Dire Dawa

Short description of Dire Dawa

Dire Dawa exists because the French railway to the sea could not climb the escarpment to Harar, so the engineers put their station down on the plain and a town grew around it. The result is two towns at once, the gridded French quarter of boulevards and villas on one bank of a dry sand river, and the older Muslim quarter of lanes and markets on the other. The station of nineteen hundred and two still stands with its rolling stock rusting beside it. Trains on the new line run every second day. Most people come only to reach Harar.

AI edited

Recommended length of stay

Travel seasons at a glance

Best time to visit: November – February

• Jan
• Feb
• Mar
• Apr
• May
• Jun
• Jul
• Aug
• Sep
• Oct
• Nov
• Dec

All highlights and sights

1. The Kefira market
2. The old French railway station
3. The boulevards and villas of the Kezira quarter
4. The Megala old Islamic quarter
5. The Taiwan market for imported goods
6. The Ashewa livestock market
7. The grand mosque and the Ras Makonnen square
8. The dry Dechatu riverbed in the morning
9. Lake Alemaya on the Harar road(Day trip)
10. The prehistoric Porc-Épic cave(Day trip)
11. The rock art shelters at Laga Oda(Day trip)

Ways to get there and away

Airports nearby:

• DIR Aba Tenna Dejazmach Yilma International Airport (Dire Dawa) · 3.6 km north(recommended)
• JIJ Gerad Wilwal International Airport (Jijiga) · 118 km east
• HGA Egal International Airport (Hargeisa) · 243 km east

Train stations:

Dire Dawa

Map view

Distances

More travel destinations in Ethiopia

• Addis Ababa
• Aksum
• Lalibela
• Jinka
• Bahir Dar
• Gondar
• Simien Mountains
• Danakil Depression
• Harar
• Bale Mountains
• Arba Minch
• Bishoftu