Questions about a road trip in Algeria

I’m heading out solo on September 14, 2025, for a month-long road trip in Algeria. Taking the ferry from Almería to Ghazaouet on September 17. Planning to visit Tlemcen, Oran, Tipaza, Algiers, Ghardaïa, Constantine, M’Chouneche, Ouargla, and the Tadrart Desert toward Djanet.

How do I go about booking accommodations? What’s the best way to exchange currency under good conditions? What are the restrictions for traveling alone by car, and is it possible to drive solo all the way to Ghardaïa? I still have a spot available if anyone’s interested.

Do you have the visa?

I need to ask about it 1 month before my departure, around August 15th

Good evening,

This was roughly the trip I took in December 2023: Almería/Ghazaouet, Tlemcen, ......... with my old VW T3 camper van. I detailed my "little" adventure (since they only granted me a one-month visa instead of the three I requested) in the ALGERIA section of this forum. To get my visa, they asked me to provide a day-by-day breakdown of my trip, including every stop, arrival and departure dates, and proof of advance payment for each hotel reservation. I assume this is still the case. This isn’t my usual way of traveling at all—I rarely stay in hotels and prefer to camp in the wild. Plus, I never know exactly where I’ll end up each night. So, I’d given up on the idea.

Two tips I found while scouring the internet made it possible for me to go after all: - Providing an accommodation certificate from a local (ideal) or a single guesthouse/hotel covering the entire trip duration. Thanks to my Algerian neighbor (from Tizi Ouzou) who gave me this certificate, I got my visa. Legally, in this case, you’re only supposed to stay near the accommodation location, so you can’t explore the country freely. - Another forum member confirmed they’d managed the trip because, once they arrived in Algeria and cleared the disembarkation formalities, they simply drove wherever they wanted without any issues and were barely checked.

That’s exactly what I did after leaving Ghazaouet—no problems at all, with very few authority checks (5 or 6 in a month). From Ghazaouet to Collo, in the northern third of the country. Due to time constraints, I didn’t go further south than a line from Seddou to Biskra.

Just make sure you have all the documents related to your host! Happy to provide more details or check out my other posts in the "Algeria" section.