Addis Ababa Food Tour: Local Eats and Culture

27 Ratings

Addis Ababa

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Embark on an Ethiopian adventure with our top-rated tour company. Explore the vibrant city, indulge in delicious food, and shop at the bustling Mercato market. Discover the rich culture and history of Ethiopia with us!

Duration: 7 hours

Cancellation: 1 day learn more

Highlights

Mercato Market - Explore Ethiopia’s capital city with a guided tour of Addis Ababa. Enjoy convenient airport or hotel pickup and travel with a private guide to discover the best spots for authentic local products like coffee, jewelry, and leather. Visit the expansive open-air Merkato Market and notable locations such as Piazza, the historic Tomoca coffee shops, Zebra Gallery, and the Stadium. Afterward, savor a delicious lunch at Addis Ababa’s best local restaurant, the oldest in East Africa, and experience a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony.
Yobez Traditional Restaurant - Dive into Addis Ababa’s culinary scene with a guided tour that lets you sample a variety of Ethiopian foods and drinks. Visit three different restaurants to try vegan, beef, and fish dishes, along with beers, coffee, and fresh juice. All food is included in the tour price, and coffee and bottled water are provided. Hotel and airport pickup and drop-off can be arranged.
Tomoca Coffee - Situated in the Piazza area, Tomoca is Ethiopia’s oldest coffee shop, established in 1953. Enjoy the best of Ethiopian coffee, whether it’s original black coffee or a macchiato. Purchase the finest roasted coffee beans or ground coffee at the historic Tomoca coffee shop in Piazza.
Itegue Taitu Hotel | Piazza - Enjoy lunch at the oldest hotel in East Africa, the Taitu Hotel, built in 1905 by Empress Taitu Betul. Located in the heart of Piazza, the hotel offers a place for foreign guests to rest and dine. Alternative lunch options include organic fresh juice bars, traditional coffee ceremonies, and a variety of vegetarian, beef, and fish dishes. After lunch, visit the local market for handmade traditional clothes. Skip the tourist traps and let a guide show you the community food center and local food stalls. This tour includes walking tours and highlights of Addis Ababa, including the massive Mercato open-air market.
Shiro Meda Market - Shiro Meda Market, also known as Chiromeda, offers a wide range of Ethiopian textiles, from wedding dresses to various types of clothing, linens, and fabrics.

What's Included

Professional guide
Bottled water
Lunch
All fees and taxes included
Food tasting experience

What's Not Included

Hotel pickup
Hotel drop off

Additional Information

Avoid the typical tourist spots and let a guide lead you to food stalls frequented by locals in Addis. On this food tour, you’ll not only get to taste authentic Ethiopian cuisine but also gain insights into the dishes and culture from your guide. Explore the highlights of Addis Ababa without the worry of getting lost, as this tour includes walking tours. Learn to eat with your hands like the locals, browse the vast Mercato open-air market for souvenirs, and visit the oldest coffee shop in Piassa, Tomoca Coffee Shop, renowned for its exceptional coffee. You can purchase roasted coffee powder or beans before being brought back to the starting point.

Location

Mercato Market

Dubai Tera Building

Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings

5.0

(27 Ratings)

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1 star

D0ubat

Sep 30, 2024

Great tour with a mix of food options - I really like Ethiopian food so on my long layover I knew I wanted to do a food tour Daily Addis was the most established one and it worked w/ my layover timing so I booked it. The guide, Yonas, was very nice and easy to talk to. We talked about a lot of different subjects throughout the afternoon, and he taught me many things about Ethiopia that I didn't know before. It ended up being a private tour because I guess nobody else booked. We started by going on a tour of Shola Market, which is supposed to be more traditional than Merkato. Yonas pointed out all the different spices, the different items they made out of the false banana plant, the traditional covers for injera and traditional tables, the different coffee beans being sold (from green for those who want to roast it themselves, through different roasts), and the equipment they use to roast coffee. We then went into the women's traditional clothing section and he explained about when women where which dresses. After walking around Shola market, we took a taxi to our first food stop, a vegan restaurant where they served shiro wot. I really like shiro, and the flavor they got out of this one was amazing. The injera was made fresh in house too. This was probably my favorite food stop of the three, because it was probably the best shiro wot I've ever had. Next was on to a seafood house that specialized in fried fish. That was good as well. The last food stop was a special beef restaurant where Yonas ordered traditional beef tibs for me. It was well seasoned and overall very nice. Finally we finished with a stop at a traditional coffee house, where I saw how coffee is traditionally prepared and drank. He ordered a cinnamon tea for himself. I had never seen cinnamon tea before so he got me a second cup so I could try some. Completely full of yummy food and happy, he walked me back to my layover hotel to finish the tour. Yonas was great to have as a guide and Daily Addis put together a nice mix of restaurants to take their guests to on this tour

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Miriamdl9520ql

Sep 12, 2024

A wonderful visit! - My husband and I spent a wonderful day with Ras Jonas… he was quite charming and caring, with a great smile, taking us around the city , showing us places of interest as well as advising a very good restaurant for lunch. He was patient and mindful of our interests , helping us to enjoy the best the city has to offer… came home with great photographs and wonderful memories …

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M1092xe_

Jul 27, 2024

Thank you for your service - I had a really great experience for three days. If I visit Ethiopia again, I definitely want to stay here again. I recommend that you also create wonderful memories in Ethiopia with him.

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196hennye

Dec 20, 2023

Fab introduction to vegan Addis ababa - Our guide Adisu was so helpful and friendly! We tried more vegan food than we could eat and left absolutely stuffed. Stops included street food , cafes and restaurants, making it so easy to try so many Ethiopian National dishes. Adisu chatted the whole way giving us so much insight into the food we were eating as well as life in Addis. Couldn’t recommend highly enough for vegans visiting the city! Book a few days in advance to ensure the tour goes ahead on the day the suits; our tour was just us (a group of four). We initially booked for two and Adisu were really helpful letting us add another two friends last minute

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412jadek

Oct 29, 2023

Great - Wonderful walking tour, Adisu was great, very knowledgeable. Felt safe at all times. Company very good at keeping in touch and confirming prior to pick up. Would definitely use again.

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Geoffroy_damant

Oct 13, 2023

Your all round guide to Addis - Yonas is very a knowledgeable guide, and well as a good and clear English speaker and an overall nice guy. He basically drove us around Addis and adapted the tour to whatever we wanted to do, since it was just us in the group. We even went 2 days in a row! He also helped us out with money exchange and finding special stores. Of course it's important to clearly agree on forehand on a price and what's included, as always, and then the rest is a breeze. He also drove us to a few museums where he dropped us off - kind of wished he would guide us around the museums too because he was a better communicator than the museum guides. Thanks & all the best

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Enlai_c

Aug 7, 2023

Hanging Out in Addis - I spent a long layover in Addis Ababa hanging out with Yonas for three hours. He brought me to an excellent local lunch of vegetarian injera and great coffee at the original Tomoca. We drove around the bustling city as he showed me some of the sights. Do note that Mercato is shut on the weekends. Instead we visited a market known for its habeshas. Also, exchanging Kenyan Schillings for Ethiopian Birr on the weekend is quite impossible. He is flexible with the itinerary and it was a relaxing half a day in Addis.

Review provided by Viator

Sanadrearat

Jun 21, 2023

Daily Addis Foodie tour with Yonas - Yonas was an amazing guide and the food was delicious, hands down had some of the best Ethiopian National food and coffee with the ceremony of my life. Our walk through old town of piassa was the perfect start to our vacation and every suggestion he made was on point. I would definitely recommend this tour to friends and family and go again myself to different restaurants

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R0berterr

Jun 21, 2023

unforgettable weekend with Daily Addis Tours - I just had a weekend of freetime in Addis after a business trip to Bahirdar and decided on very short hand to book a guided sightseeing trip at Daily Addis Tours. That turned out to be the best decision I could have made…30 minutes after my booking Adisu (guide) and Zemnu (driver), two really great guys showed up and we spent 6 hours together, visited the national museum, Menelik church and tombs, enjoyed the view from mount Entoto over Addis and so on. Having had such great fun I booked for the next day, where we visited Hora lake, went on a boat trip, had an excellent traditional lunch in Bishoftu, enjoyed the bright colors and the smell of Berberi and Mitmita at Shola market on the way back. Thanks to Adisu and Zemnu I had an unforgettable weekend that felt more like being on trip with friends than on a paid tourist tour - and that’s meant as a huge compliment!

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P8814egcamillad

Apr 26, 2023

Merkato - The Merkato (Africa's largest open air market) spreads out to cover so many blocks of the city. Each street catering to a specific product. There is Tyre street, Mattress street, streets for clothing, shoe street, bedding, food, containers, spices, metal ware, etc etc etc and it stretches out and is fairly easy to navigate if you don't have a plan of what you're there for, you can just wander around getting lost down alleyways and eventually you'll find your way out. If you're there as a spectator to watch the incredibly vivid and bustling market, you're fine! If you're there with any specific purchase in mind, get a guide! They'll find you. They aren't looking for much as payment, a few Birr but they are totally invaluable in the craziness that is occurring all around. We just walked around until a chap offered his services. He showed us around so many different places, which we never would have found alone as they were in buildings on the third floor. We bought Honey from one street, spices from another, jewellery from one of the floors in a building. What a fantastic place to see, enjoy and be a part of. An assault on all your senses! Stop for some refreshment and drink one of Ethiopia's incredible fruit juices

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up to 7 guests

1 Adult