marvelous”), the 3.2 million-year-old Australopithecus afarensis skeleton found in Hadar, in the Afar region, in 1974. The display case shows a replica while the original stays in a vault; the upper floors cover sacred art, Haile Selassie's throne, and modern Ethiopian painting.
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## Ethnographic Museum, at Addis Ababa University
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/adis-abeba/#g-lugar-museu-etnografico-na
Occupies the Guenete Leul Palace, Haile Selassie's residence until 1960, on the Sidist Kilo campus. It has the country's best collection of instruments, processional crosses and icons, organized by life cycle, and keeps the emperor's bedroom and bathroom intact.
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## Holy Trinity Cathedral (Kidist Selassie)
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/adis-abeba/#g-lugar-catedral-da-santissima-trindade
Adis Abeba · Up to half an hour
Consecrated in 1942, it mixes neo-baroque arches with Ethiopian details. It holds the marble tombs of Haile Selassie and Empress Menen, the tomb of British suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst, and, in the courtyard, the grave of the ministers executed by the Derg in November 1974.
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## St. George's Cathedral and its museum
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/adis-abeba/#g-lugar-catedral-de-sao-jorge
Adis Abeba · Up to half an hour
An octagonal church from 1896, built to mark the victory at Adwa, where Empress Zauditu (1917) and Haile Selassie (1930) were crowned. The museum in the courtyard holds coronation robes, crowns, crosses, and paintings by Afewerk Tekle.
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## Merkato
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/adis-abeba/#g-lugar-merkato
Adis Abeba
Go in the morning, with little in your pockets and preferably accompanied: the spice section (berbere, mitmita, cardamom) and the coffee section are the most readable for anyone not buying wholesale. At Menalesh Tera, workshops turn metal and plastic collected around the city into utensils and stoves.
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## Meskel Square and the Red Terror Martyrs Memorial Museum
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/adis-abeba/#g-lugar-praca-meskel
Adis Abeba · Up to half an hour
The square is the city's civic arena: bleacher-style steps used for parades, for the Meskel bonfire, and as a training track at five in the morning. On the west side, the museum, opened in 2010, documents the Derg's executions between 1976 and 1978 with photographs, personal belongings, coffins, and remains; entry is by donation.
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## Unity Park, at the Grand Palace of Menelik
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/adis-abeba/#g-lugar-unity-park-no-palacio-nacional
Opened in October 2019 within the grounds of Menelik's Grand Palace, in Arat Kilo, with the throne room, restored imperial houses, pavilions on the country's regions, gardens, and a zoo with dark-maned lions. Foreigner admission around US$20; closed on Mondays.
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## Mount Entoto and Entoto Maryam church
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/adis-abeba/#g-lugar-monte-entoto
Shewa
At about 3,200 m, where Menelik held court before descending to Filwoha; the octagonal 1885 church and the museum set up in the wood-and-stone palace still stand. Entoto Park, opened in 2020, has trails and tracks, and on a clear day the view reaches the whole city.
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## Africa Hall and African Union headquarters
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/adis-abeba/#g-lugar-africa-hall
Adis Abeba
Africa Hall, from 1961, was built for the UN, hosted the founding of the OAU in 1963, and reopened in 2024 after a restoration, with Afewerk Tekle's roughly 150 m² stained-glass window on Africa's liberation. Next door, the African Union tower stands 99.9 m tall and was donated by China in 2012; visiting the headquarters requires an appointment and ID.
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## Adwa Victory Memorial Museum
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/adis-abeba/#g-lugar-museu-memorial-da-vitoria-de
Opened in February 2024 in the Piazza, at the spot marked as the city's kilometer zero, it brings together a museum on the 1896 battle, a library, auditoriums, shops, and a pool in a largely underground complex. It's the symbol of the current construction cycle and also the target of criticism over its cost and the surrounding demolitions.
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**Addis Ababa: Why book the domestic flight only after the international one?**
Anyone who books Lalibela or Gondar before having an inbound flight on Ethiopian loses the reduced domestic fare and pays full price.

**Addis Ababa: How do you get a visa for Ethiopia?**
The terminal expanded in 2019 has capacity for about 22 million passengers a year. Entry requires a passport valid for six months and a visa: almost all nationalities use the e-visa, requested on the official portal three to seven days in advance, valid only for entry through Bole and priced at US$62 for 30 days and US$152 for 90 days (official portal rates, 2026).

**Addis Ababa: What's in Bishoftu, and how do you get there?**
Bishoftu is 45 km southeast along the Adama highway, about 1 hour by car or by train, and has five crater lakes with lakeside hotels, boats and bird-watching. It's the city's weekend getaway.

**Addis Ababa: What's the currency, and what's the birr worth?**
The currency is the Ethiopian birr (ETB), which has floated since July 2024 and was worth about 160 to 170 to the dollar and about 185 to 195 to the euro in 2026, after losing about two-thirds of its value over the period.

**Addis Ababa: What's the climate like throughout the year?**
Addis Ababa has two seasons, not four, and that changes the whole plan: the average temperature stays around 16 °C year-round, with highs of 20 to 25 °C and lows of 6 to 11 °C, and what changes is the rain.


## In the Nilo app
- Plan these 2 days on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/guide/adis-abeba/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-itinerary
- Mark your hotel on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/map/adis-abeba/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-stay

## Full editorial guide (Portuguese)
https://nilopelomundo.com/llm/adis-abeba.md