Free tour for the largest market in Africa!

The Addis Ababa Mercato is the largest open-air market in all Africa. Within the labyrinthian alleyways it is possible to purchase anything you desire from cheap electronics to exotic fruits. Let the products be your landmark, for there is no map for getting around the miles wide trading centre. The only way to distinguish your location is to notice the product being sold. Spices, papayas, mangos, lemons, oranges, pomegranates and passion fruits, lamb, beef, carved crafts, jewellery and over one hundred coffee merchants, hawking their region’s variety, are crammed into the narrow streets of the Addis Ketema district.

Half a mile east of the present day Mercato is the Arada district, where the market used to be located. During the Italian occupation the traditional location in front of St. George’s Church was reserved strictly for Italians, driving the Amhara and Tigray further afield. The native Ethiopians joined the Arab trading centre in the Addis Ketema district, subsuming it completely by the 1960’s. Today, Arada’s streets are adorned with upmarket shops.