Northern Tours

The north of Ethiopia holds some of the most popular tourist destinations in the country.

ETHIOPIA’S NORTHERN CIRCUIT

Ethiopia’s Northern Circuit, sometimes called the Historical Route, is by some distance the most impressive tourism itinerary in the country. Across Bahir Dar, Gondar, Axum and Lalibela there lies an extraordinary trove of historic and cultural treasures, from beautifully preserved ancient monasteries to monolithic churches and vast, mysterious obelisks.

The route is frequently supplemented with time in the wider and relatively little known Tigray region from Axum, including the rock-hewn churches around Wukro and the battlefield of Akwa. Gondar is within easy reach of the magnificent Simian Mountain range making the national park a natural add-on to the circuit, and it can also be appended with tours to the game reserves and lakes of southern Ethiopia, such as those in Ethiopia’s section of the Great Rift Valley.

Northern Circuit trips can take the form of small group tours, with numbers limited to around 16 people, or tailor made holidays allowing more flexibility in terms of your travel dates, accommodation standards and precise itinerary. It is normally travelled in a clockwise direction beginning in the capital, Addis Ababa, and while it may be done entirely by road this can be quite arduous with some long days of driving required. For this reason internal flights are often used between destinations, with flight durations of around an hour.

Tours tend to last a minimum of two weeks due to the distances involved and giving you time to really get the most from each place. They can also be arranged to coincide with the huge Christian festival of Timkat, which is held in Gondar during January.

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