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Algeria Cultural Tours & Adventures

From three-day itineraries to Ghardaia to three-week treks across virgin desert, here are some of Expert Algeria's favourite Saharan circuits:

From Tamanrasset to Djanet

Waving goodbye to the red-walled desert town of Tamanrasset, we traverse the Hoggar and unravel the mysteries of the deepest Tassili.

Essendilene by Camel

We will navigate the Tassili - "plateau of the rivers" in Arabic - by camel, spending six nights under the Saharan stars and visiting the awe-inspiring desert landscapes around Essendilene.

Crocodiles and Giraffes in the Algerian Sahara

From the white-washed oasis of Djanet, we range across the Tassili's intoxicating landscape of palm groves, wadis and dunes by camel and on foot.

From the Mediterranean to the Sahara

The northern Sahara includes the walled town of Beni Isguen, habitually closed to outsiders, and El Oued, the "town of a thousand domes".

Roman Algeria and the Deep South

After exploring the ancient remains of Roman Algeria, dive into the desert region known as the Tassili, including Djanet and Tadrart with its lofty dunes and beguiling rock formations.

ROMAN ANTIQUITIES TOURS

Roman Algeria is an archaeologist's paradise, with Djemila, Timgad and Tipasa - just three of Algeria's UNESCO World Heritage sites - ranking amongst the finest in the ancient world.

Roman Algeria

From Tipasa, lining the shores of the Mediterranean, to the furthest limits of the Roman empire in the northern Sahara.

Roman Algeria and the Deep South

Before tasting the Sahara, visit the "Pompeii of Africa", and Djemila, "one of the world's most beautiful Roman ruins" according to UNESCO.

Best of Algeria

The Roman highlights of this tour include Djemila, Timgad and Tipasa as well as smaller gems such as Tiddis and Tebessa.

Unknown UNESCO-protected tomb just outside Tipasa

Stunning rock formations in the desert in southern Algeria

Customised Algeria Tours, Holidays and Itineraries

Expert Algeria's cultural and historical tours range across Algeria from the Mediterranean coast to the Sahara desert. Expert Algeria can devise tailor-made guided tours, holidays and itineraries on virtually any theme, from Roman Algeria to Albert Camus, and from the Kingdom of the M'Zab to a long weekend in the Algerian capital, Algiers.

Below you will find a small sample of some of the cultural, historical and adventure itineraries run by Expert Algeria.

Most of our circuits are made-to-measure: in other words, we tailor our itineraries to the interests of individual clients or travel operators. Please contact us on our email address info@expertalgeria.com for a specialised quote.

THE BEST OF ALGERIA GUIDED TOUR

Embracing no less than four UNESCO World Heritage sites, this ten-day tour travels along the Mediterranean and flies into the Sahara desert, with highlights including Djemila, "one of the world's great historical sights" (Lonely Planet) and the mesmerising capital city, Algiers. In the Saharan settlement of Ghardaia we will visit a walled desert town normally closed to foreigners, and Oran - the most Spanish of Algeria's cities - also awaits discovery alongside Tlemcen and Tipasa.

ANTIQUITIES OF ROMAN ALGERIA TOUR

Djemila, Timgad, Tipasa - Algeria's triumvirate of Roman UNESCO World Heritage sites ranks amongst the finest in the ancient world, as Cambridge University professor and BBC historian Mary Beard recently discovered when she took a tour of Roman Algeria. Tipasa, nestling undisturbed among palm trees on the shores of the Mediterranean, once served as an inspiration to Albert Camus.

THE ALGERIAN SAHARA: DJANET AND TADRART ESCORTED TOUR

This eight-day tour includes several nights camping under the Saharan stars surrounded by golden dunes, with visits to cave and rock carvings (from circa 12,000 BC to 100 AD) depicting cattle, giraffes and human beings... and we'll also hunt down the "Crying Cow" - a famous rock painting - and set out in search of the "Hedgehog", a sublime rock formation.

CROCODILES AND GIRAFFES IN THE ALGERIAN SAHARA

Giraffe engraving in the deep south of the Algerian Sahara

Algeria's mountainous Tassili region, bordering Niger to the south, is distinguished by its towering dunes of sand, its sheer-sided canyons and its beguiling "forests of rock". The Tassili - "plateau of the rivers" in Arabic - is an open-air treasure-trove of more than 15,000 rock carvings and cave paintings that depict pre-historic crocodiles, cattle and giraffes.

ALGERIA TOUR: FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN TO THE SAHARA

Ruins of Tipasa overlooking the Mediterranean in Algeria

This 15-day guided tour ranges across Algeria from the Mediterranean to the northern Sahara. Highlights include the UNESCO-designated casbah of Algiers; the Roman antiquities of Timgad, Djemila and Tipasa; the M'Zab Valley, where the walled town of Beni Isguen is normally closed to foreigners; and El Oued, the Saharan "town of a thousand domes" where we stay in a palace in the desert.

ALGIERS, ORAN, TIMIMOUN, GHARDAIA, HOGGAR

A minaret in Ghardaia set against an azure sky

Our itinerary starts on the shores of the Mediterranean in Algiers and Tipasa followed by a trip westwards to Oran before plunging into the Sahara. Taghit is considered to be one of the most beautiful oases in the desert, whilst Assekrem - literally "The End of The World" - located in the heart of the Hoggar, and boasts some of most sensational views in the whole of North Africa.

ESSENDILENE BY CAMEL ESCORTED TOUR

This circuit, beginning and finishing in Djanet, has been devised to embrace the Tassili's captivating range of Saharan landscapes, from its lofty dunes and sculptured rocks to its life-giving gueltas (water-holes and small lakes) lined with pink rose-bays. We will navigate the Tassili - "plateau of the rivers" in Arabic - by camel, spending six nights under the Saharan stars.

DISCOVER MEDITERRANEAN ALGIERS

Virtually unknown in the English-speaking world, Algiers is one of the Mediterranean's most mesmerising cities, a captivating mélange of faded French grandeur and neo-Moorish folly crowned by a legendary casbah. Were "Alger La Blanche" situated on the northern edge of the Mediterranean, it would be one of Europe's most sought after destinations.

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ALBERT CAMUS, SON OF ALGERIA

Our Albert Camus tour, originally designed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the great philosopher's birth, includes visits to many of the places associated with Camus' life and work, visiting scenes from, inter alia, l'Etranger, The Plague and The First Man. Ed Vallance, writing for the Independent newspaper, recently undertook a tour with Expert Algeria - why not take a look at his article Stranger than fiction in Algeria?

ALGERIAN SAHARA TOUR: FROM DJANET TO TAM

Our guided tour of Algeria's virgin Sahara starts in the red-walled desert town of Tamanrasset, deep in the Hoggar region, and ends in the Tassili, bordering Niger to the south. A beguiling array of landscapes awaits discovery as we traverse these remote Saharan expanses on foot and by jeep: towering dunes of sand, sheer-sided canyons and dense forests of rock. We will admire the region's palm-groves and wadis, and track down its lonely gueltas, the desert lakes and water-holes that sustain the Sahara's nomads. We will also seek out the tarout, the endemic Saharan cypress trees that are over 2,000 years old.

ROMAN ALGERIA AND THE DEEP SOUTH GUIDED TOUR

Desert oasis full of water in southern Algeria

This tour will take you from Algiers and Algeria's triumvirate of Roman UNESCO World Heritage sites - Djemila, Timgad and Tipasa - to the deepest expanses of the Algerian Sahara, where the Tassili region around Djanet, including Tadrart, is known for its lofty dunes, stunning rock formations and ancient paintings and engravings.

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF CHARLES DE FOUCAULD IN ALGERIA

Watch this space!

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST AUGUSTINE IN ALGERIA

Hippo Regius with the cathedral in the background

Watch this space!