Experience the best of Lalibela

Lalibela stands at about 2,500 metres in the Lasta mountains of northern Ethiopia. Its eleven churches were cut from the red volcanic rock in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, traditionally under King Lalibela, and UNESCO has listed the site since 1978. The freestanding ones were carved downward from the surface, roof first. The cross-shaped Biete Giyorgis stands alone in a deep pit, and Biete Medhane Alem is among the largest.

Two groups of churches are linked by trenches and tunnels, with a stream called the Jordan between them. Priests in white robes, carrying crosses and prayer books, keep services in Ge'ez. Outside town, Asheton Maryam, a monastery high on a mountain, and Yemrehanna Kristos, a church built into a cave, lie in the hills around the town.

Injera, a sour flatbread, comes with spicy stews called wat, lentils and shiro, and the coffee ceremony of roasted beans, incense and small cups is a daily ritual. Pilgrims fill the town at Genna, Ethiopian Christmas on 7 January, and at Timkat later that month. The dry months from October to March have clear skies; heavier rain falls from June to September.