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Algiers, Algeria, top 10 things to do (Wimup travel guide)
▶ Video · Best of Algiers
Video guide · 16:26
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Top 10AfricaAlgeria

Top 10 Things To Do in Algiers

Country
Algeria
Best months
Apr · May · Sep · Oct
Population
~3M
Language
Arabic and Tamazight are official
Budget / day
$45–95
Quick answer

Three days covers Algiers, four if you want the coast. Give the first to the Casbah: start at the citadel and walk downhill to the Ketchaoua Mosque and Place des Martyrs, then out to Bastion 23. Day two is the wider city: the National Museum of Antiquities, the Jardin d'Essai, and Maqam Echahid at the end of the afternoon. Day three goes east to Djamaa el Djazaïr and north to Notre-Dame d'Afrique. A fourth day is Tipasa.

Best of Algiers

▶ Video guide

Algiers climbs. The city rises off its bay in tiers and each tier belongs to a different century: the Ottoman medina at the top, the arcaded boulevards the French cut through the bottom of it, and independence-era concrete on the ridges above. Algerians call it Alger la Blanche, and from the water the name still holds.

The 10 best things to do in Algiers

Walk down through the Casbah, Algiers, Algeria
1

Walk down through the Casbah

Historic quarter· Casbah of Algiers, Algiers 16000

The Casbah is not a monument, it is a lived-in hillside of about 50 hectares falling from the Ottoman citadel to the port in a single slope. UNESCO inscribed it in 1992 for the citadel, the old mosques and the Ottoman palaces, held together by a street pattern so dense that most of it is stairs. Come for the shape of the place rather than a checklist.

Time3 hr
CostFree to walk
Best atMorning
TipStart at the top by the citadel and walk down
↗ WebsiteMap
Djamaa el Djazair, Algiers, Algeria (Wimup)
2

Djamaa el Djazaïr, the Great Mosque of Algiers

Mosque· Mohammadia, on the bay east of the centre, Algiers

Inaugurated in February 2024 after sixteen years of construction, and the third-largest mosque in the world. The numbers are the point: a prayer hall for around 120,000 people, nearly 28 hectares of reclaimed ground facing the bay, and a minaret of 265 metres, the tallest anywhere.

Time1.5 hr
CostFree
Best atLate afternoon
TipDress modestly and expect to leave your shoes before the prayer hall
↗ WebsiteMap
Notre-Dame d’Afrique above Bologhine, Algiers, Algeria
3

Notre-Dame d’Afrique above Bologhine

Basilica· Chemin Notre Dame d’Afrique, Bologhine, Algiers

Begun in 1858 and finished in 1872, the basilica sits on a cliff 124 metres above the water, looking back across the bay. Neo-Byzantine, with a silver dome, 46 stained-glass windows and a choir facing southeast rather than east. Above the apse runs a prayer for the faithful and for Muslims alike.

Time1 hr
CostFree
Best atLate afternoon
TipIt is about 7 km from the centre
Map
Maqam Echahid, the Martyrs’ Memorial, Algiers, Algeria
4

Maqam Echahid, the Martyrs’ Memorial

Memorial· El Madania, above the Jardin d’Essai, Algiers

Three concrete palm fronds lean together over an eternal flame on the ridge above the bay, each with a soldier at its outer edge for a stage of the independence struggle. It opened on 5 July 1982, twenty years to the day after independence. Underneath sit a crypt and the National Museum of the Mujahid.

Time1.5 hr
CostFree at the monument
Best atLate afternoon
TipThe Riadh El Feth centre is directly below the esplanade
↗ WebsiteMap
Jardin d’Essai du Hamma, Algiers, Algeria
5

Jardin d’Essai du Hamma

Botanical garden· Rue Hassiba Ben Bouali, Belouizdad, Algiers

The great garden began as an agricultural station: the marshes east of the city were drained in 1831 and a trial garden established the following year at El Hamma, whose name is Arabic for fever. What grew is two gardens in one wall, a formal French half of straight avenues and an English landscape half above it.

Time2 hr
CostTicketed at the gate
Best atMorning
TipThe Jardin d’Essai metro station puts you at the lower gate
Map
Musee national des antiquites et des arts islamiques, Algiers, Algeria (Wimup)
6

National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Arts

Museum· Parc de la Liberté, Algiers

Opened in 1897, this is the oldest museum in Algeria and in Africa. Two collections share the building. The antiquities half holds sculpture, bronzes and mosaics lifted from Roman Algeria, which is to say from some of the best-preserved Roman cities anywhere. The Islamic half gathers work from across the Maghreb.

Time1.5 hr
CostTicketed at the desk
Best atMorning
TipThe minbar of the Djamaa el Kebir is here and not in the mosque it was made for
↗ WebsiteMap
7

Palais des Raïs, Bastion 23

Ottoman palace· Bastion 23, Bab El Oued waterfront, Algiers

Three palaces and six houses on the shoreline, and the last surviving fragment of the lower Casbah. The complex grew out of a defensive work of 1576, and the palaces above it housed the raïs, the captains of the corsair fleet. Everything around it was cleared when the French cut a boulevard along the harbour.

Time1.5 hr
CostTicketed at the desk
Best atMorning
TipRead it as the missing bottom of the Casbah rather than as a separate palace
↗ WebsiteMap
Ketchaoua Mosque, Algiers, Algeria
8

Ketchaoua Mosque

Mosque· Place des Martyrs, lower Casbah, Algiers

The mosque at the foot of the Casbah has changed sides more than any building in the city. Raised in 1612, converted to a cathedral two years after the French conquest and a church for 130 years, gaining the twin towers that still front it. Algerians prayed here again in 1962, and a restoration returned it to use in 2017.

Time45 min
CostFree
Best atBetween prayers
TipThe staircase in front of it
Map
9

Musée national des Beaux-Arts d’Alger

Art museum· El Hamma, on the hill above the Jardin d’Essai, Algiers

Built between 1928 and 1930 on a wooded slope facing the bay, the fine arts museum holds more than 8,000 works across thirty-five painting rooms. Most was assembled by purchase and donation, which is why a museum in North Africa has Delacroix, Monet and Gauguin. The Algerian half is the reason to prefer it.

Time2 hr
CostTicketed at the desk
Best atMorning
TipIt stands directly above the Jardin d’Essai and shares its metro stop
Map
10

The Grande Poste and the downtown boulevards

Landmark· Boulevard Mohamed Khemisti, Alger-Centre, Algiers

The main post office of 1910 is the best building of the style Algiers invented for itself, the neo-Moorish arabisance that grafted horseshoe arches and tilework onto European construction. Algerian and Moroccan craftsmen did the woodwork, and the banking hall under the dome is still worth walking into.

Time1 hr
CostFree
Best atLate afternoon
TipThe Grande Poste is also a metro station and the natural hinge of any downtown walk: the Casbah is downhill from it, the museums and the memorial uphill.
Map

7 of the 10, mapped

Algiers · 7 spots
AllLandmarksMuseumsFoodFree

Algiers travel FAQ

Do I need a visa to visit Algeria?+
Almost certainly, and you need it before you fly. Algeria does not issue tourist visas on arrival, so most nationalities apply at a consulate in advance, usually with a passport valid for six months, photographs and a hotel booking. Processing commonly runs one to four weeks, so check with your nearest consulate before booking anything.
How many days do you need in Algiers?+
Three days is enough for the city itself: one for the Casbah and the lower medina, one for the museums and the Martyrs’ Memorial on the heights, and one for Djamaa el Djazaïr and Notre-Dame d’Afrique. Add a fourth for the Roman ruins at Tipasa, 70 km west along the coast.
Is Algiers walkable?+
The colonial centre is, and the Casbah can only be walked. Everything else is spread across steep hills and a long bay, so the metro, the tram, ETUSA buses and taxis do the rest. Notre-Dame d’Afrique, Djamaa el Djazaïr and the beaches all need a ride.
When is the best time to visit Algiers?+
April to June and September to October. Spring and autumn sit in the low to mid twenties Celsius with moderate rain, which is right for a city you walk uphill in. July and August are hot, humid and busy, and December to February is mild but wet.
What language do people speak, and will English get me by?+
Arabic and Tamazight are the official languages, Algerian darija is the everyday spoken form, and French is widely used in business, on signage and in menus. English is much less common outside hotels and younger circles, so a little French goes a long way.
Ottoman Algiers

Best monuments and landmarks in Algiers

Six survivors of the medina and the century that built over it, all within a walk of Place des Martyrs.
All 6 monuments and landmarks →
Lower Casbah

Djamaa el Kebir

Almoravid mosque · 1097

The oldest mosque in Algiers, built in 1097 and one of the few Almoravid buildings left standing anywhere. The front gallery is Ottoman.

Map
Djamaa el DjedidPlace des Martyrs

Djamaa el Djedid

Ottoman mosque · 1660

The New Mosque of 1660, built for the Hanafi rite of the Ottoman garrison, with a great white dome over a cross-shaped plan.

Map
Upper Casbah

Djamaa Sidi Ramdane

Medieval mosque

A small, plain mosque high in the medina and among the oldest in the city. A working neighbourhood mosque, which is why it is worth finding.

Map
Upper Casbah

The Citadel of Algiers

Ottoman citadel · 16th century

The fortress at the top of the medina, seat of the deys from 1817 and the place the regency ended in 1830. Access to parts of it comes and goes.

Map
Alger-Centre

Cathédrale du Sacré-Cœur

Modernist cathedral · 1956

A concrete parabola from 1956 by Paul Herbé and Jean Le Couteur, and the modernist counterweight to everything else here. The Catholic seat in Algiers.

Map
Place des MartyrsLower Casbah

Place des Martyrs

Public square

The square where the medina meets the colonial city, now a metro interchange. Excavations for the station uncovered Roman and Ottoman Algiers.

Map
What to see indoors

Best museums in Algiers

Six more collections beyond the antiquities and the fine arts, from Saharan prehistory to the war of independence.
All 6 museums →
Bardo National Museum of Prehistory and EthnographyMustapha Supérieur

Bardo National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography

Prehistory and ethnography · museum since 1930

A Moorish villa on the heights holding Saharan prehistory and the ethnography of the south. The house, with its tiled rooms and courtyard, is half the reason to come.

↗ WebsiteMap
Rue Larbi Ben M’hidi

MAMA, museum of modern and contemporary art

Modern art · opened 2007

Algerian and international art from 1945 onward, in a five-storey department store of 1901 to 1909. A museum since 2007, and a listed monument since 2008.

↗ WebsiteMap
El Madania

Musée national du Moudjahid

War of independence

The national museum of the war of independence, built into the base of the Martyrs’ Memorial. Weapons, archives, photographs and testimony from 1954 to 1962.

↗ WebsiteMap
Lower Casbah

Musée national des arts et traditions populaires

Crafts · in a 16th-century palace

Carpets, pottery, jewellery and embroidery in Dar Khedaoudj el Amia, a palace built around 1570. A national museum since 1987.

↗ WebsiteMap
Lower Casbah

Musée national de l’enluminure, de la miniature et de la calligraphie

Miniature and calligraphy

Illumination, miniature painting and calligraphy in Dar Mustapha Pacha on Rue des Frères Mecheri, one of the grandest surviving houses of the medina.

Map
Upper Casbah

Musée Ali la Pointe

Memorial house · 1957

The reconstructed house in the upper Casbah where Ali la Pointe and three others were killed in 1957. Small, sobering, and entirely real.

Map
Where to eat

Best restaurants and cafes in Algiers

Old dining rooms, one revolutionary café and the terrace habit that runs the city’s afternoons.
All 6 restaurants and cafes →
140 Rue Didouche Mourad

El Djenina

Algerian · since 1968

Open since 1968 and fitted out as a copy of a Casbah palace: tiles, brass lamps, carved ceilings. The menu is the Algerian canon.

Map
Rue Bab El Oued

Dar Bab Azzoun

Algerian · rechta

Rechta under a vaulted ceiling in the old town, and the easiest place in Algiers to eat the city’s own dish without being invited into someone’s house.

Map
Rue Ben Messaoud

Caracoya

French

Stained-glass lanterns and a courtyard fountain around a French menu of escargots and entrecôte. The dressed-up dinner rather than the traditional one.

Map
Mustapha Supérieur

Le Bardo

Algerian and French · wine list

A short walk from the Bardo museum, with warm light, jazz and a list of Algerian wine. Worth knowing that the country still has a wine industry, and that it is drinkable.

Map
Milk BarPlace Emir Abdelkader

Milk Bar

Café and patisserie

A café on Place Emir Abdelkader, bombed in 1956 during the Battle of Algiers and long since restored. Tea and pastries on a terrace over the square.

Map
Place Port Saïd

Tantonville

Café · terrace

One of the oldest cafés in the city, on the garden square beside the national theatre. A coffee on the terrace is the most Algiers thing you can do.

Map
Where to base yourself

Best neighborhoods in Algiers

The six districts a visitor actually uses, from the working waterfront to the embassy hills.
All 6 neighborhoods →
Alger-CentreCentre

Alger-Centre

Downtown · walkable

The arcaded colonial grid above the port, with the Grande Poste at its hinge. Most hotels, most restaurants, and the only part of the city you can cross on foot.

Map
Bab El OuedNorth-west

Bab El Oued

Working quarter · seafront

The dense working-class quarter west of the Casbah, Algerian in character long before independence. The Trois Horloges junction is its centre.

Map
East

Belouizdad, El Hamma

Gardens and museums

The eastern flats below the ridge, holding the Jardin d'Essai, the fine arts museum and the national library. Well served by the metro.

Map
Heights

Hydra

Residential · embassies

The embassy district on the heights, with villas, gardens, good restaurants and the international hotels. The easiest landing for a first visit.

Map
El BiarHeights

El Biar

Residential · views

The neighbouring hill above Hydra, residential and green, with views back down over the whole bay. A place to stay rather than a place to sightsee.

Map
BologhineNorth

Bologhine

Coastal · below the basilica

North along the coast past Bab El Oued, under the cliff that carries Notre-Dame d’Afrique. Fishing harbour, football stadium and the road out to the western beaches.

Map
Getting to the water

Best beaches and coast in Algiers

Five stretches of the Algiers coast, from the promenade in the city to the resort beaches an hour west.
All 5 beaches and coast →
Mohammadia

Les Sablettes

Promenade and beach

The city's own seafront: a long reclaimed promenade east of the port with a beach, gardens and a big wheel. The only one you can reach on foot.

Map
Sidi FredjWest coast

Sidi Fredj

Marina and beach · 30 km west

A headland and marina 30 km west, with resort hotels, a walkable port full of cafés and the best sunsets close to the city.

Map
Staoueli

Club des Pins

Beach · resort area

The pine-backed sands next to Sidi Fredj, and the most manicured beach within reach of the capital. Access is controlled in parts, so check before setting out.

Map
ZéraldaWest coast

Zéralda

Seafood and beach · 30 km west

Further west again, and better known for its seafood restaurants and their sea-facing terraces than for the sand itself. Go for a long lunch as much as for a swim.

Map
East coast

Aïn Taya

Beach · 22 km east

The eastern alternative, 22 km out and about half an hour on a good day. Sandy coves and a local crowd through the summer season.

Map
What to bring home

Best markets and shopping in Algiers

Five places to spend money in Algiers, from craft workshops in the medina to the boulevard shopfronts.
All 5 markets and shopping →
Alger-Centre

Rue Didouche Mourad

Shopping street

The main shopping street of the colonial city, climbing from the Grande Poste. Clothes, bookshops and pastry counters behind French-era facades.

Map
Alger-Centre

Rue Larbi Ben M’hidi

Shopping street

The parallel boulevard, running past the MAMA museum. Shoes, jewellery and the older shops, and the easiest street on which to buy something without haggling for it.

Map
Bab El Oued

Marché de Bab El Oued

Produce market

The neighbourhood market by the Trois Horloges: produce, spices and the loudest hour of the Algiers morning. The shopping the city does.

Map
The Casbah workshopsCasbah

The Casbah workshops

Craft workshops

Carpenters, coppersmiths, weavers and jewellers still work out of ground-floor rooms in the medina lanes. Buy from the person who made it.

Map
El Madania

Riadh El Feth

Shopping and arts centre

The shopping and cultural centre built into the terraces below the Martyrs' Memorial: galleries, bookshops, cafés and the same view.

Map
Out of the city

Best day trips in Algiers

Five trips within a morning’s drive, two of them Roman and one of them alpine.
All 5 day trips →
TipasaTipaza

Tipasa

UNESCO site · 70 km west

A Roman seaside city 70 km west, inscribed by UNESCO in 1982, with Phoenician, Roman and Byzantine remains. The forum and the basilicas sit right on the water.

↗ WebsiteMap
Sidi Rached

The Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania

Royal tomb · near Tipasa

Kbor er Roumia, a stone drum 60 metres across ringed by sixty engaged Ionic columns, raised for the Mauretanian royal house. Twenty kilometres east of Tipasa.

Map
CherchellTipaza province

Cherchell

Roman town and museum · 100 km west

The Roman Caesarea, capital of Mauretania Caesariensis, 100 km west. Its museum holds one of the best collections of Roman sculpture in the country.

Map
Blida

Chréa National Park

Cedar forest · 50 to 70 km south

Atlas cedar, holm oak and Barbary macaques on the mountain above Blida. The little ski station at 1,500 metres is the only one in northern Algeria.

Map
BlidaBlida

Blida

Market town · 50 km south

The market town at the foot of the Atlas, with orange groves, a Turkish-era centre and the road up to Chréa. Usually the approach rather than the destination.

Map
What's on

Festivals & annual events in Algiers (2026)

Time your trip around the city's biggest dates.
12 January

Yennayer

The Amazigh new year, a public holiday since 2018. Families cook a special couscous and the centres put on Berber music.

Moveable

Mawlid en-Nabaoui

The Prophet’s birthday, and the night Algiers households eat rechta. The Casbah is lit and the patisseries sell out early.

Moveable

Ramadan

Daytime is quiet and many restaurants close until sunset, after which the city stays out until two or three.

Moveable

Aïd el-Fitr

The end of Ramadan, and two days on which almost everything closes. Book transport well ahead: the whole country travels.

5 July

Independence Day

Algeria marks independence from France on 5 July 1962. Maqam Echahid, inaugurated on the date in 1982, is the focus.

October

Festival International de la Bande Dessinée d’Alger

The city's international comics festival, run by the Ministry of Culture. Algerian and visiting artists, with signings.

Late October to early November

Salon International du Livre d’Alger

One of the largest book fairs in Africa, held at the Palais des expositions each autumn.

1 November

Revolution Day

The anniversary of the start of the war of independence in 1954. A public holiday, with ceremonies at the Martyrs’ Memorial.

Getting around

Algiers transport & airports

How to arrive and move around the city.
ALG

Houari Boumediene Airport

The main international gateway, 20 km east of the centre. A rail station between the terminals links it to Agha in central Algiers, about 20 minutes end to end.

Map
Line 1

Metro

Africa's second metro after Cairo, open since 2011. Air-conditioned, cheap, and the one way across Algiers that the traffic above cannot slow down.

↗ Website
SETRAM / SNTF

Tram and suburban rail

The tramway follows the eastern bay out towards Dergana, and SNTF runs suburban trains along the coast plus intercity services to Oran and Constantine.

↗ Website↗ Website
ETUSA

Buses and taxis

ETUSA runs more than a hundred bus lines, including airport line 100. Yellow taxis are metered in principle, so agree the fare first. Carry cash.

↗ Website
Traditional food

Must-try dishes in Algiers, Algeria

The classics to order before you leave.
Rechta, Algiers (Wimup travel guide)

Rechta

Thin hand-cut noodles steamed like couscous, in a pale broth with chicken and turnip. The dish of Algiers.

Chorba frik, Algiers (Wimup travel guide)

Chorba frik

The soup that opens every meal through Ramadan: green cracked wheat, lamb, tomato, chickpeas and coriander.

Dolma, Algiers (Wimup travel guide)

Dolma

Vegetables hollowed out and stuffed with spiced minced meat and rice, then simmered in their own sauce.

Bourek, Algiers (Wimup travel guide)

Bourek

Cigars of thin pastry filled with minced meat, onion or cheese and fried to order. The standard starter.

Mhadjeb, Algiers (Wimup travel guide)

Mhadjeb

Semolina flatbread folded around cooked onion, tomato and pepper, griddled flat and handed over in paper.

Garantita, Algiers (Wimup travel guide)

Garantita

A baked chickpea-flour custard, cut into slabs and eaten in a split baguette with harissa and cumin.

Tadjine zitoune

Chicken or kefta braised with green olives and mushrooms in a pale, lightly cinnamon-scented sauce.

Kalb el louz

Semolina and almond cake soaked in orange-blossom syrup, sold by the slab. Ramadan's dessert, sold all year.

Algiers fact sheet

Algiers at a glance

The essentials worth knowing before you go.
Country
Algeria
Region
North Africa, on the Mediterranean coast
Population
Around 3 million in the city, about 4.3 million across the metropolitan area
Founded
A Phoenician trading post, then the Roman town of Icosium. Refounded as El Djazaïr in 944 by Bologhine ibn Ziri
Nickname
Alger la Blanche, the white city. In Arabic, El Bahdja, the joyous
Language
Arabic and Tamazight are official. Algerian darija is what you will hear, and French is widely spoken
Currency
Algerian dinar (DZD). Cash runs almost everything; card acceptance is limited to hotels and a few larger shops
Time zone
Central European Time (UTC+1), with no daylight saving
Calling code
+213, with 021 as the Algiers area code
Airports
Algiers Houari Boumediene (ALG), about 20 km east of the centre
Power
230 V, 50 Hz, plug types C and F
Emergency
17 for police, 14 for civil protection (fire and ambulance), 1055 for the gendarmerie
Ideal length
3–4 days
Getting around
Metro Line 1, the eastern tramway, ETUSA buses and taxis, with the centre walkable on foot
Tourism board
Official site

Interesting facts

  • The Casbah was inscribed by UNESCO in 1992, for its citadel, its old mosques and its Ottoman palaces above the bay.
  • Djamaa el Djazaïr, inaugurated in February 2024, is the third-largest mosque in the world, and its minaret at 265 metres is the tallest.
  • The Jardin d'Essai was created by decree in 1832 on drained marshland. Hamma is Arabic for fever, which the marsh was known for.
  • Algiers opened the second metro system in Africa, after Cairo, on 1 November 2011.
  • The National Museum of Antiquities, opened in 1897, is the oldest museum in Algeria and in Africa.

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