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Bole, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Meskel Festival Tour
The demera is lit at nightfall on 26 September. This tour puts you in Meskel Square to watch it, then takes the northern route while the highlands are still green from the rains.
Read moreAbout The Tour
Overview
Meskel marks the finding of the True Cross and is celebrated across Ethiopia on 27 September. UNESCO added it to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013.
The part most visitors do not plan for is that the spectacle happens the night before. A demera, a tall conical pyre of poles bound with branches and dressed with green grass and yellow Meskel daisies, is raised in Meskel Square and in squares in towns across the country. Priests in full vestments chant and process around it, and at nightfall on 26 September it is lit. A calendar that gives you only the 27th sends you on the wrong evening.
This itinerary is built backwards from that bonfire. You arrive with a day in hand, spend the eve in Meskel Square and the following day in Addis Ababa, then fly north to Lalibela, Gondar and Lake Tana. Late September is a good accident of timing: the kiremt rains have just ended, the highlands are green and the Meskel daisies that give the festival its decoration are in flower along the roadsides.
For the festival itself rather than the trip, our guide to the Meskel festival in Addis Ababa covers what the demera is made of, why the eve matters more than the day, and where the bonfire is lit.
Duration
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Day 1: Arrival in Addis Ababa and Transfer to Your Hotel
You land at Bole International Airport and we meet you and transfer you to your hotel. The day is deliberately light: it gives you a buffer against a delayed flight before the one evening this tour is built around.
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Day 2: Addis Ababa City Tour and the Demera Eve at Meskel Square
The city in the morning, which normally takes in the National Museum, Holy Trinity Cathedral and a viewpoint over the capital. Then to Meskel Square for the evening, where the demera has been raised and dressed. Priests process and chant around the pyre, and it is lit at nightfall.
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Day 3: Meskel Day in Addis Ababa, then Fly to Lalibela
Meskel day itself in Addis Ababa. Later we fly north to Lalibela and check in for two nights.
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Day 4: The Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela
A full day among the eleven rock-hewn churches, cut down into the rock rather than built on it and still in daily use by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Outside the January pilgrimage the interiors and the linking tunnels are far easier to see at your own pace.
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Day 5: Fly to Gondar and the Fasil Ghebbi Royal Enclosure
A short flight to Gondar, the imperial capital from the seventeenth century. The afternoon is for Fasil Ghebbi, the UNESCO-listed royal enclosure of stone castles, and for the painted ceiling of Debre Berhan Selassie.
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Day 6: Drive to Bahir Dar and the Lake Tana Monasteries
The one road day of the tour, south to Bahir Dar where the Abbay leaves Lake Tana. This is a comfortable drive and the scenery earns it.
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Day 7: Fly Back to Addis Ababa and the Tour Ends
A boat out to the island monasteries in the morning, with their painted walls and round thatched roofs, then the flight back to Addis Ababa where the tour ends. We can arrange a day room if your international flight leaves late.
Meskel Festival Tour Highlights
- The demera on the eve of 26 September The bonfire in Meskel Square, with the procession of priests and the crowd that fills the square. This is the night the festival actually happens.
- Meskel day in Addis Ababa The 27th in the capital, when the square is picked over for charred wood and the city is in a holiday mood.
- Lalibela out of festival season The eleven rock-hewn churches without the Genna pilgrimage crowds, which makes the interiors and the tunnels far easier to see properly.
- Gondar in the green Fasil Ghebbi, the walled royal enclosure of castles, and the painted ceiling of Debre Berhan Selassie, at the one time of year the surrounding hills are green.
- Lake Tana by boat The island monasteries near Bahir Dar, reached on the water, with painted church walls still in daily use.
Best Time to Go
This tour runs once a year and the date is fixed by the festival. Meskel falls on 27 September, with the demera lit on the eve of 26 September. Ethiopia keeps its own calendar of thirteen months, so a fixed Ethiopian date can land a day either side in some Gregorian years. Confirm the exact date for your year with us before you book flights.
The weather works in your favour. The main kiremt rains run June to September and are tailing off by Meskel, so you get green country and clear light without the peak-season crowds of January. Roads in the north are drying out rather than drying up, which is worth knowing if any part of your extension is unpaved.
Getting There
You fly into Addis Ababa Bole International Airport and we meet you there. Meskel Square is in the city, so no internal travel is needed for the festival itself.
The northern legs are flown rather than driven. The roads between Lalibela, Gondar and Addis Ababa are long mountain routes that would eat the itinerary, so this tour uses domestic flights between them and keeps the vehicle for the Gondar to Bahir Dar leg, which is a comfortable road day and the one drive on the northern circuit genuinely worth doing.
FAQs About the Meskel Festival Tour
When exactly is Meskel?
Meskel falls on 27 September, and the demera bonfire is lit on the eve of 26 September. Because Ethiopia uses its own calendar, the Gregorian date can shift by a day in some years, so confirm your year with us before booking flights.
Which night should I be in Addis Ababa?
The night of 26 September. That is when the demera is lit in Meskel Square and it is the part of the festival people travel for. This tour has you in the city with a day to spare beforehand.
Where is the best place to see Meskel?
Meskel Square in Addis Ababa holds the largest gathering and is where the patriarch lights the demera. The festival is national, though, and smaller demeras are lit in squares in towns all over the country on the same evening.
Is late September a good time to travel in Ethiopia?
Yes. The main kiremt rains run from June to September and are ending by Meskel, so the highlands are green and the light is clear. It is also outside the January festival peak, so Lalibela and Gondar are quieter.
Can the tour be extended or shortened?
Yes. Every trip we run is tailor-made and private, so the northern legs can be adjusted around the fixed festival dates. Tell us your dates and we will build the itinerary around them.
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