Maribela Hotel

a functional hotel in the town

Maribela Hotel is located in the town of Lalibela in the north of Ethiopia.

Set at the top of the escarpment at the extreme western end of the town, Maribela Hotel has superb views out over the surrounding highlands.

The hotel is contained within a single rectangular building, which is generally quite modest, but does feature some prominent rough-hewn red sandstone. It’s centred on a reasonably pleasant double-height lounge and restaurant area, leading out to a terrace which faces the sunset.

The restaurant serves a range of Western, Asian and Ethiopian dishes, including vegan and vegetarian options.

Guest accommodation is in twenty reasonably standard hotel rooms with private bathrooms, all of which have small private balconies with the same great views.

Activities

Lalibela is a relatively small town of around 20,000 people, remotely located amongst the mountains of northern Ethiopia, famous for its genuinely impressive collection of monolithic rock-cut churches.

The second most holy city in the country after Axum, Lalibela is a major centre of pilgrimage and has a population which is almost completely Ethiopian Orthodox Christian.

A visit to the churches of Lalibela tends to feature in the vast majority of trips to Ethiopia, sometimes as a quick flying visit from the capital, but more commonly as part of a more extensive exploration of the north of the country.

To be honest the town is a bit messy and the accommodation options are all pretty mediocre, but the churches are so iconic that it’s hard to skip the place.

The primary activity in Lalibela is visiting the various rock-cut churches.

Other activities include hiking through the farmlands and mountains around the town, as well as various bars, restaurants and co-operative groups in the village.

The Lalibela area tends to be combined in trips with various places of interest in the north of Ethiopia, including Gheralta, the Danakil Depression, Axum, Gondar, the Simien Mountains and Bahir Dar.

Seasonality

The best time to visit Lalibela is generally considered to be during the Nov-Mar dry season period.

The area lies on the margin between a tropical savanna climate and a subtropical highland climate, with an Apr-Sep rainy season, which reaches a peak during Jun-Aug.

Peak daytime temperatures are usually rather high, at around 28C/82F most of the year, rising to 30C/86F (occasionally spiking to 34C/93F) in advance of the rains during Mar-May. However nighttime temperatures usually still fall to a pleasant 13C/55F year round.

Getting there

The north of Ethiopia is usually reached by means of regular daily flights from the capital Addis Ababa.

Some of the interconnecting journeys within the region are best done by air, others have to be done by road.

Lalibela is usually connected by air to most locations, the road journeys in and out are too arduous to be included in many trips.

usually visited in combination with other areas to the north of Ethiopia