ALGERIA

Algeria is the largest country situated in the Mediterranean Sea and the second largest on the African continent.The most fascinating country with a thriving cultural life and landscapes of unrivalled beauty that have drawn writers and travelers down though the centuries.

Once on a par with neighbouring Morocco as a travel hot spot, Algeria's decade-long civil war scared off all but the most foolhardy travelers. Now that the violence has subsided, a trickle of visitors is returning to explore one of Africa's most diverse and fascinating countries.

CLIMATE IN ALGERIA

The best time to visit Algeria is in October and November when the skies are clear, the temperatures are mild and, depending on the end of summer rains, the desert may even have a greenish tinge in place. The next best alternative is from March through to early May, although there’s a higher chance of sandstorms in April. December through February is also a good time, although temperatures can be surprisingly cool and night time temperatures in the Sahara routinely drop below zero.

ATTRACTIONS AND THINGS TO DO IN ALGERIA

There’s no better place of the coast to start with;

• Tlemcen with its touch of Andalusia and the Almoravid twist that is Tlemcen’s trademark.

• Grand Mosque

• Mosque & Tomb of Sidi Boumedine

• Oran

• Cherchell and Tipaza And go deep into Sahara

• Tassili N’Ajjer National Park Algiers has long been one of the most important gateways into the interior of Africa and it can turn your head for as long as you let it, but you’ve a long journey ahead of you. You could fly to Tamanrasset or Djanet, but travelling the first leg of the Trans-Saharan Hwy is one of Africa’s great road trips.

• Sahara is the most striking and also most forbidding feature of the country. The best way to enter the south is to cross the El Kautara Gorges to the south of Constantine. The sudden glimpse of the Sahara through the El Kautara Gorges is breathtaking. These gorges are said to separate the winter areas from the land of everlasting summer and are called Fouur Es Sahra (’the Sahara’s mouth’) by the inhabitants.

• Visit Algiers’ Bardo Ethnographic and Local Art Museum and the National Museum of Fine Arts

• East of Algiers – Turquoise Coast offers rocky coves and long beaches within easy reach of the city, equipped with sports, cruise and watersports facilities.

• The special feature of the holy town of Beni-Isguen, not far from Ghardaia, is its permanent auction market.

• Picturesque Tamanrasset, situated at the heart of the Hoggar Mountains, is a large town with many hotels and restaurants. Tourists often stay in ‘Tam’ (as it is sometimes called) and use it as a base for touring the mountains or hiking in the open desert to the south and west in the company of camel drivers who carry their luggage. It is also a popular winter holiday resort. It is visited regularly by the camel caravans of les hommes bleus, blue-robed Touaregs, who are the ancient nomadic inhabitants of this wide region.

• Tour the Tassili N’Ajjer, or ’Plateau of Chasms’, a vast volcanic plateau crossed by massive gorges gouged out by rivers which have long since dried out or gone underground. The Tassili conceals a whole group of entirely unique rupestrian paintings (rock paintings), which go back at least as far as the neolithic age.