Asmara
Asmara, or Asmera, is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region.
Asmara, or Asmera, is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region. It sits at an elevation of 2,325 metres (7,628 ft), making it the sixth-highest capital in the world by altitude and the second-highest capital in Africa. The city is located at the tip of an escarpment that is both the northwestern edge of the Eritrean Highlands and the Great Rift Valley in neighbouring Ethiopia. In 2017, the city was declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its well-preserved Italian colonial modernist architecture. According to local traditions, the city was founded after four separate villages unified to live together peacefully after long periods of conflict. Asmara existed as a major settlement for over half a millennium and enjoyed some importance as it stood on the trade route to Massawa.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Asmara
10 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01Church of Our Lady of the Rosary
The Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Asmara is a Catholic church built in the early 1920s in Asmara, when the city was the capital of Italian Eritrea. Often called "The Cathedral", it is a large Lombard Romanesque style church in the centre of the city, built in 1923 to serve as the principal church of the Apostolic Vicariate of Eritrea.
400 m · church in Asmara, Eritrea · Wikipedia - 02Cicero Stadium
Cicero Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Asmara, Eritrea. With a capacity of 10,000, it is currently used mostly for association football matches.
2.6 km · multipurpose stadium in Asmara, Eritrea, built in 1938 during the Italian occupation by the Italian businessman Francesco Cicero · Wikipedia - 03University of Asmara
The University of Asmara was a public university in Asmara, Eritrea. The nation's first university, it was founded in 1958 by the "Piae Madres Nigritiae".
1.6 km · Eritrean university · Wikipedia - 04Enda Mariam Coptic Cathedral
Enda Mariam Cathedral is an Eritrean Orthodox church in Asmara, Eritrea. The cathedral is located on Arbate Asmara Street.
600 m · building in Asmara, Eritrea · Wikipedia - 05Asmara Synagogue
The Asmara Synagogue is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Asmara, Eritrea. Completed in 1906, the synagogue in the only surviving remnant of the Jewish community in Eritrea.
200 m · synagogue · Wikipedia - 06Governor's Palace, Asmara
The Governor's Palace is the city hall of Asmara, Eritrea. It was built during the colonial period in the city centre, in an Italian Art Deco style.
0 m · building in Africa · Wikipedia - 07Denden Stadium
Denden Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Asmara, Eritrea. The facility was built in 1958 by the Asmara municipality.
1.9 km · building in Africa · Wikipedia - 08Asmara Cinema-Teatro
Asmara Theatre, also known as Asmara Opera, is a theatre in Asmara, Eritrea. It was constructed in 1918 following a design by the Italian engineer Odoardo Cavagnari, with later renovations in 1936.
600 m · theatre and cinema in Asmara, Eritrea · Wikipedia - 09Asmara President's Office
The Asmara State House is an Eritrean government building.
1 km · building in Eritrea · Wikipedia - 10Kidane Mehret Cathedral, Asmara
Kidane Mehret Cathedral is a Catholic church located on Adi Quala Street, Asmara, Eritrea. The cathedral belongs to Eritrean Catholic Archeparchy of Asmara.
700 m · catholic church in Asmara, Eritrea · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What Wikivoyage says to see
Asmara's main attraction is its World Heritage listed colonial Italian architecture. The palm-lined main street "Harnet Avenue" is colloquially referred to as "Kombishtato" (a creole of the neighbourhood's original name: Campo Cintato) meaning fenced area.
- 01Asmara Theatre
The architectural style is a combination of Romanesque Revival and neoclassicism.
- 02Great Mosque of Asmara
- 03National Museum of Eritrea
- 04Church of Our Lady of the Rosary
Often just referred to as "the cathedral", this former Roman Catholic church was built in the early 1920s in a Lombard Romanesque style.
- 05Enda Mariam Cathedral
From Wikivoyage: Asmara, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Things to do
If you are in Asmara for a short stay, the best thing to do after you're done sightseeing in this city is to head for the outskirts where the scenery is stunning at the very least. Unless you come from a high altitude area yourself, you may need a couple of days of strolling in Asmara to get your body used to the thin dry air at 2,300 m.
From Wikivoyage: Asmara, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Where to eat
- 01Bar Zilli
Eritrean restaurant housed in one of the most iconic colonial Art Deco buildings.
From Wikivoyage: Asmara, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Asmara
- Stations
- Asmara International Airport, 7.1 km
- Port Sudan → Asmara509 km · quickest by road, 14h 19m · $80–105
- Abha → Asmara497 km · quickest by road, 66h 29m · SAR1,200–1,610
- Sanaa → Asmara566 km · quickest by road, 74h 7m · $395–540
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Asmara
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Asmara. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get aroundThere also white minibus-lines running on the main streets of the city, which run on fixed routes but without fixed stops or signs.
- Get aroundFinally there are the yellow taxis, most of which also run on fixed routes on the main streets like the white minivans.
- Get aroundThey have a similar system to the minivans, and the fare is Nkf 5.
- Get aroundIt is perhaps better to take the bus or contact one of the national tour agencies (ask at the information desk at the airport upon arrival).
- Go nextThere is one narrow-gauge train line, from Asmara to Massawa, but it is driven by a slow steam-engine which only runs for chartered tours.
From Wikivoyage: Asmara, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-09.
- 01367 km
- 021,533 km
- 031,624 km
- 041,704 km
- 051,843 km
If you know how people move in Asmara – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Asmara
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