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Things I wish I knew before I went to Gondar: It has some amazing sites and views! The only problems have to be the street guides. Make sure you get rid of them before you arrive at your destination or they will demand a tip. At July 2019 the rate for a tuk tuk to go from one end to another end seems to be less than 50 birr. But we got laughed at when we paid the 50 birr so we just walked everywhere from then on. So haggle haggle haggle! If you are traveling from bus away from Gondar the bus station is the place to go. There are apparently two stations but they usually figure out which one you need if you tell them the bus end destination. Important note: Buy tickets from the bus station directly and believe them when they say a route doesn’t exist. Lots of con artists will give you a fake story to make you buy a more expensive ticket that might not even be real or going to the right place. Half day tours to Simien mountains are fake. There is no way to make it there and see anything worth seeing and come back in half a day. All in all the one thing I learned from Gondar is to be suspicious of anyone who is excessively nice. Depressing but unfortunately true for most tourist locations :(

Nice small town with lots of lovely people, the best among the best I have met in Ethiopia. From my guide and taxi driver Mike to Bank Managers who went out of their way to help me to sort out my ATM card issues (retained by 3 ATM machines). Tips to travel to smaller towns in Ethiopia, carry spare cash Birr or USD, do not rely on cards as often they will not work.

The best thing was closeness to castle Rest was very ordinary The room although clean was a 1* basic and the bathroom so small it was very difficult to use either the toilet or shower. There was hot water from a tank on the wall that management had to switch on. But the room was SO NOISEY neither my husband or I got any sleep. The area itself is old and dirty and the premises run down. I would not recommend staying here and feel the trip adviser rating is very misleading.

We had a wonderful time in Gondar. We loved the fact that it was easy to get an official guide to visit the castles. His English was excellent! The hotel helped us get transport to the other places of interest.