Debark is three hours by paved road from Gondar, five to seven from Shire and Axum in the north over a stretch of road that is being improved in fits and starts. Buses from Gondar to Axum pass through but are usually full by the time they reach Debark; many trekkers arrange return tickets via Gondar in advance through their hotel or tour operator. A lot of people will hassle you in town. If you plan to hire a guide, do that early - a guide clears the unwanted attention and smooths the dozen small arrangements that a trek requires. Do not hire an unofficial guide off the street. Travelers who have done that routinely regret it. The park itself begins a short ride away at Buyit Ras or thereabouts, and the first day's walking usually ends at Sankabar Camp, about two hours on foot from the road.

The entrance fee for foreigners is 90 birr, plus 10 birr per day for camping (as of December 2014). The mandatory game scout costs 150 birr per day. A guide is 400 birr flat, regardless of group size. Cooks run 300 to 600 birr depending on group size. Mules cost 200 birr per day per mule, with another 200 for the mule man. Vehicle transfers are expensive - as of July 2019, USD 60 total from Debark to Simien Lodge and back, even in the low season. The good news is that only the entrance fee and the scout are technically required. Travelers willing to carry their own gear and hike the whole distance can do the park relatively cheaply. The bad news is that buses and trucks are not allowed to pick up hikers inside the park; they will sometimes offer anyway, for upwards of USD 200, to overlook the rule. Arrange transport out before entering, because the phones don't work once you're inside.

The standard short trek is three nights, four days. Day one: bajaj from Debark to Buyit Ras, then a couple of hours to Sankabar Camp. Bring your own water to Sankabar. Community lodges mean no tent required, but a warm sleeping bag is essential - days are shirtsleeve weather, nights drop below zero. Day two: walk to Geech Camp. There is a good stream about mid-morning where you can swim and wash clothes. The locals drink the water without boiling it; visitors should sterilize. Geech is above the treeline. The giant lobelias appear before you get there, strange tower plants unique to the East African mountains. Day three: walk to Chenek, passing Imet Gogo, the best viewpoint of the trek, and shortly after, the high point of the walk at just over 4,000 meters. Day four: return to Debark. If you can't catch a public bus from Chenek - which is on the main road - you walk 40 kilometers back along the road. This four-day loop delivers almost everything the Simien have to offer except the summit of Ras Dashen.

Ras Dashen, at 4,553 meters, is Ethiopia's highest peak. To summit and return without vehicle support takes nine days of walking. Organized trips are available - 2-day versions starting around USD 150 per person, up to 17-day expeditions that continue all the way to Lalibela. Companies based in Gondar, such as Simientrek, provide everything from tents and meals to cook staff and medical kits. Expect to pay no less than USD 100 per day per person for fully organized trekking. Among the sights along the way: the Northern Escarpment with its rock faces falling thousands of feet from summits like Inatye (4,070 meters) and Imet Gogo (3,960 meters). Troops of gelada baboons, a close relative of baboons that feeds almost entirely on grass, will come surprisingly close to tourists and scouts - but not to local villagers who graze stock in the park. The walia ibex lives only in the higher ranges. The Ethiopian wolf, the world's rarest canid, prowls the plateaus hunting mountain rodents.

Most trekkers use the community lodges spread through the park. They are simple - stone walls, thatched roofs, communal fires - but they exist thanks to a deliberate strategy of linking conservation benefits to local livelihoods. In Debark, the Simien Park Hotel on the main road south of the bus station is the standard option. A simple double room was 300 birr in July 2019. Giant Loblia Hotel was 400 birr for a double. Go directly to reception rather than letting someone "help" you find it, since helpers add their own margin. In the mountains, the self-proclaimed highest hotel in Africa - Simien Lodge at Buyit Ras, 3,260 meters - offers upmarket tukels (huts) for USD 135 to USD 183 depending on size, or a dorm bunk for USD 31. Limalimo Lodge, opened 2016 and developed with the local community, is fifteen minutes by car from Debark and has been widely praised for its food, views, and service.

Gondar, to the south, holds the royal castles of the old Ethiopian empire. Minibuses from Debark cost 75 birr. Axum, to the north, holds the stelae and the church that claims to keep the Ark of the Covenant. Both are within reach of a trek with reasonable planning. What you take away from the Simien is the rhythm of walking at 3,500 meters - the way altitude thins conversation, the way the light at dawn on the escarpment reshapes the world, the way gelada troops ignore you completely as they crop the alpine grass. Few places reward careful, slow movement through them as well as this park does.