Originally Posted by Thegreatbreakout

Hello Everyone,
After years of using the HUBB for my own benefit and not “giving back,” this thread made me create an account.
Visiting Algeria had already been in the back of my mind for a couple of years, and all your testimonials were very helpful in preparing everything.
Here’s my experience getting into Algeria, traveling within it, and entering Tunisia with a motorcycle as of July 2024:

The Plan
My initial plan was to ride my motorcycle from Lisbon to Djanet and attend the Sebiba festival that took place during the first weeks of July. For that, I had planned a route going west from Oran to Taghit, Timimoun, In Salah, Tamanrasset, and finally Djanet, then back up from the east, heading towards Ghardaia, Constantine, and Tunisia. While planning everything in more detail, I realized that the condition of the road connecting Tamanrasset and Djanet would be a huge challenge for a bike carrying two people, 30+ kg of luggage, a lot of water, and extra fuel. So, unfortunately, I had to rethink my plan, forget about Djanet this time, and stick to Tamanrasset and the Ahaggar National Park as my final destination. (A plan that also failed.)

Getting the Visa
Applying for the visa started as an apparently easy process. I checked and gathered all the documentation I would need for me and my girlfriend. This included the ferry ticket (free cancellation until 48 hours before departure) and 3 hotel reservations I had made through Booking.com along the Algerian coast (also free to cancel, as that was the plan all along). I visited the Algerian embassy in Lisbon, explained our “coastal route,” handed everything in, and paid for the visas in less than 20 minutes. I was fortunate enough to deal with a very nice embassy worker. Some days later, I got a phone call from the embassy. They required proof that we were employed and wanted a signed document from our employers stating our functions within our companies. This was something that was not listed, but alright, two days later I was already handing them these additional documents.
A week later, I received another call from the embassy. They wanted to confirm my planned route in Algeria and warn me that it was completely forbidden for me to go south. I got curious and asked what was considered south? The answer was “anything south of my route” (I had presented them the following route: Oran - Algiers - Annaba - Tunisia). I started to wonder what could go wrong and how they could control where I'll be going. It was enough to get me thinking but not enough to ditch my plan. Later that day, I received another phone call from the embassy. Maybe my curiosity previously got them suspicious, and they now wanted me to declare in a signed document that I was sticking to my route and not going anywhere else. At this point, I started to doubt the entire trip being possible. I really didn’t want to push it and face unpleasant consequences in Algeria. I slept on it, and the next day, I decided to write down that declaration. I wrote it in Portuguese and did my best to avoid any real commitment to my words. I was vague and stated a lot of “ifs”. I printed it, signed it, and went to the embassy for the last time. Another week passed with no news, and as our ferry departure date approached, I began to worry. Maybe my declaration declaring nothing did not convince them, and they would not issue us the visas. Four days before our ferry departure, I got the call: “Your visas are ready!” Finally, good news. The very next day, as soon as the embassy opened, I was already there picking up our passports, although the good outcome obviously came with a twist. We were granted only a 10-day visa, which would again interfere with our actual plan—a very naive mistake on our part as I was convinced that the tourist visa, independently of the route presented, would be 30 days. But that was not the case; they gave us the exact amount of time we needed for our fake coastal route. Lesson learned.

The Ferry
Eduarda and I left Lisbon towards Almeria (Spain), where we took the Naviera Armas/Trasmediterranea Ferry to Oran. The ferry was quite expensive but was the best option that suited our plan. Unlike Morocco or Tunisia, there are not a lot of alternatives. Expect to pay 250+ euros for a person and a motorcycle one-way ticket and expect only a couple of ferries per week (at least from Spain). The crossing from Almeria to Oran took around 6 hours, a walk in the park compared with the 30+ hours that were waiting for me some weeks later. We were the only tourists and the only motorcycle on the ferry. I guess it makes sense as it was July, but we’ll get to that in a bit.

Getting In
As soon as we got off the ferry, we got the green light from the Algerian authorities to skip the queue of cars, which is always a good start. In 10 minutes, we were already handing our passports to a police officer. “Portuguese? Cristiano Ronaldo!” We all smile, and our lives get automatically easier, and this could summarize every interaction I’ve had with the authorities and people in Algeria, and Africa in general. A big thanks to Cristiano for diplomatically making the life of every Portuguese citizen easier for the past 20 years. We both got our passports stamped in 30 minutes. Then it was time to get the bike into the country. One hour more for Douane, and we were free to roam Algeria. The whole process was super fast, in my opinion. Everything was simple, well-organized, and the officers were very helpful. I only had one officer checking my bags, who I later realized actually wanted some money, but as my French sucks, I honestly thought he wanted to know how much money I had with me. So, I guess he got confused with my french attempt of an answer for that, and he quit.
As soon as you get out of the port, there’s a place where you can buy vehicle insurance. It cost us 15 euros for a month, and they also exchanged some money for us at a good rate given the circumstances (220 dinars for 1 euro). We ended up re-entering the port to buy a SIM card from the mobile operator stands at the exit. It’s mainly young people working there, and they were pretty helpful. We ended up choosing Mobilis, which had 80GB of internet for a month for less than 10 euros. With all these things taken care of, we were good to say goodbye to the port for good.

Getting Around
Booking a place to stay online doesn't really work in Algeria, and in some cases, you might fall victim to scams when booking rooms on shady websites. Google Maps will be your best solution for this. One thing we did was choose the hotel that suited our needs best for the next day and kindly ask someone from the hotel where we were staying to call and let them know in advance that we were coming the next day.
We ended up exchanging all of our money at the first hotel where we stayed in Oran, so we don’t really know how it goes on the streets. However, it seems that everyone knows someone, and you'll always get a way better rate than in a bank.
Fuel is ridiculously cheap in Algeria, around 35 euro cents per liter. It’s so cheap that on the outskirts of Timimoun, I was offered a full tank by the guy working at the fuel station.
Algerians are very welcoming. As you might guess from what’s written above, the lack of tourism makes all interactions more genuine. No one is going to bother you or try to get something from you. Prices are the same for everyone, and with the exception of smaller towns (just like everywhere in the world), everyone will go on with their lives not caring at all about your presence.
Food is good and cheap, from traditional to fast food. We stuck to places with good reviews.
Roads are overall in good condition, despite a few beaten-up parts, nothing to worry about.
We always had data coverage from my Mobilis SIM card. You’ll see plenty of antennas installed in the desert.
What about police or checkpoints? To my surprise, I got stopped only twice. Maybe I was riding too early, maybe it was too hot for them to be outside, or maybe it was so foolish to be riding during that period that no traffic was being checked. Despite the distance from where we quit continuing south, I really felt like we could continue without any issue. The second time we got stopped was 200 km north of Taghit. It took 15 minutes as these were very surprised young police officers who wanted to confirm everything with a superior. The superior came, took a look at us and our passports, and let us go. We were still looking fresh and in good spirits despite it being 40ºC, but later that day we experienced 48ºC in Taghit.

The Actual Trip
Even after the setback with the short 10-day visa, we were still determined to reach Tamanrasset. We really didn’t think about how stupid and dangerous this would be with the high temperatures, but at least we were somewhat prepared: plenty of water, plenty of fuel, Dioralyte solutions, energy bars…
The first days already showed us that it would not be fun. We were getting up at 5 am and trying to reach our destination before 12 pm. After reaching our destination, there’s not much you can do. It's too hot to walk around, too hot to do anything, and everyone is equally avoiding the heat. Every town turns into a ghost town after 12 pm. We were picking hotels with swimming pools to keep ourselves busy during the afternoon. It worked in Taghit, and we were actually able to relax with the shade from the trees and some casual breeze, but in Timimoun, we weren’t so lucky. There was no natural shade near the hotel pool, and it got really uncomfortable. Everything was literally burning hot to the point we actually burned our hands and feet trying to use the pool. That day, the thermometers registered 49ºC at 5 pm.
On the fourth day of our trip, we rode from Taghit to Timimoun. The day started early for us with already 36ºC on the thermometer. It got hotter and hotter by the minute, and after 100 km we were already facing 40+ temperatures; it only got worse. We went through every tactic to cool ourselves down, but it was useless. 150 km from reaching Timimoun, we stopped at one of the last fuel stations before our destination. We took a break, but long breaks mean you’ll ride in even higher temperatures, so we tried to keep them short even when we really needed a longer one (like in this case). As soon as we left the gas station, we faced a sandstorm. It started as something tolerable, and I thought it would not last long, but that was not the case. It got worse every km, so bad to the point where you couldn’t even see the road or the motorcycle dashboard. The sand just blasted and got inside everything: our helmets, our gear, even the switch to turn the hazard lights was blocked with sand. I was forced to slow down a lot, which made it harder to deal with the wind gusts. It became more physically demanding and exhausting, especially dealing with the temperature. I started to worry that the bike could overheat and we would have to stop, which would be the worst place and time for that. After these long and tortuous 150 km, we reached Timimoun. My mood got better, and we went straight to the first gas station to fuel up, get off the bike, and appreciate that we got there and everything was okay. However, it wasn’t. Eduarda passed out, and my adrenaline rushed again. The situation made everyone at the fuel station take frozen water bottles from their cars and trucks to help out as they could. I got her a hydration solution, and she ate. She got better but not enough to get on the bike. I stopped a taxi and got her inside; our hotel was just a couple of km away. With no navigation as the phone couldn’t handle the temperature, I drained my last bit of energy trying to reach the hotel through very sandy streets. When we both got in our room, we both collapsed under the AC. After this, we knew we weren’t going to reach Tamanrasset, and our plan had to change again.
In the end, our trip took us from Timimoun directly to Ghardaia, where we could finally experience some of the culture and walk around the market late in the afternoon. Our route was the following:
Oran - El Abiodh Sidi Cheikh - Taghit - Timimoun - El Menia - Ghardaia - El Oued - Tozeur - Sousse - Tunis - Bizerte - Tunis



Getting Out
Unlike entering Algeria through the port of Oran, the border of Taleb el Arbi resembles more of an African border and is more demanding in terms of time. When leaving Algeria, we got charged a fee of 12,000 Algerian dinar for the fuel (a way of trying to get foreigners to pay more for the cheap fuel there?!?). The whole thing seemed legit, and they had a receipt ready. But I was caught by surprise and decided to act dumb, pulled the Ronaldo card, and got away without paying it.
It took us 3 hours to get out of Algeria, a lot of waiting and repeating ourselves to different officers. In the process, one officer found that my bike's VIN number was not on the TIP paper and tried to escalate that into something. I played it cool, laughing and repeating, “I guess your colleague in Oran forgot about it,” showed him the VIN number on the bike and on the bike document, and after some waiting, he let us go. Again, thinking about it, it was surely a “give me something” situation, but the difficult communication and my genuine lack of understanding the signs made him quit.
On the Tunisian side, everything was easier. Two booths, two officers, and we crossed it in less than an hour. We bought insurance directly from the border police officer while getting the bike in (that was a first for me)—25 euros for 15 days. And off we went.

Final Thoughts
Algeria is an awesome country to discover, and I am surely going back to finish what was initially planned. Avoid my mistakes (or not); riding during the summer is very challenging. Thanks to Ed Gill for helping me with some doubts before the trip, and thanks to Chris Scott for keeping valuable up-to-date info (a real public service) and also for the inspiration with the Arak rock photography trip report!
Cheers and happy travels!