What it is
A highland town at about 2,500m where the churches were not built but excavated — carved out of the volcanic rock from the top down, complete with roofs, windows, columns and drainage channels, and linked by trenches and tunnels.
Why go
Bete Giyorgis, the cross-shaped church standing in its own pit, is the photograph everybody knows, and it is better in person. But the real point is that these are working parish churches. Priests, deacons, pilgrims in white shammas, services before first light. Go at six in the morning and stand quietly at the back.
When to go
October to March. Genna, on 7 January, brings tens of thousands of pilgrims; it is the most intense time to be there and the hardest to find a bed. Practical notes: you remove your shoes at every church, the stone floors are cold, the tunnels are dark, and there is a lot of climbing over uneven rock. Two full days covers both church clusters without rushing.
Most people stay 2-3 nights.