Ethiopia Question: 2-3 day Simiens experience departing from Lalibela, ending at city with flights to Addis? (also, Danakil?)

Judging by your questions, I think you might need to look at a map (with distances) of Ethiopia

Have you bought your plane tickets yet? If you haven't, buy them with Ethiopian airlines (they then offer a substantial discount on domestic flights - which you'll need). (I think) you need to be in the country to get this discount at one of their ticket offices. But double check this.

  1. It is possible to travel between Gondar and Lalibela by bus but it takes two days. Fly. (check the Ethiopian website)

  2. It is possible to trek between Lalibela and Gondar. But you'd be looking at 12-16 days.

Treks into the Simien Mountains start in Gondar (not Lalibela as far as I'm aware). They'd last for a minimum of one night in the mountains (2 long days overall). Don't fall for people suggesting a 'day trip' - they take you to a high point near Gondar and that's it.

If you only have 2-3 days spare I'm not sure how realistic it is to visit the Simien mountains. Perhaps you should concentrate on Addis, Mekele (for Danakil) and Lalibela. Fly between them if you can because the distances are long (you're looking at one full day by road Lalibela-Mekele; probably same for Addis-Lalibela).

Danakil - obviously it's hot. If you;re doing the sulphur/salt flats, they provide plenty of water, there's AC in the car (and you can wait in the car if you don't feel up to getting out at the various points). But once you are out of the car, it is pretty bloody hot, and in a way, it's probably not great for your body to keep going from air conditioned car to 118 F and back again. The salt flats weren't too hot if I remember correctly.

The volcano - it's not as hot as the sulphur landscape but it's probably more physical strenuous than the salt flats/sulphur landscapes. I think if you're really struggling you can even pay a bit extra and ride one of the camels though

/r/travel Thread