My friend and I took a week-long trip to Algeria in November 2024. I can safely say it was one of the best trips of my life, and a big reason for this is that we were lucky enough to spend the first three days in Algiers and Tipasa with AlgeriaTours16. Nour was an exceptional tour guide, going above and beyond what one expects of a tour guide and making us feel like we were being shown around by an old friend. Algeria is amazing and we cannot wait to come back!
From the get-go, everything was simple to organize, especially considering how last-minute we planned this portion of the trip. Wassim was helpful and friendly and allowed us to plan everything via WhatsApp, asking us what we wanted to visit and crafting the trip around our request. We already had our visa, but he offered to help us in case we didn't.
Nour insisted on meeting us at the airport with Ahmed, our friendly and helpful driver, and we were immediately made to feel at ease -- we started chatting and didn't stop all day. On our first day, we took a walking tour around the botanical gardens and the port area of Algiers, stopping for the most delicious couscous we have ever had. The city is beautiful, we always felt safe, and it reminded us of Rome with its many layers of history. Best of all, Nour's background in architecture meant she could answer all our questions about the buildings we were seeing in amazing detail.
The second day we continued our tour of Algiers, stopping at the Monument of the Martyrs in the morning before heading to the Basilica and the Mosque. All were breathtaking in their own way; we felt especially honoured to enter the Grand Mosque. After another amazing lunch (the desserts in particular blew us away) we went on to take a walking tour of the Casbah, winding through the old city and marvelling at the buildings and the views. Even after the tour was over, Nour helped us find restaurants to eat at in the evening.
Our last day we ventured out of Algiers to visit the amazing ruins of Tipasa, which on this particular day were blanketed in a magical layer of fog, and the Tombeau de le Chretienne on the way back -- a personal highlight for me. Perched atop a beautiful hill overlooking the ocean, with the grandeur of a pyramid or a Roman arena, I could have spent hours wandering around it. We stopped here for a surprise picnic with Algerian desserts that Nour had made herself, which were delicious!
One of the most amazing things was that as a place that still receives relatively few tourists, Algeria maintains a sense of authenticity and tranquillity for visitors that is so rare to find these days. Passers-by were curious about us but we were never made to feel harassed, followed, or overly observed, and everybody we interacted with was gracious and friendly. The ruins we saw, if they were in Rome, would be crammed with tourists; here, we were almost alone. It was simply incredible, and we felt very lucky to be there.
I would recommend AlgeriaTours16 to anyone hoping to visit this beautiful country. Again, Nour went above and beyond, and is one of the best tour guides I've ever had! For example, I mentioned a particular gift I wanted to find for my father, she immediately dedicated herself to trying to find it and made a special stop for us to get it. And even once we had left for the next part of our trip in Timimoun, she checked in to see how we were doing, and we returned for one last night in Algiers before our flight home to find a home-made gift waiting for us at our hotel.
Thank you, saha, merci for everything. We hope to be back very soon!