Best of Algeria: Ten-Day Tour

This made-to-measure itinerary embraces no less than four of Algeria’s captivating UNESCO World Heritage sites; a scenic stretch of the Mediterranean coast west of the capital, Algiers; and the northern reaches of the Sahara
desert.

Highlights of our ten-day package include Djemila: “Put simply”, says the Lonely Planet, “Djemila is one of the world’s great historical sights”.

Algiers, by contrast, is a mesmerising Mediterranean city: a blend of faded French grandeur topped by a legendary casbah – from where it is a short hop to Albert Camus’s Tipasa.

In the Saharan settlement of Ghardaia, we will visit Beni Isguen, a walled desert town normally closed to foreigners, where the women are clad entirely in white with only one eye showing.


OranBack on the Mediterranean, Oran, the most Spanish of Algeria’s cities, await discovery – “One of North Africa’s most beautiful towns” according to the famous French guidebook, Petit Futé.

And in Tlemcen we will be honored guests at the Great Mosque, one of North Africa’s greatest Islamic landmarks.

This ten-day itinerary – accompanied by a qualified guide – is made-to-measure: let us know how many of you are thinking of coming to visit us – just you, with a friend or a larger group – and we’ll quote you a price.

Please contact us for further details of all our Algeria tours and itineraries.

Day 1
Arrive Algiers and transfer to hotel  in central Algiers for overnight stay followed by orientation tour of Algiers: UNESCO World Heritage casbah, Notre Dame d’Afrique, French colonial architecture.
Day 2
Depart Algiers westwards along the Mediterranean to the Tombeau de la Chrétienne (Mausoleum of Mauritania), Cherchell (archaeology museums) and UNESCO World Heritage site of Tipasa: amphitheatre, 4th century basilica, forum, museum. Continue along coastal road to Oran (Algeria’s second city) for overnight stay in town center.
Day 3
Tour of central Oran: Bey’s Palace, 14th century fort of Merinid Sultan Abou Hassan then drive to Tlemcen (former Berber stronghold): 13th century Mosque of Sidi Bel Hassan, Great Mosque, 13th century ruins of ancient Mansourah. Overnight at hotel in central Tlemcen.
Day 4
Return to Oran for further visits (fine colonial architecture) then by air to Algiers for two nights.
Day 5
Depart for UNESCO World Heritage site of Djemila: forum, temples, basilicas, triumphal arches, superb mosaic museum followed by remote mountain site of Béni Fouda (on ancient border of Numidia and Mauritania) before continuing to Constantine, “City of Bridges”, for two nights.
Day 6
Whole day in and around Constantine: museum, casbah, suspension bridge, Palace of Ahmed Bey followed by excursion into countryside: delightful Roman site of Tiddis(monumental gate, baptistery) perched on remote hillside.
Algiers
Day 7
Return to Algiers for departure by air to Ghardaia – one of five UNESCO-protected Saharan towns that occupy the M’Zab valley -for three nights at oasis just outside Beni Isguen.
Day 8
UNESCO World Heritage site of M’Zab Valley including Ghardaia: old town, market square, “four-fingered” mosque, tombs, date farm.
Day 9
Morning at leisure in palm grove followed by walled town of Beni Isguen (normally closed to foreigners), the most traditional of all the villages of the M’Zab Valley.
Day 10
Morning flight from Ghardaia to Algiers. Transfer to international terminal for return flight.