Ethiopia's oldest hotel sits in the Piazza neighbourhood, a white colonial-era building that has been hosting guests since 1898. It is no longer the most comfortable option in the city, but the bar and restaurant on the ground floor are among the most atmospheric places in Addis for a coffee, a beer, or a glass of tej.
The terrace is ideal for watching the Piazza street life go by. The hotel's age gives it a cultural weight that the modern Bole hotels cannot match — you are sitting in a building that was already old when Haile Selassie came to power. The staff are accustomed to visitors who come for the history rather than the rooms.