iShowSpeed introduced My City to Millions of Viewers

Here’s a Local Architect’s Guide to the City

My sister joked that Speed had seen more of the city in one day than we both had in our ten years here. Speed, Mirafe and their teams did cover a lot of ground very fast, but here are suggestions from a local, if you want to come here too.

1. Yod Abyssinia

This is where Addis Ababans often take their friends when they visit the city. You could order one of many famous Ethiopian traditional dishes or just Yejebena Buna, and a lady in the traditional attire will bring you coffee from a steaming clay pot. My go-to vegetarian meals at any traditional restaurant are Fir-fir, Tegabino and occasionally Beyaynetu (an assortment of stews and fried vegetables on an injera platter).

If you’re only interested in the food and coffee, you could go before the nightfall. After sunrise, people start gathering for the nightly(?) performance which entails traditional dance routines from different parts of Ethiopia.

I’ve been to those around three times and there has always been a tourist or two who gave one of the dances a solid try on stage and thoroughly entertained everyone through their attempts—you could be that person one of these nights.

2. Studio 11

I was packing up my drawings at the end of the art sale

This is a new art space in Bole which was founded by two young artists, Nafkot Gebeyehu and Zion Yaynu.

I have attended two or three solo shows there since 2024 and I hosted my first art sale there just last week. I had a great time talking about the city, art supplies, and Ethiopian food (which my art features) with the visitors and my fellow artists in the studio.

I suggest following them here to see what show, art class or sale they have going on: https://www.instagram.com/studio11.et/

The Noname book club meetings will also be hosted in this gallery. You could read more about that here: https://www.instagram.com/nonameaddisababa/

Tsion Behari is holding a painting from her latest collection

3. Abdi Negash Antique Store

This place is packed to the brim with vinyl records, books, coins, figurines and many more collectors’ items. The owner, Mr. Abdi Negash, knows his stuff and is an avid collector himself.

You could read more about it here: https://www.whatsoutaddis.com/antiquarian-books-and-local-history-in-piassa/

4. Galani Coffee

Before I moved neighborhoods, this used to be one of my favorite places to work at. The wooden interior, eclectic (but comfortable) furniture and high ceiling make it a good place for formal meetings and hangouts. I once saw a group of people working on the large, exposed wood meeting table beside one of the windows and I thought that would be a great place for opening large architectural drawings and having discussions over them.

But Galani is mainly known for its coffee, which I believe they grind there—I can’t recall actually tasting the coffee but I can’t forget the magnificent smell.

Here they are on the map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/NqKHpX2Q3KqYNeBX6

5. A Website Dedicated to Addis Ababa (explore-addis.com)

Explore Addis is a passion project by Ethiopian software engineer Nathnael Dejene, created to help visitors and residents understand and explore Addis Ababa deeply.

The site combines city facts, local insights, and curated places you can save directly to Google Maps, which could help you create a custom itinerary that fits your travel style.

You could try it out here: www.explore-addis.com

Lastly, the Ethiopian rainy season, kiremt, lies between June and September, so take that into account if you do plan to visit.