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.
Updated · Wimup Editorial
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
Central Asmara
Cinema Roma
Cinema · Ticket
Showing films for almost 90 years. The 2005 restoration put the 1940s back.
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.
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.
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
Beef simmered long in berbere until the sauce goes dark. The national plate.
Local dish
Injera
The sour teff flatbread everything else is served on, and eaten with.
Local dish
Tsebhi shiro
Chickpea or broad bean puree with garlic, ginger, tomato and chilli.
Local dish
Dorho tsebhi
Chicken stew in berbere, usually with a boiled egg turned through it.
Local dish
Alicha
The mild one: vegetables cooked without berbere, for the days of fasting.
Local dish
Hilbet
A smooth paste of lentils and faba beans, spread rather than spooned.
Local dish
Ful
Stewed fava beans with kitcha bread, sold at the morning stalls.
Local dish
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
Eritrea
