The largest country in Africa, with seven Roman cities and kasbahs on the World Heritage list, an almost untouched Mediterranean coast and the most spectacular Sahara on the planet in the Tassili and the Hoggar: Algeria is the great destination that hardly anyone has on their radar yet.
Algeria is one of world tourism's great secrets: the largest country in Africa, with more than 1.600 kilometres of Mediterranean coastline, a chain of astonishingly well-preserved Roman cities and the purest, most dramatic heart of the Sahara. For years it was practically closed to travellers because of bureaucratic hurdles and the memory of the ‘black decade’ of the 1990s, and that reputation —now outdated— explains why it gets so few tourists. For those who take the plunge, the reward is huge: World Heritage-level sites with almost nobody around, and hospitality that wins you over.
The north is where the history and city life are: Algiers, ‘the white city’, with its labyrinthine World Heritage Casbah and its imposing basilica; Tipasa and its Roman ruins on the edge of the sea; Timgad and Djémila, two textbook Roman cities tucked away in the mountains; Constantine, perched over a canyon and stitched together by dizzying bridges; Oran, Mediterranean and musical; and Tlemcen, a jewel of Hispano-Moorish art. Berber Kabylie, with its mountains and the Béjaïa coast, adds nature and a very strong cultural identity.
But what makes Algeria unforgettable is the Deep South. The M’zab valley in Ghardaïa, the Tassili n’Ajjer plateaus with their rock art, the red dunes of the Tadrart near Djanet and the volcanic peaks of the Hoggar around Tamanrasset, with the legendary sunrise at Assekrem, make up one of the most spectacular desert landscapes on Earth. All of it is visited with local agencies, by 4x4 and with permits —you can't explore the desert independently—, on organised trips that are now the main reason many people land in Algeria.
The currency is the Algerian dinar (DZD). There's something you really need to understand before you travel: there are two exchange rates, and the gap between them is huge. The official rate is around 133 dinars to the dollar (verified July 2026), but the parallel market —perfectly tolerated and used by everyone, centred on Port-Saïd square (‘Square’) in Algiers— pays close to 238 dinars to the dollar, almost double. In practice, changing money at the official rate in a bank means throwing away half your money; travellers bring euros or dollars in cash, in new, large notes, and change them on the parallel market (usually through your hotel, your agency or a trusted contact, which is safer than going to the square alone). Algeria is a CASH destination: foreign cards barely work, ATMs rarely accept international Visa/Mastercard and there's no reliable way to withdraw dinars with your card, so you have to bring in all the cash you'll need. Tipping (‘bakchich’) isn't compulsory but it's appreciated: a little something for the waiter, the guide or the 4x4 driver in the desert.
Full converter for DZD →There are no direct flights from Latin America: the natural route is to cross the Atlantic to a European or Middle Eastern hub (Madrid, Paris, Barcelona, Istanbul, Rome) and from there hop to Algiers with Air Algérie, Iberia, Vueling, Air France, Turkish or ITA Airways; from São Paulo or Buenos Aires, allow between 18 and 26 hours in total depending on the connection. The main airport is Algiers Houari Boumediene (ALG); Oran (ORN) and Constantine (CZL) receive some international flights. A visa is COMPULSORY for Latin Americans and can't be obtained at the border in the north: you have to apply in advance at an Algerian consulate, with a letter of invitation or hotel booking, insurance and proof of funds, and an e-visa portal has also recently started working for several nationalities. The big news is the south: if you plan a trip to the Sahara (Djanet, Tamanrasset, Tassili) with an authorised local agency and 70% of the itinerary is in those regions, the agency arranges a ‘visa on arrival’ authorisation for you and you fly straight into those desert airports. Distances within the country are gigantic (Algeria covers more than 2,3 million km²), so to cover both north and south you'll almost always combine domestic flights (Air Algérie's domestic network is extensive and cheap) with stretches by train or by car/4x4 with a driver.
Algeria is huge and, in practice, has two climates and two seasons. In the Mediterranean north (Algiers, Oran, Constantine, the Roman cities, Kabylie) the best time is spring (March to May) and autumn (September to November): pleasant temperatures, green fields in spring and clear skies for exploring ruins and cities on foot. Summer (June to August) is hot and it's when Algerians take over the Mediterranean beaches; winter is mild but rainy, with snow in the Atlas and Kabylie mountains.
In the Sahara the logic is completely reversed: the season runs from October to April, when the heat is bearable and the nights are cold and starry (it can freeze before dawn in the Hoggar and the Tassili). From May to September the desert is extreme, with temperatures well above 45 °C, and practically no circuits run. That's why the big trip to the Deep South —Djanet, Tamanrasset, the Tadrart— is almost always planned between November and March, which is also the ideal window to combine it with the north on the same trip if you have enough days.
Algerian cuisine is both Mediterranean and Saharan, generous and strongly influenced by Berber, Arab, Ottoman and French traditions. The flagship dish is couscous —fine semolina topped with lamb or chicken and seasonal vegetables—, eaten especially on Fridays and at every family occasion. Alongside it shine chorba (a thick soup of lamb, tomato and mint that breaks the fast during Ramadan), chakhchoukha (torn pastry in a tomato and meat sauce), mtewem (garlic meatballs) and slow-cooked tagines. The French legacy left a cult of bread (baguettes everywhere) and very refined pastry-making: Arab sweets soaked in honey and orange blossom water reign supreme, such as date makrout, baklava and kalb el louz.
Eating is cheap and tasty. At a stall or a popular restaurant, a generous plate of couscous or a chorba costs just a few dollars; the famous street sandwich —a baguette filled with omelette, chips and harissa sauce— is the budget classic. Algeria is a land of very sweet mint tea and strong French-style coffee, drunk in cafés always full of men chatting. Keep one important point in mind: it's a Muslim country and alcohol, although legal and produced locally (there are good Algerian wines with a French tradition), is discreet and not available everywhere, especially outside the big cities and never in the deep desert.
Algeria carries a reputation for danger that no longer matches the reality for travellers: the ‘black decade’ of the 1990s is behind it and the tourist areas of the north and the Deep South are safe and calm, with an extraordinarily hospitable population that's not used to tourists, which works in your favour. That said, you need to be sensible about geography: the border regions of the far south and south-east (with Mali, Niger and Libya) and certain remote areas carry real risk and are subject to restrictions; that's why the desert is ALWAYS visited with authorised agencies, local guides and, on many stretches, an escort or permits —it's not a destination to strike out on your own—. In the cities, the risks are the usual urban ones (the odd pickpocket, keeping an eye on your phone at night); violence against tourists is rare. The emergency numbers are 17 (police), 14 (civil protection/fire and ambulance) and 1055 (gendarmerie, useful on the road).
Health-wise, Algeria doesn't require the yellow fever vaccine unless you're arriving from a country with transmission, and it isn't a malaria destination in the usual tourist areas. Make sure your routine vaccinations are up to date and add hepatitis A and B and typhoid; even so, check with a travel medicine clinic before you leave. The main thing to watch is the water: don't drink from the tap, use bottled water and be careful with street food (better hot and freshly made). For the Sahara, prepare your body for the temperature swings (hot by day, cold at night), bring serious sun protection, a hat and plenty of water. And something key given that cards barely work: take out good travel insurance with medical and evacuation cover, because in the desert help is far away.
Algeria can be very cheap day to day, with one huge caveat: almost everything depends on the exchange rate. If you change money on the parallel market (close to 238 dinars to the dollar in July 2026, against 133 at the official rate), your money goes almost twice as far and the country becomes very cheap; if you change at the official rate, everything costs double. At the parallel rate, backpacker-style —simple hotels, public transport and trains, street food— you can get around the north on about 25–40 USD a day. Mid-range, with decent hotels, the odd domestic flight and restaurants, allow 50–90 USD a day. Food and transport are the cheapest items; quality accommodation, which is scarcer, is what pushes spending up.
The big separate cost is the Sahara: circuits in the Deep South (Djanet/Tassili/Tadrart or Tamanrasset/Hoggar) are booked with agencies and include a 4x4, Tuareg guide, cook, permits and camping, and usually cost around 100–180 USD per person per day depending on the group, plus domestic flights to the desert. On top of that comes the fee for the southern ‘visa on arrival’, around 96 euros. To give you an idea: a two-week trip combining the best of the north (Algiers, the Roman cities, Constantine) with a week in the desert can come to around 1.500–2.500 USD per person on the ground, not counting the international flight from South America (usually 1.200–2.000 USD return). Remember to bring in all your cash in euros or dollars, because you won't be able to withdraw money with a card.
Algeria is trilingual in practice: Algerian Arabic (‘darija’) is the language of the street, Tamazight or Berber is co-official and very much alive in regions such as Kabylie, and French works as a de facto second language —you see it on signs, it's used in business and a good share of people speak it, especially in cities—. English is still little understood outside tourism and Spanish is practically never used, so a few words of French will get you out of almost any situation; in the desert, many Tuareg guides speak French and basic English. The culture is warm, family-oriented and deeply hospitable: it's normal to be invited for tea or a meal, and turning it down flatly can come across as rude. It's a conservative Muslim country, so dress respectfully (especially women, with shoulders and legs covered away from the beaches), ask permission before photographing people and be discreet about alcohol and public displays of affection.
On the practical side: plugs are type C and F (two round pins, European style), the voltage is 230V, and although there's good coverage in the cities, in the Sahara you'll be without signal most of the time. For connectivity, buy a local SIM (Djezzy, Mobilis or Ooredoo) as soon as you arrive, with your passport; data is cheap but speeds are patchy. Add to that the fact that Algeria is a pure cash country —cards are almost useless, so bring physical euros/dollars— and that bureaucracy and opening hours call for patience. Friday is the day of rest (many shops and sites close) and the general pace is slow. The best attitude to enjoy it is that of the curious, flexible traveller: Algeria richly rewards those who arrive with time, respect and an appetite for a destination that's still free of mass tourism.
Algeria is the largest country in Africa, a giant where the blue Mediterranean of the north spills, across plateaus and mountains, into the heart of the Sahara, which covers more than four fifths of its territory. That vastness holds a history of extraordinary density: here the planet’s first artists painted the walls of the Tassili n’Ajjer, here Masinissa forged the first unified Berber state, here Rome built cities such as Timgad and Djémila that are today among the best preserved in the world, and here Saint Augustine, one of the Fathers of the Church, preached. Phoenicians, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Arabs, Ottomans and French all passed through these lands, and from that build-up of centuries a nation was born that is deeply Amazigh and Arab at once, Muslim and Mediterranean.
This is the complete history of Algeria: from the hunters of the green Sahara and the kingdom of Numidia to the Algeria of today, by way of Islamisation, the great Berber dynasties, the corsair Regency of Algiers, the brutal French conquest of 1830 and settler colonisation, and the war of independence of 1954-1962, one of the bloodiest and most decisive of decolonisation. A country that bore more than a century of colonial rule and the tragedy of its own “Black Decade”, yet remains one of the great players of the Arab, African and Mediterranean world.
Read the full history of Algeria →Pick a region and open each destination to see what to do, prices and how to get there.
These are the sources we cite most across this country's guides, with how many times each appears. Hard data —tickets, opening hours, requirements, transport— comes from the official source and carries the date we checked it. Restaurant and hotel picks come from guides and reviews, and we say so on each page.
