Algeria travel

Its name already resonates among insiders as the latest on-trend destination in the Maghreb: Algiers is on the rise. A sense of renewal weaves through the cultural heritage of its UNESCO-listed kasbah and the amphitheatre of its hills tumbling down towards the Mediterranean. Entire neighbourhoods are being transformed, like Telemly on the heights of the city, where restaurants, antique shops, young designers’ studios and art galleries have sprung up. Further up, in Sidi Yahia, there are countless trendy shops and rooftops where Algiers’ youth come to dance after an afternoon at the beach. Further west, Oran, the emancipated city, stands out as a city at a crossroads. A port where sharing and freedom of expression have become a tradition, and where today an air of freedom and youth prevails. Not far away, Tlemcen is surely the most Moroccan of Algerian cities – music, cuisine and geology blend together harmoniously there. And there is also Béjaïa, in the Mediterranean; Constantine, further east; Annaba and the coast, all the way to the Tunisian border; and Bou Saâda, the closest oasis to the capital, gateway to the Sahara. A journey through northern Algeria holds many surprises.

By “south”, what is really meant is the desert and everything stretching south of the Atlas Mountains, which covers the vast majority of Algerian territory – over 2 million km² (770,000 square miles). Two vast dune mountain ranges stretch out in a sweeping arc: the Grand Erg Occidental, along the edge of which lie the oases of Ghardaïa, El Goléa, Timimoun, Beni Abbès and Taghit; the Grand Erg Oriental, on either side of which are the rock formations that serve as hydrocarbon reservoirs (notably at Hassi Messaoud, In Amenas and Edjeleh). Further south, you reconnect with the Sahara and the Great South of Algeria: the desert, the real one, the legendary one. The vast sandstone plateau of Tassili n'Ajjer endlessly blends powdery sand, with its colossal formations and majestic rocks. Today, people travel more freely in southern Algeria, from the small oasis of Djanet to Essendilène and Iherir, passing through the Afara desert and the Erg Admer. In the desert, the night sky may be the most breathtaking spectacle of nature.