The capital Djibouti Ville can boast a beautiful seafront, numerous good restaurants with French and Yemeni Cuisine and seafood of the highest quality; and with the new Kempinski hotel, worldclass accomodation. From the city you can reach the sandy islands, through a short boat trip, where you find facilities for diving and snorkling, or you can go fishing or swimming with the dolphins. And the local market is worth experiencing, not as much for the goods you can buy, but for the athmosphere.
Djibouti celebrated its 30th anniversary of independence from France last year and is comprised mainly of people of Issa and Afar origin. A trip to the town of Tadjoura, on the north of the Gulf of Tadjoura, is worthwhile. Not as much for the town itself where the sultanate of Tadjoura can be found, and it hosts a good beach resort, but for the road there and what you can see on the way.
Lac Asal, a saltlake 153 meters under sea level, is a marvelous experience, but be braced for the heat which can reach the upper 40s. You can walk on the solid salt or even drive on it and the colours of white and green/turquoise set against the volcanic landscape and mountains surrounding the lake, is worth the visit. One of the wonders of nature. Here salt is extracted and exported by camel still, although more mechanized methods are now also in use.
At Le Ghoubet beach a swim in the Gulf of Tadjourah is refreshing in the heat and also gives you a nice view of the two beatifully scaped round islands, while nearby the African continent has started a new process of splitting apart; at a centimeter or two a year it will take a while but the deep rift is worth visting. Roads are good and through the black volcanic landscape or through the desert landscape, camels emerge. Camels, still a sign of wealth for the nomadic Djiboutians, Afar or Issa.