Merkato
One of the largest open-air markets in Africa, dense, loud and visually extraordinary. It needs a crowd plan, local fixers walking ahead of the camera and an agreed extraction route. Filmable, but never casually.
Filming location · Addis Ababa City Administration
Filming in Addis Ababa
Everything starts here. Bole International Airport is the best-connected hub in the region, the crew base is deep, the equipment is in town, and the government offices that issue your permits are a short drive from each other. Addis is also a genuinely photogenic city in its own right, layered from corrugated-iron neighbourhoods to glass towers within a single frame.
Short answer
Addis Ababa is Ethiopia's capital, its production base and the arrival point for almost every international crew. At around 2,355 metres it is one of the highest capital cities in the world, which affects both crew acclimatisation and the quality of the light. Crew, camera and lighting hire, grip, studios, edit suites and post facilities are all available here, so most productions build their unit in Addis and travel out. Filming in the city needs city administration permission alongside federal authorisation, and busy locations such as Merkato need crowd management planned rather than improvised.
- Region
- Addis Ababa City Administration
- Altitude
- 2,355 m / 7,726 ft
- Nearest airport
- Bole International Airport (ADD), direct flights from four continents
- Best time
- October to May, outside the main rains
- From Addis Ababa
- Base city
What to film here
Piazza and Arada
The old Italian-era quarter, with arcaded shopfronts, jewellers, cafés and stairways. Good for period-adjacent and street work, and much easier to control than Merkato.
Entoto and the northern ridge
Eucalyptus forest and viewpoints looking down over the whole city, at around 3,000 metres. The classic establishing shot of Addis, best at first light before the haze builds.
National Museum of Ethiopia
Home of the Australopithecus afarensis fossil known as Lucy, or Dinknesh in Amharic. Filming requires heritage authority permission arranged in advance and is normally scheduled outside public hours.
Holy Trinity Cathedral and Meskel Square
The cathedral for liturgical and architectural material with church permission; Meskel Square for scale, mass events and the Meskel festival bonfire in late September.
African Union headquarters and the diplomatic quarter
Addis hosts the African Union and a large diplomatic and UN presence. Access is possible for accredited productions but must be arranged well in advance through the institution itself.
Coffee culture
From the traditional coffee ceremony to the specialist roasteries and the historic cafés, coffee is the reliable visual and narrative thread through the city, and it is easy to arrange properly.
From our shoots
Nearby and related
Other Ethiopian locations
Start a production
Filming in Addis Ababa?
Send your dates and shot list. We will come back with the permit route, the access position, realistic travel times and an itemised cost — usually within a working day.