Two extraordinary hot-spring resorts sit within four hours of the capital — one wild, one polished. We spend weekends at both; here's how to pick.
Drive east from Addis and the highlands fall away into the Rift: acacia, camels, volcano light. Within four hours you reach two of the best reasons to leave the city — Doho Lodge and Beynouna Village — and travelers keep asking us which one to book.
Doho: the wild one
Eleven turquoise hot-spring pools rising out of a doum-palm grove on the rim of Awash National Park. You soak, an Afar guide walks you to crocodile viewpoints, and the stars at night are ridiculous. Rooms from about $100 — the adventurous-value pick.
Beynouna: the polished one
A village-scale retreat on Lake Beseka: suites ringed by private mineral pools, three restaurants, a cultural Majlis with daily coffee ceremonies, glamping RVs, and a working farm with camels and horses. From about $180 — the honeymoon and family pick.
The honest answer
Go to Doho for the landscape and the soak; go to Beynouna when the stay itself is the point. And with three or more days, do what we do: one night in each, with an Awash game drive between — both reserve in one request through the concierge.