Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Getting There & Away
The bus station is located smack in the city centre. Normal buses leave for Addis Ababa
(Birr118, nine hours, 10 daily) or you can treat your battered bottom to Selam (Birr175,
eight hours, 5.30am) and Sky Bus (Birr209, eight hours, 6am), whose ticket offices are
near the bus station. There's one daily bus to Lalibela (Birr97, eight to nine hours, 6am)
and Mekele (Birr112, eight hours, 7am) and frequent buses and minibuses to Woldia (Bir-
r45, 2½ hours) and Kombolcha (Birr8, 30 minutes).
If you're going to stop anywhere before Addis you'll either need to pay the full Addis
fare or travel slowly in stages using multiple minibuses.
Kombolcha
POP 64,200 / ELEV 1850M
The dramatic and curvaceous descent from Dessie to Kombolcha outdoes anything the
twin towns have to offer. Kombolcha is less of a transportation hub than Dessie, but it's
less dirty and noisy, which makes it a more pleasant option to break your journey.
Sleeping
Sunny Side Hotel $$
( 0335-512869;
www.sunnyside-hotel.com
; s/d/tw/ste incl breakfast Birr600/750/850/
1000; )
What do you do when stylish furniture and satellite TV make you the
best hotel around, but faulty doors, broken lamps, plugged drains and other age-decay
piles up? At Sunny Side, you jack up the already too-high
faranji
prices by up to 23%.
Since it plays posh better than any other hotel in Kombolcha or Dessie, tour companies
continue to fill the rooms. Anyone who cares about value should look elsewhere.
HOTEL
Hikma Pension $
( 0335-510015; d/tw Birr172/250)
This very clean spot on the main traffic circle has
colourful carpeted rooms with faux-flowers and better mattresses than Sunny Side. Des-
pite limited choice, the terrace restaurant (mains Birr25 to Birr30) is popular.
HOTEL
