Tips welcome

Hello fellow world travelers!

I am in the process of planning a trip to Ethiopia at the end of February and would very much appreciate your help. I plan on staying there for only a week, so was wondering if you could recommend the places that one simply MUST see. My intent is to fly from the USA to Addis, stay there for a couple of days and then travel around. My research suggests that Lalibela and Axum should definitely make my to-see list. Do you agree? Also, what is the best (read this as "cheapest") way to get to them? Finally, if any of you are from the USA, do you think that I should be working with a travel agent in booking the flights, or are internet prices the cheapest way to go?

THANK YOU and looking forward to your replies! Reply to this

Hi,
I have just come back from a trip to Ethiopia. If you decide to use a tour operator make sure you get written detailed list of their offer (including fully functionally car, best hotels in the area etc.) We were a little niave and trusted our operator (Ghion travel and tours). When we were about to set off on our tour we realised there was no AC and the windows wouldn't open in the car. We had handed over all our money at this stage. The manager went nuclear when we requested a car with windows that could open for our 2000km trip! This was only the beginning of our troubles with the lovely Yoseph. Steer well clear of this operator and be careful with all professional hospitality providers. It seems to be the only way to get anything done there is to have a heated discussion when the price suddenly changes or you find yourself in a dump of a hotel even though there was a better one available (which we had paid for). Reply to this