Lalibela
The rock churches
Eleven medieval churches carved down into the volcanic rock, joined by trenches and tunnels, and still in daily use. Timkat and Genna here are among the great religious gatherings of the world.
Editorial · Not on sale · ሰሜን
The north,
for later
- Regions
- Tigray, Amhara, northern Afar
- FCDO
- Advises against all travel
- US
- Do not travel
- Status
- Not on sale
- Checked
- 26 October 2026
Not on sale
Amhara region: the FCDO advises against all travel and the US says do not travel. Flights were suspended in September 2026. Not on sale. Checked 26 October 2026 against UK and US government advice.
01 · Why not now
Lalibela, Gondar, Lake Tana, the Simien Mountains, Axum and the Danakil are some of the reasons people dream of Ethiopia. We are not selling any of them.
Since 2023 there has been serious conflict in Amhara region, and fighting has returned to parts of Tigray and Afar. The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to Tigray and Amhara, and to Afar near Tigray and Eritrea. The US says do not travel, and in October 2026 the US Embassy told its citizens not to go to Amhara, naming Lalibela, or to Tigray or Afar for any reason. Flights to Lalibela were suspended in September 2026.
Most travel insurance does not cover you where your government advises against all travel. So this page has no prices, no enquiry button and no "ask us anyway". When the advice changes, we will say so here, with the date, and in our journal letter.
02 · For later
What waits
Simien
The Simien escarpment
Cliffs that fall a kilometre in one step, gelada monkeys grazing at the edge, walia ibex on the ledges: one of Africa's great walks.
Gondar & Tana
Castles and island monasteries
The royal enclosure of Gondar and the painted churches of Lake Tana. Our Gondar page explains more.
Axum & Tigray
Stelae and cliff churches
The granite stelae of Axum and the cliff-top churches of Gheralta, in Tigray, where the advice is against all travel.
Before you write
Questions about the north
When will you sell the north again?
When the UK and US lift their advice against travel for the places concerned, and when our ground partners there tell us it is right to go. Not before.
What can we see instead?
Rock churches are not only in the north: Addis has fine churches and the Holy Trinity Cathedral, and the south has its own landscapes of faith, from Harar's shrines to Konso's waka. See where we go now.
Go south and east instead
Wolves, walled cities, wild coffee and the Omo. All outside the advised-against zones.
Where we go now