Algiers walking tour & city guide

Two cities in one

The Casbah, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the old Ottoman town: a maze of steep alleys, stairways and courtyard houses with carved wooden doors, crowned by the citadel. Below it spreads the 19th-century city built under French rule, with white facades, wrought-iron balconies and long arcades along Boulevard Che Guevara by the port.

Rue Didouche Mourad is the main shopping street of the modern centre, running uphill past cafés, bookshops and the Sacred Heart Cathedral. The Grande Poste, a neo-Moorish post office from 1910, is the city's best-known landmark and a meeting point on the square in front of it.

A classic walk

Start at the Grande Poste and walk up Rue Didouche Mourad to the Sacred Heart, then cut across to the Jardin d'Essai, a botanical garden of palms and ficus trees laid out in 1832. From there, a short ride brings you to the Martyrs' Memorial, three giant concrete palm leaves above the city with the best view over the bay.

Another day, enter the Casbah from Place des Martyrs near the Ketchaoua Mosque and climb slowly through its lanes. A local guide is the easiest way to find the hidden palaces and avoid getting lost.

Good to know

Most visitors need a visa arranged in advance. Spring and autumn are the most pleasant seasons; summers are hot and humid. The metro, trams and cable cars help with the steep hills, and Friday is the weekly day of rest, when many shops close.