Itinerary
Day 1: Arrive Algiers
Welcome to Algeria! Arrive at Houari Boumediene International Airport in Algiers, where your multilingual guide greets you. Transfer to your hotel in the city center. Afternoon orientation walk along the Algiers waterfront and through the colonial-era city center, seeing the Grande Poste and the panoramic Bay of Algiers. Evening welcome dinner at a restaurant featuring Algerian cuisine — couscous, tajine, and fresh Mediterranean seafood. Overnight in Algiers. (D)
Day 2: Algiers Casbah & Fly to Ghardaia
Morning exploration of the UNESCO-listed Casbah of Algiers — the historic citadel quarter with its narrow alleys, Ottoman palaces, and whitewashed houses cascading down the hillside. Visit the Ketchaoua Mosque, the Palace of the Dey, and the Dar Aziza palace. Afternoon transfer to Algiers airport for the flight south to Ghardaia (Ghardaia), capital of the M’Zab Valley. The flight crosses the rapidly changing landscape from Mediterranean coast to Sahara desert. Evening arrival in Ghardaia — the air is dry, the light is golden, and the architecture is unlike anything in the north. Overnight in Ghardaia. (B)
Day 3: M’Zab Valley — Five UNESCO Fortified Towns
A full day exploring the M’Zab Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage site comprising five fortified towns (ksour) built by the Ibadi community in the 11th century. Each town is a miracle of desert architecture — concentric circles of cubic houses, each with a mosque at the center, all enclosed within defensive walls. Visit Beni Isguen, the most traditional of the ksour, with its ancient stone market where centuries-old trading traditions continue. The town’s architecture — narrow covered streets providing shade, houses built from local stone blending into the desert landscape, and the towering minaret that serves as both lookout and spiritual center — represents one of the most innovative and influential examples of Saharan urban planning. Visit the Mozabite Museum to learn about Ibadi culture and desert architecture. Afternoon: explore the palm groves of the M’Zab, where a sophisticated irrigation system diverts the underground water from the Oued M’Zab into thousands of small garden plots growing dates, pomegranates, figs, and vegetables. Overnight in Ghardaia. (B, L)
Day 4: El-Meniaa Oasis & Tomb of Charles de Foucauld
Morning drive south deeper into the Sahara to El-Meniaa (formerly El Goléa), a lush oasis town surrounded by 100-meter-high sand dunes that seem to threaten the town from all sides. The contrast is dramatic — a sea of green palm groves completely encircled by golden Saharan sand. Visit the tomb of Charles de Foucauld, the French aristocrat turned hermit-priest who lived among the Tuareg here in the early 20th century, compiling the first Tuareg-French dictionary and earning the deep respect of his desert neighbors. The simple white tomb, under the desert sun, is a place of remarkable peace. Afternoon: climb to the old ksar for panoramic views over the oasis — hundreds of thousands of date palms stretching to the dunes. Walk through the oasis gardens, meet date farmers, and taste fresh dates right from the tree. Overnight in El-Meniaa. (B, L, D)
Day 5: Drive to Timimoun — The Red Oasis
A day of magnificent desert driving across the vast Algerian Sahara, crossing the Grand Erg Occidental. Arrive in Timimoun, one of the Sahara’s most beautiful oases — a town built entirely of red ochre-colored mud-brick that glows crimson at sunset. Timimoun sits on the edge of a sebkha (salt lake), creating mirage-like reflections. Explore the town’s ancient ksour (fortified villages) and the Palmeraie, where foggaras — an ingenious ancient underground irrigation system dating back 2,000 years — channel water from distant aquifers through kilometers of tunnels to feed the palm groves. Walk through the narrow streets of the old town, where every building is the same warm shade of desert red. Sunset at the sebkha — the salt lake turns mirror-like, reflecting the red town and golden dunes in one of the Sahara’s most photogenic scenes. Overnight in Timimoun. (B, L, D)
Day 6: Timimoun — Red Ochre Ksour & Foggara Irrigation
Full day exploring Timimoun and its surroundings. Morning visit to the Ighzer Oasis, where the foggaras system is at its most impressive — lines of ventilation shafts stretching across the desert, feeding water to date palms and vegetable gardens. Learn how this Persian-origin technology was perfected in the Algerian Sahara and remains in use today. Visit the abandoned old ksar with its crumbling red walls and narrow passageways. Afternoon: explore the craft markets where Timimoun’s distinctive red pottery, woven rugs, and silver jewelry are made. Visit a local family for traditional tea — mint tea poured from a height, creating a frothy top, the mark of Saharan hospitality. Sunset walk along the crest of the dunes northwest of town where you can see the entire oasis — a long green ribbon of life in the vast desert. Overnight in Timimoun. (B, L, D)
Day 7: Beni Abbes — Seven-Storey Sand Dune
Continue southwest through increasingly spectacular desert landscapes to Beni Abbes, a Saharan town famous for its geography. The town is dominated by a 200-meter-high, seven-tiered sand dune — a massive natural cascade of sand that has engulfed the edge of the Saoura Valley. Explore the old ksar, a remarkably preserved 13th-century fortified village built of mud-brick, with covered streets designed to provide shade from the brutal summer heat. Visit the Saharan Museum housed in Charles de Foucauld’s former hermitage, containing Tuareg and Berber artifacts, fossils from when the Sahara was a seabed, and exhibits on desert ecology. Evening: climb the great dune for a sunset view over the Saoura Valley — the palm grove below, the vast desert stretching in all directions — a moment of sublime Saharan peace. Overnight in Beni Abbes. (B, L, D)
Day 8: Taghit — 120-Meter Sand Dunes & Prehistoric Engravings
Morning drive to Taghit, a jewel of the Algerian Sahara. Taghit is famous for its massive sand dunes — some reaching 120 meters in height — that tower over the palm grove and the town’s red-earth ksar. These are the erg, the classic Saharan sand sea, and they are spectacular. Hike to the top of the tallest dune for an unforgettable panorama — a sea of golden sand stretching to the horizon, with the green ribbon of the oasis below. Visit the prehistoric rock engravings on the cliffs above the town — scenes of elephants, rhinoceroses, ostriches, and human hunters carved 8,000 years ago when the Sahara was still a green savannah. These petroglyphs at Taghit are among the finest in the Sahara. Afternoon: explore the beautifully restored old ksar (18th century), its red mud-brick houses built around a central mosque. Overnight in Taghit. (B, L, D)
Day 9: Taghit — Sunrise Dunes & Sunset Over Erg Occidental
Wake before dawn to climb the dunes and watch the sunrise — the sand turns from silver to gold to blazing orange as the sun breaks over the Sahara. This is one of the most magical experiences any traveler can have. Morning at leisure — sandboarding down the dunes, exploring more rock art sites, or simply sitting in the shade of a palm grove absorbing the desert silence. Afternoon visit to the Ksar of Taghit, a living museum of Saharan architecture with well-preserved houses, granaries, and the ancient irrigation system. Farewell sunset over the Erg Occidental — the Grand Western Sand Sea — with a traditional dinner of mechoui (slow-roasted lamb cooked underground) and Tuareg music. Overnight in Taghit. (B, L, D)
Day 10: Return to Algiers → Departure
Early morning transfer by road to Bechar, then a domestic flight back to Algiers. Transfer to the international airport for your onward journey. You leave with images of red ksour, 120-meter dunes, prehistoric rock art, thousand-year-old irrigation systems, and the extraordinary hospitality of the Algerian Sahara. (B)
