Guide/Report on how to visit Algeria without a guide, with your own vehicle
 

There were a few requests for information on how to visit Algeria with your own vehicle. So this is what I did:

Basically, if you can get a travel visa, you will be able to enter Algeria with your own vehicle. I do not have time to visit the South/Sahara, so I don't know if I would be allowed to enter. I have a feeling I could drive south without problems, but I can not promise this. (EDIT: You probably can not go all the way down to Tamanrasset without a guide. But you can get fairly deep ) Edit#2 (Seems like you can visit Tamanrasset , see later posts in this thread.)

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Getting the visa


I Booked a time online in advance for the Helsinki (Finland) Algerian embassy. On the embassy website they said I need the following documents:


- Passport
- two application forms printed and filled (got these from the website)
- Two passport pictures
- travel insurance
- proof of hotel (I booked one hotel for 50 days on booking.com and cancelled later, i don’t recommend doing it this way, rather just book your real accommodation and cancel if needed)
- 105 Euros in Cash

I showed up at the embassy. They questioned me why I wanted to go to Algeria: I responded:
"I want to see what it's like, also the weather is better"
It was a valid reason. The people at the embassy were friendly and professional.

They took my passport, money and the papers. I got it back two weeks later with a visa laminated inside the passport.

EDIT:
For some countries it's harder to get a visa, so you need to check with your embassy if you need an invitation letter. I have a contact in Algeria who can help you get the invitation letter for Algeria. She owns a guest house in Algiers and you have to book a stay with her (not for your entire stay in Algeria, but for a few days/weeks when you visit Algiers (the capital)). Shes also working on building a desert oasis, so you could inquire about that as well. Please be polite and respectful if you contact her. Her email is: coachimmo xxxx hotmail.fr

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I booked the ferry from Almeria (Spain) to Ghazaouet well in advance. The price was quite steep, around 250 for me and my bike and another 200 for a cabin. You could sleep on the floor (and most people do), but I wanted be well rested.

So the price was 450, quite a bit more than what I paid for the ferry from Tunisia to Italy (100euros with a cabin).

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Taking the ship:

I was in Almeria one day before my departure, so I decided to check in early. At the office I needed the following documents:

Visa inside passport
Reservation number
vehicle registration/owners document

They printed me a ticket, that I used to board the ship the next day. Boarding was super easy. Police checked my passport and ticket and I just rode onboard the ship. I was the only motorbike onboard but I saw many cars with French and Spanish plates, even saw some British plates.

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On the Algerian side

The procedures on the Algerian side took quite a bit longer (About 3 hours) than on the Spanish side. But the process itself was quite easy, many smiling police/custom officers showed me where to go. Most of them only spoke Arabic or French, but everyone was friendly and helpful.

Once you leave the ship you will be directed into one of 8 lines. In the line you will be given an arrival form (its in french) that you have to fill in. I used google translate and filled in the form. At the first stop a police officer will check your:

Form
Passport + Visa
Vehicle Documents
Phone number to the accommodation

This officer did not speak any English, but we managed with google translate. He actually called the Airbnb I had booked and checked that it was real. After about 10 minutes, he smiled at me stamped my passport and said "Welcome to Algeria". At this same checkpoint another officer asked me about vehicle insurance, I said that I need to buy it. The other officer told me to meet him after the baggage check, he helped me later on with the insurance.


After the police check 8 lines turns into 4 lines going into a building. Once you are inside the large hangar building you need to get a TIP (temporary import) from one of the counters there. The guy at the counter spoke english. He wanted to see my vehicle registration, he walked over to my bike and checked the plate, gave me a thumbs up, did some work on the computer and finally gave me the TIP for free. Valid for 3 months.

The next stop was the luggage check, I had to wait longer than others for the english speaking guy to arrive. He asked me to open the tank bag. Nothing interesting there, I had to x-ray my soft luggage, after the scan he asked me what I had at the left side of the bag, I explained that I had tools to fix the bike. That was it for the luggage check very easy.

The english officer grilled me a little bit on why I was coming to Algeria, I simply told him the truth.

“Why are you here”?:
- Tourist, I want to see Algeria

“Where will you be going”:
- North coast: Tlemchen, Oran, Algiers, Constantine, Annaba and then Tunisia.

“Occupation?”
-Computer Engineer

“What is your mission here?”
-No mission, just here for tourism

"How much money did you bring with you?"
- 700 euros (over 1000 you have to declare)

There were some other questions but I forgot. He looked me deeply in the eyes when he asked these questions and I have a feeling he would have known if I was lying.


After the grilling and the baggage check I was allowed to continue. I almost rode out of the place on accident, because there was a man (not in uniform) waving me towards the exit. I was intercepted by the police officer I met earlier and he said in an annoyed tone that I need to buy the insurance before leaving. I thanked him for reminding me and we walked into a small office where you buy the insurance.

I didn’t have any dinars, so I had to give the police officer 20 euros, he went and got me dinars in exchange. I probably got the worst exchange rate you can find in Algeria, the insurance cost me around 18 euros for 1 month.

The insurance seller, told me to not exchange any money at the bank where the exchange rate is around 145 dinars for 1 euro. He told me that I could get around 215 on the black market. I thanked him for the tip.

Once I had my insurance I was free to go! I drove towards the exit and I was allowed to leave! I was relived that the process was so easy, I played by the rules and was rewarded. I was free to explore Algeria on my own!


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A few hundred meters after the exit I stopped at a small store and asked where I can exchange money. The man left his store unguarded and took me two blocks to the black market trader where I got the rate of 215 dinars/Euro.

Bought a sim card. 60GB for 2200 dinars, tried to bargain, but they said it was a fixed price.

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Other stuff:

Military checkpoints
Plenty of military checkpoints, was stopped a few times, very friendly and I always got the "Welcome to Algeria".

Fuel
Officially the “sans plomb” is 95 RON, but in reality it’s somewhere around 91 RON. (long story short: the corruption in Algeria goes very far and wide) It worked fine for my T7, but might cause problems in higher compression engines. The fuel is very cheap, I paid 255 dinars to fill up my 5 liters camel tank. If I calculated correctly that comes out to around 0.25 Euros/ liter.
(Edit: I did get dirty fuel in Algiers (only happened once), so it might be worth using some sort of fuel filter or at the very least check the fuel before you fill up. It wasn't dirty enough to clog the engine, but it was definitely not clean)

People:
The Algerians are very friendly people. Lots of smiles and in the country side I got invited in for food a few times. Most Algerians warned me about the "bad people". You can see these criminals driving nice cars in the bigger cities.

Food
Excellent bbq you have to try it!
Never got sick, maybe because of the vaccine (Ducoral)

Roads:
Roads are clearly 3rd world roads. Not the worst I have driven on, but you need to pay attention. Traffic is more dangerous than the west. Almost got run over by a buss.

Other
Local taxi app called Yassir, works great but the driver always calls you, usually doesn’t speak English, so I just gave my phone to a bystander who explained the situation to the driver. (you need a Algerian number to use this app) NOTE: Be sure to activate the bonus coupon found inside the app to get 30% off every ride.

I guess that's it, feel free to ask questions if I forgot to mention something. And you should definitely visit Algeria! I am loving it.

Thanks for a great report, FS. Lots of useful info there.
I think you are lucky in Helsinki in that they did not require an invite and itinerary from an agency. But maybe you made it clear you were staying in the north.

You're mission (should you choose to accept it):
See how far south you can get along one of the 3 southbound desert axis before being turned back. I get a feeling they will be (from the west):
• Bechar, or maybe as far south as Adrar
• Ghardaia (or In Salah)
• Hassi Messaoud

For a nice desert circuit possibly without restrictions, you could try:
Bechar > Taghit > Kerzaz > Timimoun > El Menia (El Golea) and back north.

Or even the next loop down: Reggane then east to In Salah and back north.
(All tarmac in the desert).

Or just enjoy your own explorations ;-)
Point us to some photos if you put any online.

I only had one town on my itinerary. "Setif" I explained that it's in the middle of the country and it would be easy to visit places from there. Booking the same hotel for 50 days makes zero sense, if you plan on leaving Setif. But the Ambassador seemed to like me because I had an Iraq stamp in my passport, maybe that was the deciding factor for giving me the visa?

I would love to try this, but my vacation time is already over. So I have go back to my normal schedule of riding on the weekends and working remotely in a city on the weekdays... Not really doable in the Sahara.

I will definitely try one of these routes the next time I come back to Algeria, thanks for the tip.

I have left Algeria for Tunisia using the El Kala - Tabarka crossing.

Easy border crossing took me about 1.5 hours. About 5km before the border you can see black market traders waving cash around, very convenient so you can get rid of your Algerian dinars that are useless outside of Algeria.

On the Algerian side I was asked for a bribe of 500 dinars. I showed them a 100 dinar coin that I had at the bottom at my pocket and explained that it was all I had. They said something about going back to El Kala, but I just shrugged my shoulders pretending not to understand. After about 30 seconds of me not understanding they completely changed their tone and wanted to take a picture with my bike?! The only bribe I paid was the picture.

The 2nd set of guards checked my papers and asked if I had any pictures of Algeria. I said no, because I misunderstood the question, they let me through.

On the Tunisian side I met an Italian biker who had ridden Algeria for two weeks. We chatted a bit and he said the had taken the following route:

El Oued, Timgad, Timimoun, Ghardaia, Beni-Isguem.

So not down to the deep Sahara, for which you probably need a guide. He had used the same border to enter, so if you have a visa, it's also possible to enter Algeria from Tunisia. (Without a guide)

The motorcycle insurance for Tunisia was fairly expensive (around 50 euros for 2 months) so If you can get it on your green card it's definitely worth getting in advance. I also got a TIP for free valid for 3months.

I had a border guard dressed in civilian clothing open up my tank bag when I was buying insurance. I yelled "hey!" at him since I thought he was stealing my stuff, he quickly responded by unzipping his jacket revealing a military jacket. He pointed at his chest and said "COLONEL!". I walked over to him, shook his hand and thanked him for checking my luggage. He was mildly annoyed but let it go because I was so humble. :rofl:

Was also pleasantly surprised by the good services on the Tunisian side. I was able to exchange money and buy a sim card right at the border. Probably the easiest 3rd world border I have crossed.

---- Other:

I did get some dirty fuel once in Algeria (in Algiers) but it wasn't dirty enough to clog up my engine. The fuel was a yellow liquid with small floaters in it. I would recommend using some sort of fuel filter or at the very least check the fuel before you top up. Very much unlike the fuel in Tunisia that is of very high quality, you can find western companies like Shell everywhere.

Thank you for the valuable information, i had left a question to you in another thread which you have covered completely on this one.

Just one clarification on the Ferry part if you can indicate which site or maritime line you had chosen to book from as you said well before your departure time.

Thank you

I used Naviera Armas / Trasmediterránea (Don't confuse it with Transmed). And took the ferry from Almeria Spain. I booked on their website (https://www.trasmediterranea.es/)

Trip to the Algerian Desert.
 

I’ve been to Algeria last November,
I went from North (Algiers) to the desert area

Netherlands- Marseille 1200km
Ferry Marseille- Algiers
Algiers- Ghardaia (600km)
Ghardaia - Timimoune (570 km) passing by El Meniaa
Timimoune - Taghit (470km) passing by Beni Abe’s
Taghit - El Bayadh (530) passing by El Benoud
El Bayadh - Algiers
Ferry Algiers - Marseille
Marseille- Netherlands 1200km

Roads In Algeria are good, except a 150 km section between El Meniaa & Timimoune… you can still ride 120km/h
Safety was never an issue, but we made sure we booked hotels with parking to not have to worry about the bikes.
Food was excellent and very cheap
Fuel was very cheap, approx 0.25 euro / litter.
Fuels stations are available and several new ones have been added (I have them mapped on gps points if interested)
Checks points: have been stopped 3 times, but always for a chat, curiosity… never had to show any papers, the usual questions are: where are you heading to? Where do you come from? How fast ca the bike ride …..
There are many active motorcycle clubs in almost all region, you are most likely to meet them on the road, especially in the weekend or do connect with them before your arrival, they will advise you with the best road to take …
Check my YouTube channel “ Motorcycle Touring” or @Dzmotard and you can find the video from Nov 2022.
https://youtu.be/kRM-xd-5x4E

From Marseille, you have two operators,
Algerie ferries
https://www.algerieferries.com/

Corsica linea
https://www.corsicalinea.com/eng/

Thanks for sharing this, very useful and interesting.

Would you be able to share a little more information about the ferry crossing from Tunisia to Italy?

Thanks

Ed

Of course.

I booked my ticket online with GNV (https://www.gnv.it/en). The price for bike + cabin was 100euros, but there was a 30% sale when I booked.

The day before I contacted them on what time I should be in the harbour. They said 7pm, but it was way too early. So I arrived at 7pm, went to the GNV office to get my ticket here: https://goo.gl/maps/Gqvowbc32KZweexP6
(All of the ferry offices are at this same location)

I got my ticket and rode on to the correct gate (for me it was 13). Then you just follow the line. They had an extra check for me, because I had an Algerian visa in my passport. But other than that, all the standard stuff. They check your passport, your bike papers and the vin number on the bike, they check your luggage and that's pretty much it.

Bringing a drone into Algeria/Tunisia is very Illegal so I do not advise doing it, however I did meet a few bikers in the harbour, one of them might have been carrying a drone inside of his jacket. So if you have something illegal it's better to keep it deep inside your bike or on your person. (I strongly suggest you do not try this, Tunisian prison is not a fun place)

I was done with the procedures at around 9pm and then the waiting to get onboard the ship begun. We waited for many hours and at around 23.30 we were allowed to board the ship. I strongly recommend you bring food and something to do for this long wait. ( I had lots of food and podcasts I could listen to)

On the boat the crew will tie your bikes down securely and the cabins are good and fairly modern.

The process itself was very easy, but the wait was long.

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Update regarding the invitation letter to Algeria:

I have a contact who owns a guest houses in Algeria, who can help you with getting an invitation letter. Please be respectful when you ask her for help. You will have to book a stay at her place in Algiers (or at her Dessert oasis if it's ready, ask about it). You can email her at coachimmo * hotmail.fr

Thanks very much for this, including the invitation letter contact. I'm deciding this week whether to go (it will be tight on timings for my visa), but if I do I may contact them.

Thanks again

Ed

A very useful post thank you frameworkSpecialist, just one question can you enter by land from Tunisia now? I would like to complete travelling across North Africa and have ridden Egypt to Tunisia some years ago and would like to ride Tunisia to Morocco, I would be on a bicycle this time so flying into Tunis and out of somewhere in Morocco or Southern Spain.

DZ-TN land borders are open from Nefta right up to the coast.
But you do realise Mark that DZ-MK border is closed these last 30 years?
So you'll have to ferry/fly to MK via Europe.

You will also need a regular tourist visa with the usual dodges - not the new VoA (see other post).

Chris already covered it. But just for the sake of clarity:

Yes you can cross the land border from Tunisia to Algeria with the visa you get in advance from your home countrys Algerian embassy.

Algeria -> Marokko landborder is closed.

Just been pointed to this recent vid:
https://youtu.be/jBcUp6ce4TI
(not great quality; audio is a bit mushy)

Young French chappy on a Him who arrives in Oran and appears to have done TSH all the way to Tam, and beyond without any impediment from checkpoints at, say In Salah, where the 'Grand Sud' rules are said to begin.

Are they quietly doing away with the escort / CdH rule at the non-VoA visa app stage?
Or as always, does it depend on your nationality and the cut of your jib on the day?

Afaict he did the outer Hoggar loop (A8 in my old Sahara book) topped up and got east of Ideles heading for Djanet along a well formed piste, but appeared to lose his nerve and turned back citing uncertainty about fuel and what lay ahead. I know that feeling.
Odd, as I am sure I have seen tarmac NE of Ideles, but only for about 100km (resumes in 200km SW of BeH, according to google maps).

Anyway, the more travellers succeed in doing this the more normal it will become.