Top 10 Djibouti Attractions

The African coun­try has some­thing to offer every tourist, from beach­es where you can relax, to tourist des­ti­na­tions and moun­tain trails and under­wa­ter sports.

Who and why goes to Djibouti

Beach­es on the coast of Dji­bouti and the near­by Mukha Islands, lake­side land­scapes and desert plains — East Africa offers a lot of oppor­tu­ni­ties for out­door activ­i­ties and admir­ing nat­ur­al beau­ty.

Hike the low­est points on earth, explore the wilder­ness, and take in oth­er­world­ly views of the lime­stone pipes of Lake Abbe.

For lovers of out­door activ­i­ties and extreme sports, such activ­i­ties as div­ing and snor­kel­ing in the com­pa­ny of sharks are avail­able here. It will not be bor­ing.

Architectural monuments

Djibouti city

The cap­i­tal of Dji­bouti, known as the “French Hong Kong”, is an amaz­ing city, on the streets of which ancient build­ings and mod­ern sky­scrap­ers organ­i­cal­ly coex­ist, and in the neigh­bor­hood there are sandy beach­es and live­ly mar­kets.

The famous Kempin­s­ki Palace in the cap­i­tal annu­al­ly attracts hun­dreds of tourists. The city has not lost its Arab atmos­phere, and this is due to its unique archi­tec­ture. It’s easy to lose track of time here and spend hours look­ing at hous­es and mon­u­ments from the 19th cen­tu­ry.

City of Tadjoura

The ancient city of Dji­bouti is a pop­u­lar place for a relax­ing hol­i­day, leisure­ly walks and study­ing the build­ings of the past. If you want to spend a week­end explor­ing the sights and ancient build­ings, then you won’t find a bet­ter place.

The reser­voirs locat­ed with­in the city are suit­able for fish­ing enthu­si­asts. Golf is also pop­u­lar here, and the spa­cious cours­es offer views of the near­by moun­tain ranges.

Ali Sabieh

Locat­ed between the bor­ders of Soma­lia and Ethiopia, Ali Sabieh is the sec­ond largest city in Dji­bouti. It is sur­round­ed on all sides by the deserts of Grand Bar and Petit Bar. That is why it devel­oped in iso­la­tion, and the local cul­ture and crafts are dif­fer­ent from what can be traced in the rest of the coun­try.

The city has devel­oped trad­ing mar­kets, which attracts tourists com­ing to Africa. Here you can buy unique sou­venirs and house­hold items for lit­tle mon­ey.

Parks and beaches

Aquarium Tropical de Djibouti

If you want to see the trea­sures of the Red Sea with­out div­ing into the mys­te­ri­ous depths, then head to the Trop­i­cal de Dji­bouti Aquar­i­um. It is right­ful­ly con­sid­ered the most pop­u­lar tourist attrac­tion in the cap­i­tal, and it is well locat­ed.

Rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the under­wa­ter world, typ­i­cal for these places, live here in spa­cious aquar­i­ums: sharks and rays, iri­des­cent trop­i­cal fish, sea­hors­es and tur­tles.

Tajik Gulf

The bay bor­ders the east­ern side of the coun­try, and it is the leader in the num­ber of coral colonies and vari­eties of liv­ing fish.

Its beach is in great demand among lovers of div­ing and under­wa­ter pho­tog­ra­phy, and at the same time is the start­ing point for excur­sions to the Red Sea coral reefs. It is also the start­ing point for day trips relat­ed to water sports and enter­tain­ment. Regard­less of per­son­al pref­er­ences, all fam­i­ly mem­bers will like it here.

Forest National Park

After admir­ing the under­wa­ter world, go to the real equa­to­r­i­al jun­gle. Out­door enthu­si­asts will under­stand what it means to sur­vive in the wild. But on this con­ti­nent there are places that still serve as a habi­tat for tribes that have pre­served the cus­toms of their ances­tors.

Some parts of the park are a haven for rare species of flo­ra and fau­na. This is a giant oasis bathed in green­ery in the mid­dle of a scorched desert, locat­ed about 25 kilo­me­ters from the Gulf of Tad­joura.

The beaches of Khor Ambado and Dorale

This sandy beach is per­fect for pic­nics, snor­kel­ing or just sight­see­ing. Great place for day trips 16 km from the cap­i­tal of Dji­bouti.

Doralé Beach is also near­by and both offer tourists the oppor­tu­ni­ty to swim and take in the breath­tak­ing views of the local nature. Hor Amba­do is of par­tic­u­lar inter­est for its vol­canic land­scapes and beau­ti­ful sun­sets. The road here is uneven and rocky, but per­sis­tent trav­el­ers will be reward­ed with soft sand and clear water.

natural attractions

Fly Islands

Locat­ed a few miles off the coast of Dji­bouti, the clus­ter of islands is just under two miles long and sur­round­ed by coral reefs. It is often vis­it­ed by trav­el­ers who are inter­est­ed in fish­ing and div­ing. The islands are reached by boat from the port of Dji­bouti. This makes the trip a great option for a week­end get­away.

You can also plan to spend the night at the camp­site. There are eater­ies on Mukha to have lunch, but you need to bring tents and sleep­ing bags with you.

Lake Abbe

One of the three main lakes of Dji­bouti is a salty reser­voir that is fed by fresh ground­wa­ter. Along its banks are lime­stone pil­lars of bizarre shape. The lake is close to the Ethiopi­an bor­der and is part of an inter­con­nect­ed chain of water bod­ies. Tourists some­times note that the local “lunar” land­scape seems sur­pris­ing­ly famil­iar to them.

There is noth­ing strange in this, because it was this lake and its envi­rons that act­ed as the famous for­bid­den zone in the movie Plan­et of the Apes.

Han Plain

Anoth­er inter­est­ing place, this time for bird lovers. Here you can see the rarest feath­ered inhab­i­tants of the plan­et. These include the Egypt­ian goose, black corn­crake and many oth­ers.

For sev­er­al months, black crowned spar­rows, ostrich­es, sand par­tridges live on the plain. The val­ley is sur­round­ed by steep moun­tains, offer­ing pic­turesque views. But climb­ing to the top of at least one of them is not a feat for every­one.

Lake Assal

The lake, known as the low­est point in Africa, is locat­ed at a depth of 570 feet below sea lev­el. It is also the salti­est lake out­side of Antarc­ti­ca and is sur­round­ed by exten­sive salt marsh­es. The Arduko­ba vol­cano, which has been dor­mant since 1978, dom­i­nates the sur­round­ing land­scape.

Lake Assal, locat­ed about 60 miles south­west of the cap­i­tal, can be reached by car. The sur­round­ing areas are char­ac­ter­ized by desert land­scapes. How­ev­er, both the Arduko­ba vol­cano and Assal have been declared World Her­itage Sites by UNESCO.