It is one of the world’s largest countries — bigger than all of Western Europe combined — and yet, Algeria remains one of the most under-visited destinations on the planet. That peculiar invisibility is, for the traveller who finds their way in, something close to a gift. Seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites. A Mediterranean coastline stretched for nearly a thousand kilometres. Roman ruins that make Pompeii look crowded. A Sahara that swallows the imagination whole. This is the Algeria few people talk about — and all the more magnificent for it. Here are 20 cities and places that deserve to be on every serious traveller’s map.
1. Algiers — The White City on the Sea
Stand at the edge of the lower town at dusk, and Algiers does something quietly theatrical. The white-washed buildings climb the hillside in long, cascading tiers — El Bahdja, the locals call it, The Radiant. From the Bay of Algiers, the city glows.
The place to begin — and the place that demands the most time — is the Casbah, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1992. This is not a sanitised heritage quarter. It is a living, breathing mass of Ottoman palaces, crumbling courtyards, mosques with tilework that looks like frozen music, and staircases worn smooth by centuries of feet. Walk deep enough into its alleys and the 21st century falls away entirely. Hire a local guide; the Casbah is the kind of place where getting lost becomes its own reward, but a guide who knows the hidden Ottoman palaces and forgotten hammams will make it extraordinary rather than merely confusing.
