Aden was the capital of former South Yemen and nowadays it is Yemen's most important port city. The port had developed on a natural harbour and boasts modern facilities and an oil refinery.

There are many interesting sites in Aden:

• Several historical British churches
• The Zoroastrian Temple
• The Cisterns of Tawila that were used for fresh water catchment and storage in ancient times
• Sira Fort
• The Aden Minaret
• Little Ben, a small version of Big Ben
• The 19th century Landing Pier at Steamer Point
• The Palace of the Sultanate of Lahej, which nowadays houses the National Museum and boasts the largest collection of artifacts in all of Yemen, despite it being looted during the 1994 civil war.
• The Aden Military Museum
• The fortifications of Jebal Hadid and Jebal Shamsan
• Al-Aidaroos Mosque

There are many restaurants and hotels in Aden. The Crescent Hotel use to have numerous items on display from Queen Elizabeth's 1954 visit to Yemen, but many of them were destroyed in airstrikes.

Aden has numerous nice beaches, some of which include Lover's Bay Beach, Elephant Beach and Gold Beach. Blue beach is the most popular one.

The only road into Aden through the district of Crater is called Al-Aqba road. It used to boast an arched bridge that was constructed during the Ottoman Empire, but was removed by the British in 1963. You can still see the remains of the brickwork. A small scale replica of the bridge can be seen at the end of the Al-Aqba road intersection of AdenGate Model roundabout.