Kassala sits at the base of three jagged peaks, Taka, Totil, and Aweitila, rising suddenly out of otherwise flat country. Jabal Kasala (Kassala Mountain) rises 300 meters above the surrounding area with a small summit and steep slopes. The Taka range gives the city its visual signature. Beneath them lies Khatmiya, the old quarter, centered on the tomb of Seyyid Hassan, a local holy man whose buried dome has lost its roof to time. The Qur'anic school for boys beside the tomb still operates. Behind the shrine the lower slopes hold cafes built into the rock itself, the best coffee in Kassala served in tiny clay pots while the mountain's shadow moves across the afternoon. The famous well of Totil sits among these cafes, offering its promise of return to anyone who drinks.

Kassala's coffee tradition is specific and alive. The pot is a jebbana, a clay vessel with a long neck, sold cheaply in Souq an-Niswaan along with the wooden mortar and pestle for grinding the beans and the ginger. The cups are tiny. The defaults can be ordered by name. Bi dawa thagiil: with lots of ginger and cinnamon. Bi dawa khafiif: with a little ginger. Saliiga: without ginger. Shay kerkedeh: pink hibiscus tea. Shay bi laban: tea with hot milk. Shay faransi, literally French tea, is actually coffee with milk. Outside the cafes on Totil, where the full treatment comes with incense and popcorn, the tea stalls that fill the city serve their coffee in recycled Pif-Paf cans fashioned into smaller pots. Fuul, mashed fava beans, is the main dish, and the best stalls sit between Souq an-Niswaan and Hotel Hipton, where the beans come mixed with ta'amiya, cheese, tuna, or egg, and topped with sesame oil, garlic, and shumaar.

The Gash River runs through Kassala, but for most of the year it is a dry sandy riverbed used for evening football practice. When the rainy season arrives, water cascades down from the Eritrean mountains and charges through the city. The river is also dangerous, having flooded in 2003 and 2007 with significant damage. Across the Gash lies Sikka Hadiid, the old railway quarter. The original railway station stands empty and colonial, all impressive brickwork abandoned to time. Around it are British-built round brick huts that once housed railway workers and now house students. To the south, the Sawagi Janubiyya, the southern gardens, stretches across villages surrounded by mango and guava orchards along the Gash. A five-kilometer walk through the villages, turning left from the Gash bridge, takes you through the orchards to a point where, in the dry season, you can cross the riverbed toward the mountains and Khatmiya.

Kassala's markets are where the city's ethnic mosaic is most visible. Souq an-Niswaan, the women's souq, is where baskets and mats are made, along with coffee-making equipment and incense. Souq ar-Rashaida is where the Rashaida tribe gather to sell their bright red and black robes, worn by women, and colored jellabiyas for men. Rashaida people trace their heritage to the Arabian peninsula, and their distinctive dress draws attention even in a Sudanese market accustomed to variety. Many of Kassala's inhabitants are Hadendawa, a Beja group whose elaborate hair was once admired by Rudyard Kipling in the Fuzzy-Wuzzy poem, a description that is more exoticization than honor, but points to the longer history of Beja distinctiveness in eastern Sudan. The Hadendawa and other Beja groups have lived in these lands since antiquity.

Foreign travelers to Kassala need a permit, easily obtained in Khartoum or, as of March 2010, at the Permits Office across from Dandas Hotel with one photo, three copies of passport and visa, and a form filled out on location. The process was free and took about five minutes. Border crossings to Eritrea were possible through Souq Tesenei in the 'Aamiriya district when relations were open, which they have been and have not been over the years. The bus rides define how far Kassala is: seven hours to Khartoum, three to Gedaref, seven to Port Sudan. The better bus companies fill up early. Local minibuses go to Halfa al-Jadida, Khashm al-Ghirba, and Aroma. All of this has been complicated, and at times suspended, by the war that began in April 2023. What remains, for now, is a city of coffee pots and mountains, waiting to see who comes back to drink from the well.