--- title: "Top 10 Things To Do in Algeria (City Guides) | Wimup" description: "Browse Wimup's Top 10 guides across Algeria: Algiers, Tipasa, Constantine, Oran and more cities. When to go, what to eat, and how the desert half works." url: https://wimup.com/country/algeria type: Country guide updated: 2026-10-22 publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com) --- # Top 10s across Algeria **The largest country in Africa**, and almost all of it is Sahara. The 1,600 kilometres of Mediterranean coast at the top carry the cities, the Roman ruins and the vineyards, and the desert behind them holds rock art older than the pyramids. ## Quick answer Give **Algiers** three nights for the Casbah and the Bardo, with a day at **Tipasa**, the Roman city on the sea an hour west. East lie **Béjaïa**, the Kabylie mountains and **Constantine** on its gorge, with **Djémila** and **Timgad** in reach. West is **Oran** for raï and beaches, then **Tlemcen**. The south is a separate trip: **Ghardaïa** and the M'zab valley, then **Djanet** and **Tamanrasset** by air with a licensed agency. **April, May, October and November** suit the north. The Sahara is for winter. ## Quick facts - **Best months:** Apr · May · Oct · Nov - **Ideal length:** 10–14 days - **Budget per day:** $45–95 - **Language:** Arabic & Tamazight - **Getting around:** Domestic flights & trains - **3** City guides - **47,000,000** People - **0** Video guide - **7** UNESCO sites Algeria splits cleanly into three trips. The north is the coast: Algiers on its bay, the Roman seaside city of Tipasa, the Ottoman ports of Béjaïa and Annaba, and Oran further west. Behind it the Tell Atlas and the Kabylie mountains rise within an hour of the sea, and the Aurès and the M'zab valley sit at the edge of the plateau. Then the Sahara starts, and the scale changes: Timimoun, Djanet and the Tassili n'Ajjer are domestic flights rather than drives, and the desert regions are travelled with a licensed agency rather than independently. Visas come from a consulate before departure, not on arrival, so an Algerian trip is planned further ahead than most. ## 3 Algeria city guides 1. [Algiers](https://wimup.com/city/algiers.md): Africa · 10 picks 2. [Oran](https://wimup.com/city/oran.md): Africa · 10 picks 3. [Constantine](https://wimup.com/city/constantine.md): Africa · 10 picks ## Know before you go - **Population:** 47,000,000 - **Area:** 2,381,741 km² - **Density:** 19.7 / km² - **Capital:** Algiers - **Major cities:** Algiers, Oran, Constantine, Annaba, Blida - **Tourism board:** Official site - **Currency:** Algerian dinar (DZD) Algeria runs on cash. Cards work at airline offices, larger hotels and some city restaurants. City machines take Visa and Mastercard. The dinar cannot legally be carried in or out. - **Language:** Arabic and Tamazight Arabic and Tamazight are official. The street speaks darja, Algerian Arabic, and Kabyle in the mountains east of Algiers. French is everywhere. English is thin outside tourism. - **Calling code:** +213 Mobilis, Djezzy and Ooredoo sell SIM cards on sight of a passport. Coverage is good in the north and thin in the deep south, where agencies carry satellite phones. - **Power:** 230V, 50Hz, plug types C and F The round two-pin sockets used across most of continental Europe. UK and US plugs need an adapter, and US devices need to handle 230 volts. - **Emergency:** 17 police, 14 civil protection Police on 17 and civil protection, which covers fire and ambulance, on 14. The gendarmerie answers 1055 and is the right call on rural roads and outside town limits. - **Time zone:** CET (UTC+1), no daylight saving Algeria holds UTC+1 all year, so it matches Paris in winter and sits an hour behind it in summer. Sunset is early for the latitude in June, which is worth knowing when planning a desert evening. - **Visa:** Required in advance for most passports No visa on arrival. EU, UK, US, Canadian and Australian passports apply at a consulate first, with bookings or an agency invitation, a return ticket and proof of funds. Allow weeks. - **Getting around:** Domestic flights, trains and shared taxis Air Algérie and Tassili Airlines fly from Algiers to the northern cities and to Ghardaïa, Tamanrasset and Djanet. Trains run Algiers to Oran and Constantine. Shared taxis fill the gaps. - **Desert travel:** Booked through a licensed agency The Tassili n'Ajjer and the Hoggar are national parks reached from Djanet and Tamanrasset, visited only with a licensed operator and a local guide. Book flight and agency together. - **Tipping:** Round up, in cash Not obligatory, always appreciated. Round up in cafés, leave five to ten per cent for a good meal, and tip desert guides and drivers well. Always in cash. - **UNESCO sites:** Seven, from Roman cities to Saharan rock art Al Qal'a of Beni Hammad was listed in 1980 and Tassili n'Ajjer in 1982. The rest are Djémila, Timgad and Tipasa, the M'zab valley villages and the Casbah of Algiers. - **Friday:** The weekend is Friday and Saturday Offices, banks and many shops close, and Friday lunch is the couscous meal families eat at home. Museums and sites keep their own hours, so check before building a Friday around one. ## When to visit - **Jan** (good) - **Feb** (good) - **Mar** (good) - **Apr** (best) - **May** (best) - **Jun** (good) - **Jul** (peak) - **Aug** (peak) - **Sep** (good) - **Oct** (best) - **Nov** (best) - **Dec** (good) ## Fun fact Algeria became the largest country in Africa in 2011, when South Sudan's independence split Sudan in two. At 2,381,741 square kilometres it is also the tenth largest in the world, and roughly four fifths of it is desert. ## Stereotypes, sorted out - **Myth:** Algeria is closed to visitors **Reality:** It is bureaucratic, not closed. The visa is a consular application with real paperwork and a wait of weeks, and that is the whole barrier. Beyond it are Roman cities you will have to yourself and a tourism industry small enough to be pleased you came. - **Myth:** It is all sand **Reality:** Four fifths of it is desert and the other fifth holds almost everyone. The north is Mediterranean, with vineyards, cork forests, ski slopes above Blida and 1,600 kilometres of coast. The Sahara is mostly rock, and the Hoggar is volcanic mountains past 2,900 metres. - **Myth:** Nothing Roman survives outside Italy and Tunisia **Reality:** Timgad is a complete Roman colonial town on a grid, laid out for Trajan's veterans and abandoned early enough to stay legible. Djémila keeps its forum and arch in the hills, and Tipasa runs Phoenician, Roman and Byzantine ruins along the sea. Three of Algeria's seven UNESCO sites are Roman. - **Myth:** Everyone speaks French, so language is no problem **Reality:** French will get you a long way and it is not the country's language. Arabic and Tamazight are the official pair, darja is what people actually speak, and Kabyle is the first language of the mountains east of Algiers. A few words of any of them changes the temperature of an encounter. - **Myth:** You can see the Sahara on a day trip **Reality:** Ghardaïa is a domestic flight from Algiers and Djanet is nearly 2,000 kilometres south of the capital. The desert is a separate leg of the trip with its own season, its own operator and its own aircraft, and treating it as an add-on is how people end up seeing an airport. - Hospitality is an obligation here. An invitation to eat is meant, and refusing outright reads as a rebuff, so accept and eat lightly if you must. - Friday and Saturday are the weekend. Friday lunch belongs to family and couscous, and the working week runs Sunday to Thursday. - Cash runs the country. Carry small notes, because change for a large one is a real problem in a café or a taxi. - Ask before photographing people, and skip it entirely around government buildings, ports, airports and military sites. - Dress is relaxed in central Algiers and Oran and more conservative in smaller towns and in the south. Covered shoulders and knees keep every door open, and mosques ask for the same. - Alcohol is legal and low-key. It is sold in licensed shops and served in some hotels and restaurants, and it is not part of an ordinary meal out. - Greetings take time. Handshakes, a question about the family and a second question about your journey come before business, and cutting to the point reads as brusque. ## Famous Algerian faces - **Emir Abdelkader**: Resisted the French conquest from 1832 and saved thousands of Damascus Christians in 1860. - **Saint Augustine**: Bishop of Hippo, now Annaba, and author of the Confessions. Born in 354 at Souk Ahras. - **Albert Camus**: Born at Dréan in 1913, Nobel laureate in 1957. The Outsider and The Plague are set here. - **Assia Djebar**: Novelist and film-maker, the first writer from the Maghreb in the Académie française. - **Zinedine Zidane**: Son of Kabyle parents. Won the 1998 World Cup and coached three Champions League wins. - **Khaled**: Took raï out of Oran. Didi, in 1992, was the first Arabic-language hit across Europe. - **Yves Saint Laurent**: Born in Oran in 1936. Ran Dior at twenty-one and put women into the trouser suit. - **Riyad Mahrez**: Captained the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations winners. Premier League's best player in 2016. - **Massinissa**: United Numidia in the second century BC into a Berber state Rome had to negotiate with. - **Ahmed Ben Bella**: Independence leader and first president of the republic, from 1963 until deposed in 1965. - **Djamila Bouhired**: FLN militant of the Battle of Algiers, sentenced to death in 1957 and reprieved. - **Houari Boumédiène**: Ruled from 1965 to 1978, nationalised oil and gas and made Algiers a non-aligned capital. - **Kateb Yacine**: His Nedjma (1956) broke Algerian literature open. Later he wrote theatre in darja. - **Mohammed Dib**: Tlemcen novelist whose Algeria trilogy opened with La Grande Maison in 1952. - **Yasmina Khadra**: Pen name of army officer Mohammed Moulessehoul, taken from his wife to evade censors. - **Jacques Derrida**: Born at El Biar above Algiers in 1930. The philosopher of deconstruction. - **Cheikha Rimitti**: The mother of raï. Sang of drink and desire from the 1940s and was banned from radio. - **Idir**: A Vava Inouva, in 1976, took a Kabyle lullaby and Berber song around the world. - **Warda Al-Jazairia**: Paris-born to an Algerian father, a great voice of Arabic song for five decades. - **Rachid Taha**: Carte de Séjour's singer. His Ya Rayah plays at every North African wedding. - **Souad Massi**: Algiers songwriter whose Raoui (2001) set Algerian folk to acoustic guitar. - **Merzak Allouache**: Directed Omar Gatlato (1976) and Bab El-Oued City (1994), ordinary Algiers on screen. - **Rachid Bouchareb**: His Days of Glory (2006), on France's North African soldiers, won its cast a Cannes prize. - **Isabelle Adjani**: French actor with an Algerian father, the only five-time César winner for best actress. - **Hassiba Boulmerka**: Won Algeria's first Olympic gold in 1992 over 1500 metres, under death threats at home. - **Noureddine Morceli**: Three world 1500 metres titles and Olympic gold in Atlanta in 1996. - **Taoufik Makhloufi**: Won the 1500 metres at London 2012 and took two silvers at Rio four years later - **Rabah Madjer**: Backheeled Porto to the 1987 European Cup and played in the 1982 win over West Germany. - **Baya**: Painter born Fatma Haddad in 1931, exhibited in Paris at sixteen, admired by Picasso. - **Mohammed Racim**: Revived the Algerian miniature in the twentieth century and built a school around it. - **M'hamed Issiakhem**: Painter of the war generation and a founder of modern Algerian art. ## Must-try Algerian food - **Couscous**: The Friday national dish. Steamed semolina under lamb or chicken, vegetables and broth. - **Chorba frik**: Lamb and tomato soup thickened with roasted green wheat. It breaks the Ramadan fast. - **Rechta**: Algiers' festive dish. Hand-cut noodles under a chicken and turnip sauce with cinnamon. - **Dolma**: Vegetables stuffed with minced meat in a white sauce. Ottoman in origin, cooked weekly. - **Tajine zitoune**: Chicken or meatballs stewed with olives and mushrooms in a lemon and cinnamon sauce. - **Bourek**: Thin pastry cigars of meat, cheese or tuna, fried crisp. Sold by the tray in Ramadan. - **Mhadjeb**: Semolina flatbread folded over onion and tomato, griddled flat and eaten on the street. - **Chakhchoukha**: From the Aurès and Biskra. Torn rougag flatbread drowned in red lamb and chickpea stew. - **Karantika**: Oran's chickpea-flour custard, cut in slabs with cumin, in a baguette with harissa. - **Berkoukes**: Large hand-rolled semolina pearls in lamb and vegetable soup. A high-plateau winter dish. - **Mechoui**: Whole lamb turned slowly over embers until the skin crackles. The centrepiece of Aïd. - **Deglet Nour dates**: The amber, dry-fleshed date of the Tolga oases near Biskra, and Algeria's best known. - **Grilled sardines**: The coast's cheapest good lunch. Grilled over coals, eaten with bread, salt and lemon. - **Poisson au four**: Whole bream or bass baked on potatoes with oil, garlic and chermoula, on every seafront. - **Fried calamari**: Floured, fried hard and served with lemon and harissa. Usually the first plate to arrive. - **Zlabia**: Batter coils fried and soaked in syrup. In Ramadan the queues form for Boufarik's. - **Makroud**: Semolina and date paste diamonds, fried and honeyed. Constantine and Biskra both claim it. - **Kalb el louz**: Semolina and almond cake soaked in orange-blossom syrup. Ramadan's dessert, sold warm. - **Lham lahlou**: Sweet meat. Lamb with prunes, cinnamon and orange-blossom water, served as its own course. - **Qahwa and mint tea**: Coffee fills northern cafés at four in the afternoon. Mint tea takes over as you go south. - **Selecto**: Apple and caramel soda from Hamoud Boualem, an Algiers firm founded in 1878. ## By theme - [Hidden gems of Africa](https://wimup.com/hidden-gems-africa.md) ## FAQs ### Do you need a visa for Algeria? Almost certainly, and you need it before you fly. There is no visa on arrival at Algiers, Oran or Constantine, and EU, UK, US, Canadian and Australian passport holders all apply at an Algerian embassy or consulate. The file usually wants confirmed accommodation or an invitation from a licensed Algerian agency, a return ticket and proof of funds, and processing takes weeks. Start it before you book anything you cannot change. ### When is the best time to visit Algeria? April, May, October and November for the north, when the coast and the Roman sites are warm and the rain has not settled in. For the Sahara, go from November to February, when days are clear and mild and nights are properly cold. Avoid July and August inland, with temperatures past 40°C and the whole coast at capacity. ### How many days do you need in Algeria? Ten to fourteen. Three nights in Algiers with Tipasa as a day trip, then a choice: east to Constantine, Djémila and Timgad, or west to Oran and Tlemcen. Adding the Sahara means four or five days on top, because Djanet or Tamanrasset is a flight each way and the good part starts once you are out of town. ### Can you travel independently in Algeria? In the north, yes. Trains, coaches, shared taxis and hire cars all work between the coastal cities, and the Roman sites are ordinary day trips. The desert is different: the southern national parks are visited with a licensed operator and a local guide, which is how the permits, the vehicles and the fuel actually get arranged. Check your own government's travel advice on the border areas before fixing a route. ### Is Algeria expensive? No, and cash is the reason to plan. Food, transport and museum entry are cheap by European standards, while hotels in Algiers and organised desert trips are where the money goes. Cards are barely accepted outside airline offices and larger hotels, and the dinar cannot be bought before you arrive, so work out the whole trip in notes. ## Related countries - [Morocco](https://wimup.com/country/morocco.md) - [Egypt](https://wimup.com/country/egypt.md) - [All of Africa](https://wimup.com/africa) Part of [Africa](https://wimup.com/africa.md) ## Sources - [Tourism board](https://www.mta.gov.dz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Visa](https://www.mfa.gov.dz/services-for-foreigners/entry-visa-to-algeria?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.