Things to do in Massawa
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Massawa
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
The window: mean maximum temperatures about 29 to 33 degrees, pleasant sea, and the Fenkil Commemoration in February.
Warming and still workable with discipline: old town at dawn, water in the morning, shade at midday.
The furnace, avoid for leisure: mean maximum temperatures about 37 to 41 degrees, July the peak, plus highland rains on the Asmara road.
Cooling, the second shoulder: heat falls, the road dries, and the city is workable again for early starters.
What's on
- Fenkil Commemoration Mid February, around the 8 to 10 February anniversary
Official commemoration in Massawa of the 1990 liberation, with ceremony, youth week, sports and cultural performances.
- Independence Day 24 May
The national holiday across Eritrea, listed for completeness. In Massawa it falls at the edge of the furnace season.
Best things to do in Massawa
Massawa Old Town
A dense coral stone port quarter in Ottoman, Egyptian and Italian layers, beautiful and war scarred at once.
Mosque of the Companions
A small open air mosque tied by tradition to the 7th century Companions, believed by some to be Africa's first mosque.
Sheikh Hanafi Mosque
The old town's historic mosque, described as 15th century and among the oldest surviving structures in Massawa.
Former Imperial Palace
Haile Selassie's seaside palace on Taulud, kept as a war damaged shell and viewed from outside only.
Former Banco d'Italia
The ruined 1920s Bank of Italy building by the port, devastated in 1990 and still unmistakably grand.
Tank Monument
Massawa's war memorial of three captured tanks, the middle one first taken at Adebzemat in 1977.
Northern Red Sea Regional Museum
The regional museum pairing Red Sea natural history with ethnography and the liberation war campaigns.
Covered Bazaar
The old town's arched covered market, a working bazaar and the best practical orientation for a new arrival.
Where to stay in Massawa
Taulud Island
first trip, all round base
The hotels, cathedral, tank monument and palace, five minutes from the old town across the Batsi causeway.
Batsi Island, the old town
character and dawn walks in the coral stone quarter
Alleys, mosques and the bazaar at the door, with war damaged stock and fewer services than Taulud.
Mainland and Gurgusum
beach led and family stays
Sand and swimming at the door at the beach hotel, with a taxi or minibus ride for everything else.
Think twice about
- Asmara as a base for Massawa
115 km and 2,300 vertical metres of mountain road. Day tripping gives you Massawa at noon and none of its evenings.
- Operational port and military perimeters in Massawa
A restricted working port and garrison aware city. Never a base, a shortcut or a photo stop, and photographing military subjects is illegal.
- Off road country near Massawa and Ghinda
Landmines are present in areas near Massawa and Ghinda. Stay on paved roads and established paths.
- Far north end of Gurgusum Beach
Visitor reviews record an official residence area beyond the hotel stretch where security staff turn walkers back.
Best restaurants in Massawa
Dahlak Hotel Restaurant
The top local table, at its best on the catch of the day. Ask what the kitchen actually has that day.
Sallam Restaurant
A simple fish restaurant on plastic chairs, called the best fish in town across years of reviews.
Central Hotel Restaurant
Traditional dinners served in the courtyard and along the water at the Central Hotel on Taulud.
Red Sea Hotel Restaurant
The sea front hotel kitchen on Taulud, listed as a sensible default with its thin record stated plainly.
Gurgussum Beach Hotel Restaurant
The beach hotel restaurant, good food in a quiet dining room and the table that makes a beach base work.
Outdoor things to do in Massawa
Green Island
Sheikh Said Island, a short boat ride to a beach, mangroves and snorkelling, with nothing on the island at all.
Gurgusum Beach
The city's own swimming beach on the mainland, warm clear water, cafes and camel rides on the sand.
Dahlak Archipelago
The headline operator boat day to empty coral islands, covered in full in the sibling Dahlak brief.
Asmara
The UNESCO modernist capital as Massawa's excursion, 115 km and 2,300 metres up the mountain road.
Eritrean Railway
Charter steam on the mountain line to Asmara. No scheduled service exists, so a ride is arranged, never assumed.
Adulis
Ruins of the great Aksumite port south of Massawa, mostly unexcavated and best read after the regional museum.
Best hotels in Massawa
Dahlak Hotel
The large Taulud hotel opposite the palace, also styled Grand Dahlak, and the most predictable night in Massawa.
Red Sea Hotel
A sea front Taulud hotel near the tank monument, the larger hotel fallback when the Dahlak is full.
Central Hotel
A small Taulud hotel with courtyard dinners on the water, rated the best deal in town by its guests.
Seghen International Hotel
A newer, cheap Massawa hotel listed with a blunt cautionary review, so inspect the room before you pay.
Gurgussum Beach Hotel
The modest hotel on the swimming beach, for waking on the sand and treating the town as the excursion.
Is Massawa expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | ERN 1,200 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | ERN 2,500 a person |
| Splurge | ERN 5,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Green Island: a few days ahead
- Dahlak Archipelago: weeks ahead
- Asmara: a few days ahead
- Eritrean Railway: weeks ahead
- Adulis: a few days ahead
- Dahlak Hotel: a few days ahead
- Red Sea Hotel: a few days ahead
- Get the visa before travel and the road permit in Asmara or through an operator, naming Massawa and any side stops.
- Book the Dahlak boat days to weeks ahead through an established operator and confirm what gear is included.
- Book hotels by phone or operator and reconfirm. A booking not reconfirmed is a hope, not a reservation.
- Book everything well ahead for the mid February Fenkil Commemoration week in Massawa.
Is Massawa safe?
- Heat is the daily medical risk. Travel November to February, start early, rest at midday, and carry water and salts.
- Never photograph government buildings, military personnel or equipment, installations, airports or the operational port.
- Cash only at the official Himbol rate of 15 ERN to the dollar, receipts kept, and no more than 1,000 ERN taken out of Eritrea.
- Take medical evacuation insurance and current travel clinic advice, including malaria advice for the lowland coast.
Massawa travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Trusting the internet's Massawa. Listings outlive kitchens, boats and hotels, so verify every specific on the ground that day.
- Massawa at summer noon, a boat with no agreed return time or price, and a port photograph taken without thinking.
- A permit naming only Asmara to Massawa, presented at a checkpoint on an improvised detour to Adulis or elsewhere.
Getting around Massawa: public transport and more
- Walk Taulud and the old town. Ride shared vans and contract taxis for Gurgusum, and negotiate the fare before you ride.
- Reach Massawa from Asmara by bus, minibus or hired car with a driver, always with the travel permit checkpoints ask for.
- Boats to Green Island and the Dahlaks leave by arrangement with a hotel or operator, with price and return time agreed before boarding.
Who Massawa suits
| Solo travellers | OK |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | OK |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | OK |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Massawa your trip
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