Algeria: Autumn - November 2025

I went to Tunisia back in 2015 and met a family of Algerians at the airport. They were so friendly. They invited us to visit their country saying how beautiful it is and how they welcome all visitors. At that point in time Algeria is not in Malaysians tour agencies list. The memory however stuck in my brain. 

After six years holiday hiatus, I found that the tourism landscape in Malaysia have changed significantly. Some tour companies sadly did not survive Covid. However, there are many new ones now. Most importantly there are many now that arrange tours to exotic countries. Countries that I never even dream of going before 😅 

I suppose when I put it out there that I want to reach 100 countries before I turn 60, the universe showed the way 😍

This trip was organised by IG Group Holidays Sdn Bhd. Thirteen days ten nights. Full board. RM12090 for solo traveller. RM10590 for twin sharing. All in price excluding travel insurance.

Our itinerary was as follows:

04 November 2025  Kuala Lumpur - Istanbul

05 November 2025  Istanbul - Algiers

06 November 2025  Algiers - Constantine

07 November 2025  Constantine

08 November 2025  Constantine - Biskra

09 November 2025  Biskra - Ghardaia

10 November 2025  Ghardaia

11 November 2025  Ghardaia - Timimoun

12 November 2025  Timimoun - Oran

13 November 2025  Oran - Tlemcen - Oran

14 November 2025  Oran - Chlef

15 November 2025  Chlef - Tipasa - Algiers - Istanbul

16 November 2025  Istanbul - Kuala Lumpur

My World Countdown:

I thought Algeria was my number #70. After making a new target of 100 countries by 60, I figured I better make sure my calculation is right. Don't want to celebrate reaching the target only to find out that I was short 😂

Coincidentally at the same time, a couple of my friends suggested that I used some travel apps to calculate the countries. So I tried two apps. Funnily different apps gave different numbers. Why am I not surprise that we, the earthlings can't even agree on the number of countries on earth? 😅

I always thought that it was 198. It turns out United Nation's official sovereign countries are only 195. The extra three are Taiwan, Kosovo and Western Sahara, according to ChatGPT "Some media outlets, travel websites, educational sources, and private organisations (like certain atlases or country lists) use 198 in informal global listings."

Needless to say, I will follow United Nation's official number. As such, Algeria will be my #67. I have to remove Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau from my calculation 😭 

I suppose this is a blessing in disguise. Now I know that Tibet, Greenland and Antarctica are not separate countries. Southern Cyprus is a country not their northern counterpart. Dublin is in country Ireland but Belfast, Northern Ireland is part of United Kingdom. I thought it was the other way round 😅 From now onwards I will check the UN list first before booking my flight tickets or tours 😋

POST MORTEM (Updated on 30 November 2025)

Tour Company:

My first time with IG Group Holidays. Very easy to deal with. Their support staff are fabulous. Very fast response to any queries. Well done!

Itinerary:

For Algeria, IGGH have two tours. Mono Algeria and Algeria + Tunisia. Since I've been to Tunisia before, I've decided to go in depth Algeria this time round. I found the itinerary quite relaxing despite long journey in between cities. We had enough time to rest.  We arrived at the hotels mostly before dark so plenty of time to take a bath and a short nap if you so desired before having leisurely dinners. 

Places of attractions we visited for me were ok but if you have issues with hiking and going up and down the stairs, then maybe some places visited were a bit challenging. You can just stay on the van surfing the internet. Thus it is recommended to get yourself eSim data plan. It helps while away the time spend on long journey 😅

Another thing, for visits to the mosques it is not enough to just cover your hair. You must make sure you wear loose pants and blouse. If you like to wear leggings like me better to bring your own loose long robe if you wish to visit the mosque. The mosques did provide you with the "jubah" and scarfs but I don't find it very hygienic and comfortable. Better to bring your own.

Outside the mosques compound, the locals don't really care what the tourists wear so long as it is not too revealing. So no off shoulder tops and short skirts. The sun is pretty hot, so why take the risk of sun burn? Better to cover the skin 😋

In Timimoun we were joined by a cameraman cum journalist from a local TV station. Tourists are a rare phenomena at these desert cities thus news worthy 😆 

Airlines:

We flew to Algiers via Turkish Airlines. It has been awhile since I had a stopover at Istanbul. The Ataturk International Airport is so huge now. Most importantly the security checks for the transit passengers are very smooth. Well done Istanbul! My only gripe is the price for everything there are so expensive. All priced in Euro 😅

04 November 2025  TK61      KUL-IST    23:45. 06.05(+1)

05 November 2025  TK651    IST-ALG    08:40. 10:35

12 November 2025  AH6379 TMX-ORN 14:00. 16:10

15 November 2025  TK654    ALG-IST    17:45. 23:25

16 November 2025  TK60      IST-KUL    02:00. 17:20

We had a domestic Air Algerie flight from Timimoun to Oran using a regional aircraft ATR-72. A propeller plane, felt like flying in a WW2 movies 😂 The journey was only two hours so we were pleasantly surprised to be served tasty snacks and drinks 👏🏻

Tour Leader Coordinator:

We had a very capable tour leader by the name Riz. If I were to rate him solely on competency, I would rate him a solid A. There were much to like about his style. 

The one I like most was the local currency cash advance of DZD2000 that he gave to each one of us at the start of the tour. Just in case we want to buy something prior to him getting us the local money. In my more than two decades of travel via tour agencies, this is the first. Well done! This should be made the industry practice😋 He then arranged to exchange our USD to Algerian Dinar using a more favourable rate of USD10=DZD2000 instead of the Google rate USD15.

I also like his time management. Very clear and enough time allocated to do sight seeing and take photos. Tidbits given on the van during the long journey and extra snacks to tide us before our next meal were very much appreciated. On the last day he provided us with a light lunch, which was not in the itinerary. 

Having said that, I simply cannot ignore his major fault of subjecting us, his paying customers, to his daily lectures as though we were probie travellers. Because of this, I will rate him B. He offended simply too many people in the group for me to rate him higher. Funnily over my two decades of travels, this level of arrogance, sarcasm and "loyar buruk"ness from a Tour Leader, excuse me, Tour Coordinator was also a first 😅

He did say "Bukan tugas saya untuk buat anda semua bahagia sebab itu akan buat hidup saya sengsara". I have to write this in Malay, it sounded more poetic 😂 Basically what he is trying to say is his job is to make sure we covered all itineraries in a timely and safe manner, not to help us carry our bags or help us negotiate the challenging terrain. According to him, if you cannot carry your own bags then you shouldn't be bringing that bag in the first place. Which I totally agree. So I get where he came from but when you are working in a service industry, if you have nothing good to say, maybe it is better not to say anything at all. 

Local Tour Guide:

Our local guy is Elyas. Very nice and helpful chap. I will rate him A 🤗 He will patiently explain the history and then he will quiz us. Felt sorry when we couldn't answer his questions half of the time. Too many wars too many empires too many centuries. Even the nerd in me cannot keep track of all the dates 😅 What I can say is the Algerians went through a lot of hardships over the centuries of their existence and I respect that instead of turning bitter, they are still one of the nicest people on earth. They are not weak or naive, just genuinely kind and friendly. To me that what matters most 😍 

Bus:

Since there were only eight of us plus another two from IGGH, we used a Merc mini van as our mode of transport. The size was just nice for our group. Most of the time it was ok. At one point in time I think the air con was not working, luckily the temperature outside was not too hot.

Bus Driver:

I cannot remember how many drivers we had. Minimum two. One was with us from Algiers to Timimoun. He didn't follow when we flew to Oran. From Oran to Algiers I'm not sure whether it was the same driver or not throughout the rest of the trip.  All were very good drivers. Smooth safe journey 🥰

Hotels: 

We stayed in seven hotels in ten nights.

New Day Hotel, Algiers

Novotel, Constantine

Viscera Hotel, Biskra

Villa Tezribt, Ghardaia

Gourara Hotel, Timimoun

Sofihotel, Oran

Hotel La Vallee, Chlef

What can I say? The hotels are tourist standard. The rooms at the big cities are slightly better than the ones in the outskirts. As our Tour Coordinator loved to say "adjust your expectations" 😆

Hotel Breakfasts:

Pretty good buffet breakfast at the city hotels, a bit basic at the outskirts. They have an Algerian version of roti canai. Great coffees. Tasty breads. Wonderful fresh dates. At one place they even gave us chocolates for breakfast 👏🏻

Lunches:

Mostly simple local dish. The food served varies. Most of the time it was good. Need to put on record, I love the baguettes! Their grilled meat needs improvements though. Too tough. We ended up fighting with our food 😂 Maybe they can learn from the Moroccans on how to grill a perfect meat. I like their homegrown brand Hamoud lemon flavoured carbonated soft drink 😍 The fruits juices served were good too.

Dinners:

We mostly had dinners at the hotel restaurants except one time when our TC tapau for us Mexican food. The buffet dinners were good, the sit-downs were ok. I noticed that we wasted a lot of food during sit-down meals. The locals must think Malaysians are picky eaters 🥴 Thank God we had couscous dish only once throughout the trip. That is one too many of you ask me 😅

Rapport With Fellow Travellers:

Fantastic group of people. All are seasoned travellers. Pretty awesome to hear about their travel experiences. One of them, a 75 year old lady have been to 95 countries, Algeria is her number 96. She inspires me to go to 100 countries by 60. One guy went on a 90++ day Peace Boat Cruise to the northern hemisphere. Another guy with an aid of a cane proved the adage "where there is a will, there is a way". Respect!

Timing:

Good timing to go. The temperature was pretty moderate. You can survive with thin clothing. Less weight to carry 😋

Overall:

An enjoyable trip. Gorgeous photos. No regrets. Syukur alhamdulillah 😍

Note: If you ever read my blog posts before you will notice that I never shared my own personal photos. After my long holiday hiatus, I've decided to make a change. The photos are simply too good for just my own personal viewing. They might inspire people to visit more exotic countries 😄

I've uploaded all the photo videos of the trip in my IG account mkhasha.n.travels and photo videos of the food at mkhasha.n.food 😀 Do check it out.

Hashtags specific for this trip:
#mks2025Algeria #mks20251104 #mks20251105 #mks20251106 #mks20251107 #mks20251108 #mks20251109 #mks20251110 #mks20251111 #mks20251112 #mks20251113 #mks20251114 #mks20251115 #mks20251116

Njoy!