Algeria

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Flag of Algeria Algeria
Information
Language: Arabic, French
Capital: Algiers
Population: 42,210,000
Currency: Algerian dinar (DZD)
Paved roads: 71,656 km
Hitchability: <rating country='dz' />
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<map lat='28.5' lng='3' zoom='4' view='0' country='Algeria' />


Algeria is a country in Northern Africa. Hitchhiking in Algeria is common and legal especially outside of the big cities. The Algerian-Moroccan border is closed, as well as the Algerian-Mali-border. In the north most people speak French, in the desert it's mainly Arabic and Berber. French or Arabic is a HUGE asset in the country. Hitching without either would probably be fairly difficult.

Getting In

The best option is probably taking a boat from Almeria, Spain. The only company is Transmediterranea, which runs two boats a week to Oran for between 50 and 100 euros (depending on the time of year). Other options are flying into Algiers or Oran from Europe, however flights are usually cheaper into Tunis, Tunisia, from which you can get in overland. Hitchhiking in from Tunisia will not pose a problem at the border, though it is not a bad idea to communicate with your driver that you can both pretend he is a taxi driver as to hide the fact you are getting into a police state by hitchhiking.

PhysicsHipster hitchhiking in the Algerian Sahara.

Safety

The country is quite calm and safe, and has been largely stigmatized by the media. The civil war of the 90s and 00s is long finished. That being said, it is best to avoid the area around Bouira in the north, where there have been a few travelers taken hostage in the last few years. Also avoid the Libya-Algeria border, and ESPECIALLY the Niger-Algeria border, where there has been a fair bit of violence and terrorism in the past. Tourists are also not allowed south of El Oued without being accompanied by an Algerian guide, although this may not be enforced. There are regular police checkpoints along all roads so be sure to have your travel documents with you at all times.

That being said if you are a female traveler keep in mind the more south you go the more conservative it gets so some places don't really feel to safe. Having a male traveler with you or wearing a hijab is not a bad idea for deterring potential harassment.

Visa Procedure

Most nationalities will need a visa to get into Algeria. The procedure can be somewhat daunting. You will most likely need:

  • Proof of transportation in/out
  • Hotel reservation
  • Travel insurance

However, there is some leeway. The proof of transportation in can be your boat/plane ticket (They may let you get around this if you explain you expect to book the boat later on), and then you can just explain you will leave via Tunisia. The Hotel you can buy and then when you have your visa you can cancel it all for 100% refund (Expedia gives full refunds, but perhaps call them to make sure). The travel insurance is probably worth it, as it is only around 2 or 3$ each day, but if you want you could theoretically also cancel that as well. Even if you only have proof you have a hotel for a few nights, the minimum visa length they will issue is 30-days, starting from the first day of your hotel reservation, so you can reserve just a few nights and still travel the country for a month but make sure that you have your reservations for the full length of your "official" stay meaning if you have proof of getting into the country on date X and getting out of it on date Y have a hotel booked from X to Y.


For any information about visa procedure contact this guy here [1]. He will explain you better how it works the visa.

I hitched Algeria September 2014 for a week from Oran to the Tunisian border near El Oued, and it was by far the easist hitching I have ever done. It even beat out other hitchhiking heavyweights like Morocco, Japan, and New Zealand. Wait times were usually a minute or two. I think the longest I waited was 10 minutes. People were incredibly generous and often gave me food, money, or even a place to stay. Even getting out of big cities like Algiers I had no trouble. I just took the metro east as far east as I could go and then just found a spot with some shoulder and the 2nd car that passed picked me up! Knowing French and a decent amount of Arabic helped immensely. Probably one of the most fun weeks of my hitchhiking life. -Physicshipster

Getting a visa for Algeria as a Croatian citizen wasn't too difficult, but this article was misleading by telling us you can reserve your hotel only for the first few nights. After going to the embassy they told us they absolutely need information of where we are staying for the duration of the trip as a formality so most certainly just book a hotel for the entirety of your stay and then cancel it once you have the visa. Other than starting the procedure three weeks before we got the visa the rest is pretty easy!

Cities

Borders

The border to Morocco is closed. The only open borders actually are with Tunisia, there is some fake news about Mauritania borders but nothing sure, for more informations contact local people in Tindouf.

Money, internet and accommodation

Never change your money in the bank or exchange offices as the official rate is much lower than the black market rate. Instead ask around touristic places or the bazaar about exchanging money with someone and they will most certainly direct you to someone who's willing to do it. At the time of writing (September 2023) the black market exchange rate is 227DZD for 1 Euro but you will most likely get offers of 220DZD for 1 Euro which is completely fine as Algeria is super cheap.

Wi-fi is not widely available in Algeria, most bars and cheap hotels don't have it and people that host you often won't. Mobilis is the best network to get internet from as it is not only cheap but covers most of Algeria well, including the south. Expect to pay 400DZD for a SIM card and 1000 DZD for 30 gigabytes (all together 7 euro) which should be enough for the duration of your stay.

Since tourism is largely nonexistent in Algeria you will not find backpacker hostels or cheap accommodation on booking or other online websites. Instead you should go directly to Google maps and type in "hotel", "Dar", "Dortoire", "مرقد", "نزل", "مرقد في تونس", "مرقد في بنزت" in the city you want to go to, although hotel usually works fine. In the reviews people often leave the price which you should expect to be about 1500DZD (7 euro) for a night. Double rooms are usually 2000-2500 so if you have a travel buddy paying 5 euro per person a night is the expected price. Even if you find nothing online you should be able to find an area in which there are plenty of hotels and can then go to that area in person and find some cheap places, or just ask around. Mind the fact that if you do end up sleeping in a hotel most of them close at midnight so you are not fully free to do as you want.

Personal experiences

September 2023: it feels a bit stupid writing about Algeria on hitchwiki since we barely did any hitchhiking but nonetheless this information will probably be helpful to someone. First of all Algerians are fantastic people, they will host you and help you every step of the way and their hospitality and generosity is one of a kind and rarely not genuine since they are not used to tourists. Once you connect with someone you are their guest and you will be fed, have a place to sleep, get gifts etcetc to the point where it's hard to escape and go to your next destination. That being said most of them will tell you Algeria is completely safe which I never fully bought. Since it is a poor country you will see a lot of shady places and shady looks, police sirens, fights etc. Nothing bad ever happened to us nor were we ever close to a negative situation but I would advise you to keep your eyes open, especially in Algiers and some less touristic places and especially if you are a woman. The more south you go the more conservative it gets and my partner got more than a few odd looks because she wasn't wearing a hijab and once, while walking alone in Ouargla, got followed by someone on a motorcycle for five minutes or so. I am not at all writing this to deter anyone from visiting this wonderful country, on the contrary Algeria is a site to behold and Algerians are amazing, but to remind people to keep their focus even though everyone is so good to you and maybe opt for accommodation instead of wildcamping. Other good advice is to know a bit of French, but keep in mind a lot of Algerians don't speak French fluently, and definitely don't just stick to the coast as the south is like a completely different country that is absolutely fascinating. A fantastic place with some of the most genuine people you will ever meet, and almost no scams. Algeria is an absolute adventure. -JanV

Nomadwiki & Trashwiki

Check Nomadwiki for info on accommodation, showers etc. or Trashwiki for dumpsters...and share your wisdom :) visa:Algeria nomad:Algeria