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Ethiopia Ethiopia volcano

Erta Ale

You can see 151 km from here, looking south-west.

82Viewyas Score

SummitSunset360°Long viewMany peaks

Calculating the panorama…

Drag to turn around. The relief is drawn 2.2 times taller so the ridges can be read; far ridges are paler, as in the real air.

The view

Up to 151 km away.

Calculated on the relief one degree at a time, up to 250 km, with the curvature of the Earth and the refraction of the air: what stands above the horizon from here.

82out of 100

Our own rating, from the relief and the climate only: open horizon (35 points), how far you see (25), sea and named peaks in view (20) and clear months (20).

  • 151 kmFarthest ridgelooking south-west
  • 99%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
  • 16Peaks in viewnamed summits that rise above the relief in front
  • 578 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint

The 16 peaks you can name from here

From west to east as you turn around: height, distance and direction. Each one links to its guide on Peakyas, our mountain atlas.

Daghil Liddola818 m · 66 km · eastDubbi Volcano1,625 m · 124 km · eastNabro Volcano2,218 m · 116 km · eastMallahle1,875 m · 113 km · eastSork Ale1,611 m · 124 km · eastAsavyo1,200 m · 116 km · south-eastBorawli812 m · 48 km · south-eastMat Ala523 m · 78 km · south-eastHayli Gubbi521 m · 12 km · south-eastAfdera1,295 m · 61 km · southMount Alayta1,496 m · 80 km · southAle Bagu1,031 m · 11 km · southMa Alalta1,815 m · 83 km · south-westAmba Alagi3,438 m · 139 km · south-west

From the relief only: buildings, trees and haze are not in the model. On a hazy day you see much less; 250 km is the limit of our calculation.

The sun

The best sunsets are from November to December.

When the sun really disappears from this viewpoint — behind the relief or into the sea — and in which direction, on the 15th of each month, in local time.

  1. Janwest4 min before the sea-level sunset60%
  2. Febwest6 min before the sea-level sunset61%
  3. Marwest6 min before the sea-level sunset52%
  4. Aprwest6 min before the sea-level sunset52%
  5. Maywest8 min before the sea-level sunset53%
  6. Junnorth-west8 min before the sea-level sunset40%
  7. Julwest8 min before the sea-level sunset28%
  8. Augwest6 min before the sea-level sunset30%
  9. Sepwest6 min before the sea-level sunset40%
  10. Octwest6 min before the sea-level sunset64%
  11. Novwest4 min before the sea-level sunset69%
  12. Decsouth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset74%
  • Time: when the sun goes behind the horizon you see from here.
  • Minutes: how much earlier the relief hides the sun.
  • %: share of clear sky that month (NASA, 2001–2020).

The highlighted months are the clearest. Golden hour starts about an hour before.

The place

Erta Ale.

Volcano in Ethiopia

Erta Ale is a volcano in Ethiopia, 578 m above the sea.

On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 151 km away, looking south-west.

16 named peaks rise above the relief in front; the most prominent is Hayli Gubbi (521 m), 12 km away.

The horizon is open, below your eyes, over 99% of the circle.

The skies are clearest from November to December.

Erta Ale 491
Rolf Cosar · CC BY 3.0

Get there and stay

  • Erta Ale Camp Sitecampsite · 0.3 km · 3 within 10 km
  • Mekele Alula Aba Nega Airport (MQX)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 123 km in a straight line

Plan the visit

A guided tour, a bed nearby, a car.

Tours, cable cars and tickets for Erta AleGetYourGuideSee prices Stays with a view near Erta AleBooking.comSee prices Car hire in EthiopiaDiscover CarsSee prices 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The viewpoint and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the viewpoint, with what OpenStreetMap shows nearby.

Erta Ale seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

  • 7other viewpoints within 5 km
  • 3campsites within 10 kmErta Ale Camp Site
  • named peaks within 5 km
  • cable car and funicular stations within 5 km
  • marked trails within 3 km
  • shelters and huts within 5 km
  • car parks within 3 km
  • visitor centres within 5 km
  • restaurants and cafés within 3 km
  • places to stay within 10 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

In our other atlases

What you see from Erta Ale, and what is near.

Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.

Peakyas5 mountains within 25 km
Erta Ale · this placeErta Ale613 m · volcano · 0.3 kmAle Bagu1,031 m · 11 kmHayli Gubbi521 m · volcano · 12 kmBorale Ale668 m · 15 kmDalaffilla613 m · 24 km
Darkskyas4 dark-sky places within 30 km
Erta AleBortle 2 · this placeAle BaguBortle 1 · 11 kmHayli GubbiBortle 1 · 12 kmDalaffillaBortle 1 · 24 km

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap, GBIF). Links open when each site is online.

Photographs

The view, as people saw it.

Erta Ale (6900576021)
Petr Meissner · CC BY 2.0
Erta Ale Crater
Kalogeropoulos · CC BY-SA 4.0
Erta Ale crater
Val Rime · CC BY-SA 4.0

Other viewpoints nearby.

Erta Ale

Ethiopia

  • 82Viewyas Score
  • 151 kmFarthest ridge
  • 16Peaks in view
  • 578 mAltitude

Dallol

Ethiopia · 81 km

  • 89Viewyas Score
  • 153 kmFarthest ridge
  • 8Peaks in view
  • -91 mAltitude

See the guide

Nabro Volcano

Eritrea · 115 km

  • 77Viewyas Score
  • 249 kmFarthest ridge
  • 6Peaks in view
  • 1,852 mAltitude

See the guide

Emba Soira

Eritrea · 176 km

  • 89Viewyas Score
  • 232 kmFarthest ridge
  • 9Peaks in view
  • 2,989 mAltitude

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name and typeWikidata (Q903) · CC0
SunJ. Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms
Peaks in viewPeakyas (Wikidata, CC0)
Panorama and altitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-90 / GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
CloudsNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Sister atlasesPeakyas, Darkskyas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit
viewpointsViewyasEvery viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.You are here
birdwatchingBirdyasEvery bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit forestsForestyasEvery forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Visit