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Asmara, Eritrea (Wimup travel guide)
▶ Video · Asmara on Foot
Video guide · 1:59:36
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Top 10AfricaEritrea

Top 10 Things To Do in Asmara

Country
Eritrea
Best months
Nov · Dec · Jan · Feb
Population
~1.1M
Language
Tigrinya
Budget / day
$60–120
Quick answer

Two days is right. The first walks the modernist grid: the Fiat Tagliero service station, Cinema Impero on Harnet Avenue, the Orthodox cathedral and the Great Mosque, then the evening passeggiata when the whole city is out. The second takes the National Museum, the metalworkers at Medebar and the steam charter down the escarpment. Anything beyond 25 km needs a permit.

Asmara on Foot

▶ Video guide

Asmara is a 1930s Italian new town at 2,325 metres, and almost nothing has been knocked down since. UNESCO listed the whole centre in 2017, which makes this the rare capital where the sight is the street plan itself, read on foot with an espresso in hand.

The 10 best things to do in Asmara

Fiat Tagliero Building, Asmara, Eritrea (Wimup)
1

Fiat Tagliero Building

Modernist landmark· Central Asmara, a short walk west of Harnet Avenue

Giuseppe Pettazzi designed this service station in 1938 with two concrete wings, each 30 metres long and holding up nothing at all. Colonial engineers refused to sign it off, insisting the cantilevers could not stand. They have stood ever since. Restored in 2003 and listed Category I, so not a detail of it may be altered.

Time20 min
CostFree, from the street
Best atMorning light
TipIt is still a working forecourt, so ask before photographing staff
Map↗ UNESCO
2
Photo

Harnet Avenue at passeggiata hour

Street· Harnet Avenue, central Asmara

The palm lined main avenue, still called Kombishtato after the fenced colonial quarter. Late afternoon the city walks it end to end, in and out of the cafes, and that hour is the single best thing Asmara does. Most of the listed facades stand on it or a block off it.

Time1 hr
CostFree
Best at17:00 to 19:00
TipTake a table on the pavement rather than inside: the point is the street
Map
Cinema Impero, Asmara, Eritrea (Wimup)
3

Cinema Impero

Cinema· Harnet Avenue, central Asmara

Mario Messina built it in 1937 for 1,800 seats, and it is the photograph everyone takes of Asmara: three tiers of porthole windows above the avenue, more than 45 bas reliefs inside. Seventy years of Horn of Africa conflict went past it and left the structure sound.

Time45 min
CostA few nakfa for a screening
Best atEvening
TipAsk at the desk about seeing the auditorium if nothing is showing
Map↗ UNESCO
4
Photo

Nda Mariam Orthodox Cathedral

Cathedral· Central Asmara

The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo cathedral, dedicated to St Mary, and one of the three religious buildings that define the skyline here. Services run in Geez and the courtyard fills long before the doors do.

Time30 min
CostFree
Best atSunday morning
TipShoes come off at the door and shoulders stay covered
Map
5
Photo

Al Khulafa Al Rashiudin Great Mosque

Mosque· At the head of the square by the covered markets, central Asmara

Asmara's principal mosque, set at the head of a large square beside the markets. With the Orthodox cathedral and the Catholic church it completes the trio that makes the case for this city better than any museum does.

Time20 min
CostFree
Best atOutside prayer times
TipThe craft stalls behind it sell wicker and pottery
Map
6
Photo

Church of Our Lady of the Rosary

Church· Harnet Avenue, central Asmara

Oreste Scanavini's Lombard Romanesque church of 1923, built for the Apostolic Vicariate of Eritrea. Everyone calls it the cathedral, which it never formally was. The free standing bell tower is the landmark you navigate the centre by.

Time30 min
CostFree
Best atLate afternoon
TipThe Ministry of Tourism permit office sits across the road
Map
7
Photo

Medebar Market

Market· Medebar, east of the centre

An open air workshop district where everything arrives as scrap and leaves as something else: tyres cut into sandals, corrugated iron beaten into buckets, Italian olive tins turned into coffee pots. The spice grinders work the southeastern corner.

Time1 hr
CostFree
Best atWeekday mornings
TipAsk before photographing anyone at a forge, and expect to be asked back
Map
8
Photo

National Museum of Eritrea

Museum· The former Comboni Sisters school, central Asmara

Five sections cover natural history, medieval Eritrea, the ancient ports of Adulis and Dahlak, the 1961 to 1991 war of liberation and the country's nine nationalities. Founded in 1992 in the Governor's Palace and moved here in 1997.

Time1–2 hr
CostTicket at the door
Best atMid-morning
TipThe liberation rooms are the strongest and sit at the end, so pace the earlier ones
Map
9
Photo

The steam charter to Arbaroba

Railway· Asmara railway station, west of the centre

The Massawa line was laid between 1887 and 1932 and reopened in 2003 for charters only. The Sunday run to Arbaroba and Nefasit takes about three hours through the escarpment, stops in the village and ends with a coffee ceremony.

Time3 hr
CostChartered, priced per group
Best atSunday
TipBook weeks ahead: the crew needs the notice to raise steam
Map
10
Photo

Tank Graveyard

Memorial site· Outskirts of Asmara

A field of armour wrecked in the thirty year war of independence, stacked where it was dragged. Not a formal attraction and none the weaker for it: nothing else in the city states the cost of 1991 so plainly.

Time45 min
CostFree, permit required
Best atMorning
TipA local guide arranges the permit, so treat this as a booked visit rather than a walk
Map

Asmara, mapped

Asmara · 4 spots
AllLandmarksMuseumsFoodFree

Asmara travel FAQ

How many days do you need in Asmara?+
Two full days. One walks the listed centre: the Fiat Tagliero, Cinema Impero, the cathedral, the mosque and the avenue at passeggiata hour. The second takes the National Museum, Medebar market and the steam charter. Add a day for each permitted trip out to Massawa or Keren.
Do you need a permit to leave Asmara?+
Yes. Every foreign visitor needs a permit to travel more than 25 km beyond the city, and it is issued per destination at the Ministry of Tourism office on Harnet Avenue for about 150 nakfa. Keren asks for a vehicle registration number. File them a day or two ahead.
Can you use a credit card in Eritrea?+
No. Eritrea runs on cash. Foreign cards do not work, there are no ATMs a visitor can use, and hotels and restaurants take notes. Bring US dollars, change them officially at a bureau or a recognised hotel desk, and keep the receipts, because they are checked on the way out.
When is the best time to visit Asmara?+
November to February. Days are dry and mild at this altitude, the average sits near 16°C, and the light suits walking the modernist facades. Most of the year's 50 cm of rain falls between April and August, with July and August the wettest.
Is the Asmara steam train still running?+
It runs, but only as a charter. The Massawa line reopened in 2003 and there is no timetable: a group books the whole train, usually for the three hour round trip to Arbaroba and Nefasit on a Sunday. Book weeks ahead so the crew can prepare the locomotive.
Modernist architecture

Best modernist architecture in Asmara

The inscribed centre runs to 481 hectares. These are the buildings to walk between.
All 8 modernist architecture →
Cinema RomaCentral Asmara

Cinema Roma

Cinema · Ticket

Showing films for almost 90 years. The 2005 restoration put the 1940s back.

Map
Harnet Avenue

Asmara Opera House

1920 · Free to enter

Odoardo Cavagnari, 1920. No performances now, but the cafe inside is worth the stop.

Map
Central Asmara

Selam Hotel

1937 · Art Deco

Opened 1938 as the Albergo CIAAO. Eritrea was declared independent here in 1991.

Map
Central Asmara

Governor's Palace

Exterior only

The colonial administration building, now the President's office. Exterior only.

Map
West of the centre

Asmara Railway Station

Railway · Free

The Italian terminus of the Massawa line, and where the steam charters start.

Map
Central Asmara

Ministry of Education

Exterior only

One of the earliest modernist buildings in the city, built as the Casa del Fascio.

Map
Central Asmara

Villa Roma

1930s · Exterior

1930s Art Deco and Futurist lines, symmetrical and almost unornamented.

Map
Gheza Banda

Mai Jah Jah Fountain

Free · Viewpoint

A terraced fountain built as colonial parade ground, now the view back over the roofs.

Map
Coffee and the evening

Best cafes & bars in Asmara

Italian espresso culture stayed after the Italians left. Peak hour is four to six.
All 5 cafes & bars →
Harnet Avenue

Sweet Asmara Caffe

Cafe · Cash

The cappuccino and pastry stop in the middle of everything. Loud, fast, always full.

Map
Central Asmara

Bar Pasticceria Vittoria

Cafe · Cash

Pastries and serious coffee, a few steps from the main post office.

Map
Central Asmara

Cine Roma Cafe

Cafe · Cash

The cinema foyer turned into a cafe, which is the best seat in the building.

Map
Central Asmara

Bar Zilli

Cafe · Cash

A cappuccino and a croissant in one of the listed modernist interiors.

Map
Central Asmara

Mocambo

Bar · Late

The city centre nightspot, and the one people name first when the cafes shut.

Map
Where to eat

Best restaurants in Asmara

Eritrean stews on injera, and the Italian kitchen that never left the city.
All 6 restaurants →
Asmara

Ghibabo Restaurant and Pizzeria

Italian & Eritrean

Fish, lasagne and kitcha fitfit, and the cleanest dining room in the country.

Map
Asmara

Blue Bird

Eritrean

Traditional Eritrean cooking. Order the fish and eat it off the injera.

Map
Asmara

Ghirmay

Eritrean

Traditional plates served in an Eritrean house rather than a dining room.

Map
Asmara

Spaghetti and Pizza House

Italian

The plain case for Asmara's Italian half, done without ceremony.

Map
Asmara

Roof Garden

Asian

Chinese and Indian cooking, and expensive by local standards. Worth it for the view.

Map
Asmara

Silver Star

Modern

Modern cooking in a dining room hung with art. The city's dress-up option.

Map
History and memory

Best museums & memorials in Asmara

Three stops, and together they carry the thirty year war and everything before it.
All 3 museums & memorials →
Central Asmara

National Museum of Eritrea

Museum · Ticket

Five sections, from Adulis and Dahlak to the liberation years.

Map
Outskirts

Tank Graveyard

Free · Permit

Wrecked armour stacked in a field on the edge of town. Permit required.

Map
Central Asmara

Bahti Meskerem Square

Free · Open

The national parade ground, and where the Martyrs' Day vigil is held each June.

Map
Markets

Best markets & shopping in Asmara

Four markets, and only one of them sells anything a tourist came for.
All 4 markets & shopping →
Medebar

Medebar Market

Free · Mornings

The recycling workshops. Scrap in one end, sandals and coffee pots out the other.

Map
Central Asmara

Asmara central market

Free · Daily

Fresh vegetables, fruit, pulses and spices, sold by the sack.

Map
By the mosque

The craft market behind the Great Mosque

Free · Daily

Wicker and pottery, made locally and priced for locals.

Map
Harnet Avenue

The silver and antique shops

Shops · Cash

Prayer scrolls, old Bibles, crosses, incense burners and worked silver.

Map
Neighbourhoods

Best neighborhoods in Asmara

The colonial grid in the middle, and four districts that read nothing like it.
All 4 neighborhoods →
Maakel Ketema

Kombishtato

Central

The listed centre, built as the fenced European quarter. Everything is walkable from it.

Map
Tiravolo

Tiravolo

East

East of the centre, residential and quiet, with St Michael's Church at its heart.

Map
Gheza Banda

Gheza Banda

West

West, above the old railway yards, and the district the Mai Jah Jah steps climb.

Map
Godaif

Godaif

Southwest

Southwest and out toward the airport road, where the live music happens at weekends.

Map
Out of the city

Best day trips in Asmara

Every one of these needs a permit filed before you leave. Plan two days ahead.
All 5 day trips →
MassawaNorthern Red Sea

Massawa

2–3 hr · Permit

Coral stone streets on the Red Sea, about 120 km down the escarpment road.

Map
KerenAnseba

Keren

Mondays · Permit

Go on a Monday, when the livestock market fills with camels, and see the Tigu fort.

Map
Near Nefasit

Debre Bizen

2 hr hike · Permit

A monastery of the 1350s above Nefasit, two hours up on foot. Men only inside.

Map
NefasitNorthern Red Sea

Nefasit

45 min · Permit

Where the hairpins and the railway meet, about 25 km down the Massawa road.

Map
Debub

Dekemhare

Half day · Permit

A second Italian town in miniature, with the same 1930s facades and no crowd.

Map
What's on

Festivals & annual events in Asmara (2026)

Time your trip around the city's biggest dates.
7 January

Genna

Orthodox Christmas. The churches hold a vigil and the stews come out the next day.

19 January

Timket

Epiphany in the Eritrean Orthodox calendar, and a processional day across the city.

10 February

Fenkil Day

Marks Operation Fenkil and the taking of Massawa. The coast celebrates hardest.

8 March

Women's Day

A public holiday here, and tied to the role women held in the liberation war.

24 May

Independence Day

A week of carnivals, street performances, cycling races and concerts before the day itself.

20 June

Martyrs' Day

A candlelight vigil fills Harnet Avenue and Bahti Meskerem Square. Sombre, not festive.

1 September

Revolution Day

Marks the start of the armed struggle in 1961. Parades and speeches in the capital.

27 September

Meskel

The Orthodox feast of the finding of the True Cross, celebrated around a bonfire.

Getting around

Asmara transport & airports

How to arrive and move around the city.
ASM

Asmara International Airport

About 8 km from the centre, so 10 to 15 minutes by taxi for roughly 150 to 250 nakfa. Turkish Airlines, EgyptAir, flydubai, Etihad and Flynas fly here.

Map↗ Turkish Airlines
Cash

Taxis

Not every taxi has a meter, so agree the fare before you get in. Nakfa in small notes, because change is scarce and cards are not an option anywhere.

25 km

Travel permits

Every foreign visitor needs a permit to go more than 25 km beyond Asmara. They are issued at the Ministry of Tourism office on Harnet Avenue for about 150 nakfa, one per destination.

Map
Free

On foot

The listed centre is a compact orthogonal grid and walking it is the point. At 2,325 metres the first day feels harder than the map suggests, so take the hills slowly.

Traditional food

Must-try dishes in Asmara, Eritrea

The classics to order before you leave.
Zigni, Asmara (Wimup travel guide)

Zigni

Beef simmered long in berbere until the sauce goes dark. The national plate.

Injera

The sour teff flatbread everything else is served on, and eaten with.

Tsebhi shiro

Chickpea or broad bean puree with garlic, ginger, tomato and chilli.

Dorho tsebhi

Chicken stew in berbere, usually with a boiled egg turned through it.

Alicha

The mild one: vegetables cooked without berbere, for the days of fasting.

Hilbet

A smooth paste of lentils and faba beans, spread rather than spooned.

Ful

Stewed fava beans with kitcha bread, sold at the morning stalls.

Kitcha fit-fit

Shredded kitcha oiled and spiced, served with yoghurt and berbere. Breakfast.

Asmara fact sheet

Asmara at a glance

The essentials worth knowing before you go.
Country
Eritrea
Region
Maekel (Central) Region, on the highland plateau at about 2,325 m above sea level
Population
About 1.07 million, the CIA World Factbook estimate for 2023
UNESCO
Inscribed in 2017 as Asmara: A Modernist African City, criteria (ii) and (iv), 481 hectares with a 1,203 hectare buffer
Language
Tigrinya and Arabic are the working languages, English is widely understood, and Italian still turns up among older Asmarinos
Currency
Nakfa (ERN), pegged at 15 to the US dollar. Cash only: foreign cards do not work and there are no ATMs a visitor can use
Climate
Around 16°C on average, between 8 and 23°C through the year, with most of the 50 cm of rain falling from April to August
Permits
Travel beyond 25 km from Asmara needs a permit, issued at the Ministry of Tourism office on Harnet Avenue for about 150 nakfa
Time zone
East Africa Time, UTC+3, no daylight saving
Calling code
+291
Airports
Asmara International Airport (ASM), about 8 km from the centre, 10 to 15 minutes by taxi
Power
230V, socket types C and L
Ideal length
2–3 days
Getting around
On foot in the centre, taxis beyond it
Tourism board
Official site

Interesting facts

  • UNESCO listed the centre in 2017, making Asmara the first modernist city in Africa on the list.
  • Most of the listed centre went up between 1935 and 1941, the last six years of Italian building.
  • The Fiat Tagliero's concrete wings reach 30 metres each way with nothing holding them up.
  • At 2,325 metres Asmara is the second highest capital in Africa and the sixth highest in the world.
  • The railway down to Massawa took from 1887 to 1932 to build and now runs charter trains only.

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