--- title: "Top 10 Things To Do in Harar, Ethiopia | Wimup" description: "Harar on Wimup: the walled city ranked, the hyena feeding at the gates, the markets inside Jugol, and what a day in eastern Ethiopia costs." url: https://wimup.com/city/harar type: City guide updated: 2026-09-08 publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com) --- # Top 10 Things To Do in Harar Harar, Ethiopia · Africa · By Wimup Editorial, 12 min read Harar is a walled city on the eastern edge of the Ethiopian highlands, and the old town inside the wall is the whole point. Jugol packs 82 mosques and 102 shrines into roughly a square kilometre of lanes, and the hyenas come to the gates after dark. ## Quick answer Two days covers Harar. Give the first to Jugol: the Grand Mosque at the centre, the Sherif collection, Gidir Magala for spice and camel meat, and the lanes between the gates, which are the sight rather than the route to it. Stay out for the hyena feeding at the wall after dark. The second day runs east to Babille and the sculpted rocks of the Dakhata valley. ## Quick facts - **Best months:** Oct · Nov · Dec · Jan - **Ideal length:** 2–3 days - **Budget per day:** $35–90 - **Language:** Harari, Oromo and Amharic - **Getting around:** On foot inside Jugol, bajaj beyond the walls - **Tourism board:** [Official site](https://visitethiopia.et/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ## The 10 best things to do in Harar ### 1. Jugol, the walled old town Old town · Jugol, central Harar The wall runs about 3.5 km and stands roughly five metres high, and what it encloses is a kilometre by 800 metres of lanes too narrow for a car. Jugol is the sight, not the route to it. Walk it twice, once early and once at dusk. - **Time:** Half a day - **Cost:** Free to walk - **Best at:** Early morning - **Tip:** Take a licensed guide from Feres Magala; the lanes are unsigned and loop back on themselves Links: [UNESCO](https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1189/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ### 2. Hyena feeding at the wall Nightly ritual · Outside Argob Bari, east of Jugol Two hyena men work sites outside the walls after dark, calling wild hyenas in by name and passing them scraps from a stick. It starts around 6.30pm and runs under an hour. Spectators pay a small fee, and you can hold the stick yourself. - **Time:** 45 min - **Cost:** Small fee, cash - **Best at:** After dark - **Tip:** Bring a torch; there is no lighting on the walk back to the gate ### 3. Gidir Magala Market · Central Jugol, near the Grand Mosque The main market inside the walls, and the city's butchery and spice hub. Camel meat on the block, chillies by the sack, bundles of khat moving through by the armful. The loudest corner of Jugol and the one that explains it. - **Time:** 1 hr - **Cost:** Free - **Best at:** Mid-morning - **Tip:** Ask before photographing traders; several will refuse and some will charge ### 4. Jami Mosque Mosque · Feres Magala, Jugol The Grand Mosque at the centre of Jugol, attributed to Abadir, the scholar Harar counts as its founder. Two white minarets over a low courtyard. Non-Muslim visitors are generally not admitted inside, so this one is read from the square. - **Time:** 20 min - **Cost:** Free - **Best at:** Between prayers - **Tip:** Dress covered and ask before photographing anyone at prayer ### 5. Sherif Harar City Museum Museum · Jugol, Harar The private collection Abdullah Ali Sherif opened to the public in 2008: Islamic manuscripts, Harari coins, weaving, jewellery, weapons and instruments. The best single hour in the city, in a house that carries its own history. - **Time:** 1 hr - **Cost:** Entry fee - **Best at:** Morning - **Tip:** The manuscript room is the reason to come; ask the curator to open the cases ### 6. Arthur Rimbaud Cultural Center Museum · North of Feres Magala, Jugol A restored merchant's house, opened in 2000, holding the photographs Rimbaud took here. He had stopped writing poetry years before he arrived in 1880 to trade coffee and hides, and he never lived in this building. Go up to the top floor. - **Time:** 45 min - **Cost:** Entry fee - **Best at:** Morning - **Tip:** The upper gallery has the best view over Jugol's roofs ### 7. Shoa Gate market Market · Outside Shoa Gate, western Jugol The sprawl outside the western gate, known locally as the Christian market. Spice mounds, incense, secondhand clothing and produce trucked up from the lowlands, spilling out of doorways and onto the road. - **Time:** 45 min - **Cost:** Free - **Best at:** Morning - **Tip:** Keep to the wall side; the lane doubles as the road for every bajaj in town ### 8. Tomb of Sheikh Abadir Shrine · Jugol, Harar The shrine of the 12th-century scholar Harar counts as its founder, and one of the 102 the walled town holds. It is a working pilgrimage site rather than a monument, so people are here to pray, not to look. - **Time:** 20 min - **Cost:** Free - **Best at:** Late afternoon - **Tip:** Cover your head and shoulders, and follow your guide's lead on where to stand ### 9. Babille Elephant Sanctuary Wildlife reserve · Babille, about 35 km southeast of Harar A reserve across the Erer and Gobelle valleys holding a small isolated elephant population. The herds move with the season and sightings are luck, so treat it as a drive through thorn country with a chance attached. - **Time:** Half a day - **Cost:** Entry fee plus vehicle - **Best at:** June to September - **Tip:** The signed turn-off is at Kile on the Jijiga road; pick up a scout at the office ### 10. Valley of Marvels Rock formations · Dakhata valley, east of Babille Wind and water have left the Dakhata valley full of balanced rocks and slender stacks, and the best stretch begins a few kilometres east of Babille on the Jijiga road. Most people photograph it from the car. Walking in with a guide is the better hour. - **Time:** 2 hr - **Cost:** Guide fee - **Best at:** Late afternoon - **Tip:** Pair it with Babille on one vehicle hire; they sit on the same road ## The six gates of Harar Jugol Five original entrances through a 16th-century wall, plus one cut in 1889. 1. **Shoa Gate** (Original · Free · West Jugol): The main way in, on the Addis Ababa side, with the Christian market spilling out beyond it. 2. **Erer Gate** (Original · Free · East Jugol): Faces the Erer valley and the road east towards Babille and Jijiga. 3. **Buda Gate** (Original · Free · Southwest Jugol): Said to be named for the buda, the smiths and potters who lived outside the wall. 4. **Sanga Gate** (Original · Free · South Jugol): The cattle gate on the southern arc, and the quietest of the five to walk out of. 5. **Fallana Gate** (Original · Free · North Jugol): The northern entrance, and the one most visitors never find on their own. 6. **Harar Gate** (1889 · Free · West Jugol): Opened in 1889 under Ras Makonnen, the first duke of Harar. The only gate that is not original. ## Mosques and shrines in Harar 82 mosques and 102 shrines sit inside the wall. These four are the ones to find. 1. **Tomb of Sheikh Abadir** (Shrine · Free · Jugol): The shrine of the scholar Harar counts as its founder, and a working place of pilgrimage. 2. **Tomb of Emir Nur** (16th c. · Free · Jugol): A domed shrine for the 16th-century emir credited with raising the wall around Jugol. 3. **Aw Ansar Ahmed Shrine** (Shrine · Free · Outside the wall): Outside Argob Bari, and one of the two places the hyena men feed after dark. 4. **Aw Shulum Ahmed Shrine** (Shrine · Free · Jugol gates): A gate shrine, and one of the two sites where the Shuwalid festival is held each year. ## The best museums in Harar Four collections, three of them in a house that is itself the exhibit. 1. **Sherif Harar City Museum** (Opened 2008 · Entry fee · Jugol): Abdullah Ali Sherif's private collection, opened in 2008: manuscripts, coins, textiles and instruments. 2. **Arthur Rimbaud Cultural Center** (Opened 2000 · Entry fee · Jugol): A restored merchant's house holding the photographs Rimbaud took in Harar. Opened in 2000. 3. **Harari People's Cultural Museum** (Historic house · Entry fee · Jugol): A traditional house kept as it was lived in, down to the nedeba platforms and the wall of baskets. 4. **Ras Tafari's House** (Late 19th c. · Entry fee · Jugol): The late 19th-century house where Ras Makonnen's son, the future Haile Selassie, spent much of his childhood. ## The best markets in Harar Three markets, one inside the wall and two that trade before the city is awake. 1. **Gidir Magala** (Daily · Central Jugol · Jugol): The market inside the walls: butchery, spice and chilli by the sack. Jugol's busiest hour. 2. **Shoa Gate Market** (Daily · Outside Shoa Gate · West Jugol): The Christian market outside the western gate. Produce, incense and secondhand clothes. 3. **Aweday khat market** (Daily · Aweday · Outside the city): The largest khat market in Ethiopia, west of Harar. It trades early and empties by mid-morning. ## Where to base yourself in Harar One walled kilometre and the town that grew up outside it. 1. **Jugol** (Old town · Free · Central): The walled old town, a kilometre by 800 metres. Vehicles stop at the gates, so everything here is walked. 2. **Feres Magala** (Central Jugol · Central): Horse Square, at the centre of Jugol. Guides, bajaj drivers and half the city pass through it. 3. **Argob Bari** (East Jugol · East): The quarter behind the eastern gate, and the ground the hyena men work just outside it. 4. **Shenkor** (New town · West): The commercial strip outside the walls on Charleville Avenue, where the hotels and banks are. ## Where to eat in Harar Harari home cooking, Ethiopian plates and the two hotel dining rooms everyone names. 1. **Fresh Touch Hotel Restaurant & Bar** (Ethiopian · Shenkor · New town): A hotel restaurant in Shenkor on Charleville Avenue, and the default answer in the new town. 2. **Hirut** (Ethiopian · Vegetarian friendly · Harar): Ethiopian cooking with a proper fasting menu, so there is always something vegan on the wheel. 3. **Harar Ras Hotel Restaurant** (Ethiopian & Western · Harar): The old government hotel's dining room, running Ethiopian plates alongside pizza and burgers. 4. **Rewda Waber Harari Cultural Guest House** (Harari · Guesthouse · Jugol): A restored Harari house taking guests, and the simplest way to eat Harari home cooking. Arrange it ahead. ## The best day trips from Harar Everything below is within an hour or so of the wall, on one road east or one road down. 1. **Babille Elephant Sanctuary** (35 km · Half day · Southeast): About 35 km southeast, across the Erer and Gobelle valleys. The herds move seasonally. 2. **Valley of Marvels** (Beyond Babille · Half day · East): The Dakhata valley, where wind has left balanced rocks and stacks along the Jijiga road. 3. **Babille camel market** (Mondays · Half day · Southeast): Monday mornings, and one of the largest camel markets in the region. Be there early. 4. **Koremi** (19 km · Half day · Southeast): A clifftop Argobba village of stone houses, 19 km southeast above the Erer valley. 5. **Dire Dawa** (54 km · Full day · Northwest): The railway town on the plain below, an hour down the escarpment. The airport is there too. ## Festivals & annual events in Harar (2026) - **Genna** (7 January): Ethiopian Christmas, kept by Harar's Orthodox minority at Medhane Alem and the churches outside the wall. - **Timkat** (19 January): Epiphany. The tabot is carried out for a dawn blessing, and the crowd is soaked in the blessed water. - **Ramadan** (February to March in 2026): The month reorders the whole city: quiet days, markets that wake after sunset, and no meals served in daylight. - **Eid al-Fitr** (March in 2026, movable): The end of Ramadan, and the biggest morning of the year inside the walls. Prayer first, visiting all day. - **Shuwalid** (Movable, the week after Eid al-Fitr): Harar's own three-day festival, closing six extra days of fasting. UNESCO inscribed it in 2023. - **Eid al-Adha** (May in 2026, movable): The feast of sacrifice. Livestock prices climb for a fortnight beforehand and the markets run late. - **Enkutatash** (11 September): The Ethiopian new year, at the end of the long rains. Ethiopia runs seven to eight years behind the Gregorian count. - **Meskel** (27 September): The finding of the True Cross, marked with a procession and the lighting of the demera bonfire at dusk. ## Must-try dishes in Harar, Ethiopia - **Hulbat**: Fenugreek broth with meat and potatoes, slightly tart. The Harari dish everything else is judged against. - **Sambusa**: Fried triangles of spiced meat or lentil, sold from every second doorway in Jugol. - **Fatira**: A layered pastry fried with egg, torn by hand and taken with honey. A Harar breakfast. - **Shorba**: A thick lentil or bean soup, spiced heavily. What breaks the fast during Ramadan. - **Injera**: Sourdough flatbread of fermented teff. It is the plate, the cutlery and the base of the meal. - **Shiro**: Milled chickpeas cooked down with berbere and onion, served bubbling in the clay dish. - **Harar coffee**: Dried whole in the cherry rather than washed, which is where the fruit and the winey edge come from. - **Harar Beer**: A pale lager brewed in the city since 1984. Ask for Hakim Stout if you want the dark one. ## Harar transport & airports - **Dire Dawa Airport** (DIR): The way in. Ethiopian Airlines flies from Addis Ababa in about an hour, and the terminal is roughly 54 km from Harar, an hour by road up the escarpment. [Ethiopian Airlines](https://www.ethiopianairlines.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - **Dire Dawa road transfer** (Minibus): Shared minibuses and taxis run the Dire Dawa road all day, leaving when full rather than to a timetable. Hotels will arrange a private car for the airport run. - **Bajaj** (Bajaj): Blue three-wheelers cover the new town and the ground outside the gates. Agree the fare before you get in. Inside Jugol the lanes are too narrow, so you walk. - **Bus from Addis Ababa** (Bus): Around 500 km and the better part of a day. It is a long haul on a road that climbs and drops, and the Dire Dawa flight costs little more. ## Harar at a glance - **Country:** Ethiopia - **Region:** Capital of the Harari Region, on a plateau at about 1,885 m above sea level - **Population:** About 99,400 at the 2007 census, the last full count. The walled town is a fraction of that - **Founded:** The present wall is credited to Emir Nur ibn Mujahid in the 16th century; the town is older - **UNESCO:** Harar Jugol, the Fortified Historic Town, inscribed on the World Heritage list in 2006 - **Language:** Harari, Oromo and Amharic, with English common in tourism - **Currency:** Ethiopian birr (ETB). Cash for nearly everything; card acceptance stops at the larger hotels - **Time zone:** UTC+3 (East Africa Time), no daylight saving. Locally the day is counted from sunrise - **Calling code:** +251 - **Airports:** Dire Dawa Airport (DIR), about 54 km northwest and an hour by road - **Power:** 220V, 50Hz, sockets of types C, E and F. Cuts are routine, so carry a torch and a power bank - **Emergency:** 991 police, 907 ambulance, 939 fire ## Interesting facts - Harar Jugol holds 82 mosques, three of them said to date from the 10th century, and 102 shrines. - The wall runs about 3.5 km and stands roughly five metres high. It encloses one square kilometre. - Arthur Rimbaud had already given up poetry when he reached Harar in 1880 to trade coffee and hides. - Harar coffee is dried whole in the cherry, and the long, tapered longberry lots are the premium grade. - Harar Brewery opened in 1984 and has belonged to Heineken since a buyout in 2011. ## Harar travel FAQ ### How many days do you need in Harar? Two days is the honest answer. One covers Jugol at walking pace, the museums and the markets, ending at the hyena feeding after dark. The second goes east to Babille and the Dakhata valley, or down to Dire Dawa for the flight out. ### Is the hyena feeding in Harar real? Yes, and it is nightly. Two hyena men work sites outside the walls, one at the Aw Ansar Ahmed shrine beyond Argob Bari, calling wild hyenas in by name after dark. Spectators pay a small fee and are invited to feed the animals themselves. ### How do you get to Harar? Fly Ethiopian Airlines from Addis Ababa to Dire Dawa, about an hour, then take the road up the escarpment for the last 54 km. Minibuses run it all day and hotels arrange private cars. The bus from Addis takes most of a day. ### Is Harar safe to visit? Read your own government's advisory before booking. Several Ethiopian regions carry do-not-travel warnings and the picture changes quickly, so check what yours says about the east specifically rather than about the country as a whole. ### When is the best time to visit Harar? October to February is dry and clear, with days in the mid-twenties at 1,885 m. The long rains fall from March to May. If the dates line up, Shuwalid in the week after Eid al-Fitr is the city at its fullest. ## Nearby guides - [Djibouti City](https://wimup.com/city/djibouti-city.md): Djibouti · 10 picks - [Addis Ababa](https://wimup.com/city/addis-ababa.md): Ethiopia · 10 picks - [Lalibela](https://wimup.com/city/lalibela.md): Ethiopia · 10 picks - [All of Africa →](https://wimup.com/africa): 67 cities Part of the [Ethiopia guide](https://wimup.com/country/ethiopia.md) · [Africa](https://wimup.com/africa.md) ## Sources - [Harar tourism board](https://visitethiopia.et/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Jugol, the walled old town: UNESCO](https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1189/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Dire Dawa Airport: Ethiopian Airlines](https://www.ethiopianairlines.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.