Since the start of the violence, Algeria is not much of a tourist destination. Very few travels still head south over the big routes through the Sahara. These routes were always the main travel attraction, although Algeria has a lot more to offer. Some of the finest Roman ruins in the world, old Arabic cities, good beaches. If things clear up a bit, you should definitely consider going there. A stay in the country will make it easy to understand why the French wanted to stay there so desperately.
Atlas Mountains
13th century Spanish Fort. At the right, Santa Cruz cathedral (Oran)
You can encounter a wide variety of landscapes in Algeria: desert, meadows, dunes, sahara, oasises, forests, oueds to name a few. There is also more than 750 Miles of coasts and beaches.
Tamanrasset In the heart of the Great Saharan desert,
Tamanrasset is an unexpected highlight: it offers
beautiful mountain views with good hiking
possibilities and stone age drawings all over.
Algiers' Casbah
The Casbah or old city forms the upper part of Algiers, replete with
labyrinthine passageways and a 16th century walled fortress.
Algiers Once one of the most romantic cities in Africa, encompassed by
the legendary whitewashed Casbah, Algiers is now a major modernized
city with all the metropolitan trappings.
Oran The town was founded by Andalusian seamen in AD937
and flourished under Zianid rule, developing strong
trading ties with Spain, which eventually led to
Spanish occupation from 1509 to 1708 when Oran was
captured by Ottoman forces. The Spanish recaptured
the city two years later but withdrew after an
earthquake destroyed most of the city in 1790.
