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You can find some fantastic sites to see here and it is where most people will start their day trip or trek into the World Heritage-listed Simien Mountains National Park.
Our flight into Gondar arrived around 1.30 pm, we took a taxi from the airport (250 birr) to our budget accommodation for the next few days – AG Hotel Gondar.
This hotel is in a good location, and it’s easy to walk into the centre of town.
Rooms start at USD 50 per night.
Another option for mid-range accommodation is Gondar Hills Resort. You can make a reservation online with Booking.com; rooms start at USD 70 per night.
Our local friend, Gino, an incredible tour guide with This is African Tours put us in contact with his colleague Melaku, a local guide in Gondar.
We wanted to take a full day trip to explore and trek a small part of the Simien Mountains, and he was the guy that would take us there.
The price for a private tour for the two of us was 3500 birr. (USD 125)
Melaku picked us up at 08:00 from our accommodation. He speaks perfect English and is a really good guy. The transport is a very new, clean and comfortable van.
We set off out of the city, picking up a few bottles of water on the way from a small shop.
The National Park begins at a city called ‘Debark’, which is around 90km or 1.5 hours drive. The drive to reach Debark was great, there is so much happening along the way.
We passed by lots of small villages and lots of locals dressed in white, as it was Sunday and they had just been to church.
You’ll notice that everything in Ethiopia happens just by the road, there was so much to look at passing by.
Endless fields of crops with farmers working hard, kids herding groups of goats and sheep along the road, and people hanging out chatting over coffee in tin shacks roadside.
We reached Debark and parked in front of the National Parks office. Anyone entering the park must give your details and pay some fees etc.
We filled in our details and paid the following fees:
As we exited the building, we were introduced to Alex, an experienced guide and he also looked like the Ethiopian ‘Barrack Obama’. Alex jumped in our van as we drove towards the entrance to the park.
Another 10-15 minutes later, we reached the entrance gate to the Simien Mountains.
A man checked our receipts and tickets before letting us drive inside the Simien Mountains National Park.
We drove into the park and immediately the views started to look amazing! Sheer mountain drops, interesting trees and fauna and beautiful landscapes of the most vivid green colours.
We drove for another 15 minutes or so into the park, Alex giving us information about the park as we drove.
We pulled over and jumped out with Alex, he said we’d be walking for the next 1.5-2 hours. The next two hours were fantastic!
We walked along the trails, learning about the trees, the landscape, the food and herbs growing in the ground and my favourite part, meeting a troop of gelada monkeys.
They’re vegetarians and they spend their days picking grass and eating. We were able to get very near to them to take some great photos and just watch them.
The mist started to blanket the trails and thunder could be heard in the distance as the temperature dropped. We’d been outside walking for around two hours and it was time to be picked up. Miraculously, Melaku turns up with the van and we jump inside.
We slowly made our way towards the entrance of the National Park, stopping a few times to capture some more beautiful panoramic photos of the scenery.
Before we exited, we made one other stop – a place that is up there with one of the most breathtaking I’ve ever seen.
We jumped out of the van and walked five minutes through some wildflowers until suddenly we heard it before we saw it.
A massive waterfall in the distance could be seen, and an extraordinary canyon could be seen stretching far into the distance. How beautiful. We walked a little further around to another viewpoint and stood to see this epic panorama from another perspective.
It was absolutely silent, apart from the mighty sound of the waterfall. The best part was that we were the only people there to witness such beauty.
We stood for a while and just appreciated the moment. Bliss.
We drove back to Debark and dropped Alex in town. We also stopped at a local hotel restaurant for some lunch. After enjoying some local food and a traditional coffee with Melaku, we drove towards Gondar.
He dropped us at our hotel around 5.30 pm and wished us well on the rest of our adventures around the world.
We enjoy passing on the contact details for fantastic local guides to our readers, and Melaku was certainly one of them.
If you’d like to contact Melaku for a similar day trip the to Simien Mountains or to guide you around Gondar and the surrounding area, please find his details below.
And that’s it for our Day Trip to the Simien Mountains. What an amazing day!
Are you travelling more in Ethiopia? If you’re visiting the capital city, I recommend you try some of the best food in Addis Ababa and join a Food Tour.
You can read about our experience of eating the best food in the city on our food tour of Addis Ababa.
You can’t leave Ethiopia without spending some time in Lalibela. This place is fantastic!
Read our post – two days in Lalibela – everything you need to know for all the essential information.
We have more helpful travel guides and tips for Ethiopia—this is a diverse country!
When planning your trip, we recommend spending two days in Lalibela. Our complete guide has everything you need to know; it’s a fascinating place.
We highly recommend visiting the Simien Mountains, on a day trip from Gondor. Here’s everything you need to know.
We wrote this comprehensive post to help you learn more about Ethiopian cuisine.
Ethiopia features on our list of the 10 best food countries in Africa, and it even made it into our top 10 best countries for food lovers
Our Food Map of Africa is interesting because it explains what people eat in all 54 nations. If you’re wondering what people eat for breakfast in Africa, check out this post about the most popular African breakfast foods.
If you’re keen on an adventure, here’s how to take local transport from Ethiopia to Somaliland. If this interests you, you will need a visa. You can apply for your visa for Somaliland in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
We recommend joining a food tour in Addis Ababa. It’s a great way to taste the cuisine and learn about Ethiopian culture. Read about our food tour experience in Addis Ababa to know what to expect.
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