Algeria Packages/Deals & Travel Agents Near Me

Algiers

Algiers is the capital city of Algeria on the Mediterranean Coast. Travellers may visit some lovely beaches along the mediterranean cost, enjoy a number of outdoor activities, and enjoy the city's nightlife. Top attractions in Algiers includes ruins...

Categories: Algiers

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Annaba

Annaba is Algeria's fourth largest city, ringed by hills, and close to some good beaches, with an elegant colonial-period center. The Green Main Street, also known as the Cours de la Revolution, has a vibrant nightlife atmosphere. The horizon to ...

Categories: Annaba

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Batna

This is the city nearest the Roman ruins at Timgad. Other ruins in the area include Lambese, a Roman garrison town of the Third Augustan Legion. Batna itself (pop. 122,000) has little of interest, but intriguing hikes are possible in the cedar forest...

Categories: Batna

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Bechar

This former French Foreign Legion outpost is often a stopping point if you're driving to Tindouf or Taghit from the coast. There's not much to see in there except the ruined 12th-century fortified city of al-Qal'a of Beni Hammad with its thick earthe...

Categories: Bechar

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Bejaia

Bejaia is one of Algeria's most beautiful cities, situated between the sea, a cape and a mountain. The city itself with narrow streets never making a straight line, always climbing, is simply crowded. The city has less than 200,000 inhabitants, but t...

Categories: Bejaia

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Biskra

We think Biskra is one of the most beautiful Algerian oases. Used by the Romans, it has date palms and the Hammam Salhine health spa at Ad Poscinam. If all this sounds appealing, plan to stay at least two nights. Also see the El Kantar Gorge, the ter...

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Blida

This city (pop. 191,000) in the shadow of the Atlas Mountains is locally known for citrus groves and gardens. It's especially nice to visit during spring, when the orange blossoms are in bloom. Nearby is a ski resort at Chrea, which also provides goo...

Categories: Blida

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Bou Saada

Called the City of Happiness, Bou Saada has nice old streets, locally famous mosques (El Nekla and Ouled Attik) and a fortress from the Middle Ages. You can also spend time watching the various craftsmen at work. Plan to spend one night in this city ...

Categories: Bou Saada

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Constantine

Located in the mountainous area of northeastern Algeria, Constantine (pop. 450,000) looks quite impressive sitting atop a high cliff. The city's attractions are mostly historical—controlled by Romans, Byzantines and Arabs, Constantine was Algeria's f...

Categories: Constantine

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Djanet

This remote, isolated desert supply town is a small, but nice, oasis. The main attractions are well-preserved cave paintings and painted rocks, and the countryside consists of beautiful ravines and gorges. 1,200 mi/1,900 km southeast of Algiers.

Categories: Djanet

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Djemila

These ruins of a Roman military town are impressive, including a forum, temples, basilicas, triumphal arches and houses. The museum at Djemila holds beautiful mosaics—well worth a look. An international festival of music and dance is held in the Roma...

Categories: Djemila

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El Golea

Swaying palm trees frame this classic Saharan oasis. El Golea is really quite beautiful, with its tree-lined boulevards and even an old French Foreign Legion post. The city market is in a courtyard, and among the fruits and vegetables are magnificent...

Categories: El Golea

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El Oued

One of the most interesting oases in the Sahara, El Oued is noted primarily for its distinctive architecture. It seems as if every building has a dome on it—even the stalls in the marketplace. As a bonus, the town is clean and orderly. See the small ...

Categories: El Oued

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El-Kala

El-Kala is one of the most beautiful seaside towns along the Algerian coast. Around the picturesque village is a a forest and mountains climbing slowly up from the town. El-Kala is known for it's ecotourism and offers a several exellent&nbs...

Categories: El-Kala

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Ghardaia

As you approach it, this 11th-century oasis town looks somewhat like San Francisco: It's built on hills, its mosque (constructed in the Sudanese style) is reminiscent of Coit Tower, there are few trees on the streets, and the buildings are painted in...

Categories: Ghardaia

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Grand Erg

This colorful and impressive sand sea covers most of central Algeria. The Grand Erg is divided into two major regions: the western (Chech and Iguidi) and the eastern. Clustered around the edges of the Erg are a number of small oases; we recommend vis...

Categories: Grand Erg

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In Salah

Once the site of a major slave market, today this unattractive oasis in central Algeria produces millions of dates, but it is mostly seen by travelers as a stopping point on the way through the desert. If you're en route to/from Tamanrasset, you'll w...

Categories: In Salah

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Laghouat

This major oasis is one of the first reached by southbound travelers as they leave the coastal cities (it's located in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains). Plan on stopping one night to visit its beautiful garden, the El Attik Mosque and the main m...

Categories: Laghouat

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M'Zab

This colorful valley region has five ksour (fortified towns): Ghardaia, Beni Izguen, Melika, Guerrara and El Atteuf. The villages offer a glimpse of traditional life with their pyramid-shaped mosques, small souks (markets) and winding streets. If th...

Categories: M'Zab

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Oran

Oran is a major mediterranean port city with a fascinating cultural past. The city has been influenced by traditional Spanish, French, and Islamic architecture, and is truly a city of blended cultures. Visitors may explore ethnographic...

Categories: Oran

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Ouargla

Located 150 mi/240 km southeast of Ghardaia, the oasis of Ouargla was once an important stop for caravans and nomadic people. Today, it consists largely of oil and gas refineries, though the ramparts built of crisscrossed palm trees are interesting t...

Categories: Ouargla

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Sahara Desert, Algeria

Occupying most of Algeria, this fascinating and exciting region should be visited by everyone at some point in a lifetime. There are three primary routes that can be considered: RN1, which runs from Algiers to Tamanrasset and is by far the most popul...

Categories: Sahara Desert Algeria

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Saoura

This region in the western Grand Erg is adjacent to both Morocco and Mauritania. It's fairly difficult to reach even the main towns in this area because there aren't many roads. Tindouf is most easily visited from southeastern Morocco. It's also the ...

Categories: Saoura

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Setif

Set midway between Algiers and Constantine, Setif (pop. 187,000) is an ideal place to stay when you're visiting the nearby Roman ruins of Mila and Djemila. 60 mi/100 km northwest of Constantine.

Categories: Setif

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Taghit

Taghit is a quintessential oasis. Huge orangish-red dunes surround the town, date palms line a riverbed, and the pace is definitely relaxed. Nearby is another picture-perfect oasis, Beni Abbes. 60 mi/100 km south of Bechar.

Categories: Taghit

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Tamanrasset

Tamanrasset lies at an elevation of 4,500 ft/1,400 m in a region crossed by nomadic Tuareg tribesmen. It is, quite literally, the end of the road: From this point south, you must follow tire tracks in the sand. As romantic as all this may sound, the ...

Categories: Tamanrasset

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Tassili N'Ajjer National Park

Some consider Tassili, with its breathtaking scenery, to be one of the wonders of the world. Seldom seen by visitors, this phenomenal area adjacent to the Libyan border is actually a huge sandstone plateau with deep canyons and gorges, petrified fore...

Categories: Tassili N'Ajjer National Park

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Tigzirt

This small fishing port has ruins of a pagan temple from the third century and a Christian basilica from the sixth century. The beach, sad to say, is rocky. 70 mi/110 km east of Algiers.

Categories: Tigzirt

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Timgad

Timgad is an impressive area of Roman ruins. Begun in the first century by the emperor Trajan, the site was one of the most developed on the fringes of the Roman Empire. Thamugadis finally fell into disuse and lay buried for more than a thousand year...

Categories: Timgad

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Timimoun

On the edge of the Grand Erg, this red-sandstone town and the surrounding area offer an opportunity to see pink (actually, yellowish-pink) sand dunes. The local irrigation system, with water coming from ancient buried pipes, is also interesting. Othe...

Categories: Timimoun

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Tipasa

This coastal town boasts Phoenician, Roman, early Christian and Byzantine ruins, but the main attractions are good beaches and tourist facilities. There are more Roman ruins in the nearby town of Cherchell. 40 mi/60 km west of Algiers.

Categories: Tipasa

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Tizi-Ouzou

This city (pop. 300,000) offers beautiful scenery and the nearby Roman ruins of Dellys, Azzefoun and Tigzirt. Tizi-Ouzou also has the highest Berber population in the country. 60 mi/100 km east of Algiers.

Categories: Tizi-Ouzou

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Tlemcen

A pleasant walled city in northwestern Algeria, Tlemcen (pop. 146,000) has nice plazas with large cafes, interesting stores, a museum, a pretty port, a large mosque, the Mansourah Tower and an old section that's delightful to walk through. There's a ...

Categories: Tlemcen

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Situated between Morocco and Tunisia on the Northern coast of Africa, Algeria is nearly three times the size of Texas. The country has a green coast, beautiful mountains, alluring but mostly dormant or extinct volcanoes and breathtaking oases. It also has a people who are of Berber origin and who have a strong and fascinating sense of cultural identity.

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Algeria

Today, there is a glimmer of hope in terms of travel in Algeria. Although the violent civil conflict that raged through much of the 1990s has effectively ended, the country is still faced with a range of social problems and a lingering, less than favorable reputation. Security is still an issue, but the dangers are not as indiscriminate as they once were. Travelers with an adventurous streak will find a fascinating North African culture, shaped by one of the world's most alluring landscapes—the Sahara Desert.

Geography

Algeria is the second-largest country in Africa, after Sudan. Most of its land is desert, yet only a small fraction of the population lives in a scattering of oases. The cities in the northern part of the country, where the overwhelming majority of people live, are quite a contrast to the desert—they're almost European in character—and the only sand you'll find near the cities is along the 750-mi/1,200-km Mediterranean coastline, which also has rocky coves.

History

Cave paintings in eastern Algeria document human existence there as far back as 6,000 years ago. The artwork also portrays a landscape of grasslands rather than desert. Over the subsequent millennia, Phoenicians, Romans, Vandals, Ottoman Turks and Spaniards invaded and occupied parts of what is now Algeria. The Arab invasions (AD 800-1100), however, had the strongest and most lasting effect on the people whose descendants now populate the country. That influence, coupled with the effects of French colonization (1830-1962), explains much about modern Algeria.

During much of the 1990s, however, it was a culture at war with itself. After the government canceled the result of elections in 1991 that would have brought Islamic leaders to power, Islamic extremists and the Algerian government engaged in a civil conflict fought not on battlefields, but in city streets and rural markets and on buses and trains. Midnight massacres of entire villages were everyday events. This terrorist version of war spared no one—foreign journalists, tourists and ordinary Algerians were all caught in the crossfire—and thousands of people died.

Although the government and extremists have called a truce, some cases of political violence, and a very strong government reaction to it, still occur. More debilitating, though, is the economic aftermath of the political instability. The country is racked by unemployment, inflation, a burgeoning black market, enormous foreign debt and a crippling budget deficit. Additional pressures are caused by the fact that two-thirds of the country's population is under the age of 30. And with the population doubling every 30 years (one of the world's highest growth rates), the housing shortage is also critical.

Snapshot

Algeria's foremost attractions are desert oases, eerie mountain scenery, spas, skiing, archaeology, old fortresses (ksour), culture and beaches.

If you think Algeria's recent violent past and current social problems may prevent you from having a relaxed, enjoyable time there, then you might want to consider a trip to Morocco or Tunisia instead.

Potpourri

Rai is a catchy Algerian pop music that incorporates traditional sounds with high-tech jazz, rock, funk, reggae and Latin elements. To sample the music, look for recent recordings by Fadela & Saraoui, Khaled or Cheb Bilal.

Spain, France and Italy purchase approximately one-third of their natural gas from Algeria.

Algerian-born, Nobel Prize-winning author Albert Camus set his novel The Plague in Oran.

There is less bargaining in Algeria than in other North African countries, so check to see what the local residents are doing before offering less than a marked price.

The majority of Algerians are of Arab or mixed Arab-Berber ancestry. Ethnic Berbers make up 17% of the population and maintain a strong separate identity.

Berber? Actually, it's not that straightforward. There are several sub-groups, including the Kabylie and Chaouia, who refer to themselves as Amazigh (plural: Imazighen). The Tuareg, also known as the "blue people of the desert" because of their indigo blue head coverings and robes, are more nomadic and live mostly around the Hoggar region in southeastern Algeria. The Mozabites are a very small group of Berbers who live around Ghardaia.

Far from being monotonous, the desert scenery changes daily as you drive through it—one day flat and sandy, the next rocky, the next mountainous, the next filled with high sand dunes.

There are many forms of purdah (the coverings Muslim women wear) in Algeria. In the south, if you see women on the streets at all, you'll see them covered in white cloth folded so that only one eye shows. As you move farther north, you'll begin to see two eyes, then simply a veil. In the northern cities, women may have no covering on their faces at all and wear Western clothing.

Weekends begin Thursday afternoon and last through Friday.

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