EL OUED – CITY OF A THOUSAND DOMES

El Oued – baptised “the city of a thousand domes” by Isabelle Eberhardt – lies in the heart of the great Saharan sand sea known as the Grand Erg Oriental. 

About an hour south of Algiers by plane, El Oued is one of the most bustling and colourful towns to be found anywhere in the Algerian Sahara. The Friday camel market – not for the faint-hearted – is one of North Africa’s most extra-ordinary sights, an exotic, visceral mix of beast and man.

The dunes surrounding El Oued are home to verdant date oases (the ideal place for a picnic), enormous sand roses and – believe-it-or-not – plantations of potatoes.

If El Oued is rarely visited by western visitors, then the nearby settlement of Guémar is entirely passed over. Yet the town is home to a wonderfully open and accepting school of Islam and is equally proud of its Jewish heritage.

The Palace at El Oued presents five-star luxury in the middle of the Sahara desert. Surrounded by palm groves and sand dunes, the palace is an oasis of tranquility and colour, with grounds so rich and fertile that there is even an English-style garden!

For more information and photos of the palace, which is available for hire for corporate guests, please contact us.