Tunisia-Algeria border post
 

Hi
I was 2 times to Algeria with guide. Two times crossed in Taleb Larbi.
This time I want to travel independent in north of Algeria.

My question is which border crossing is open for EU citizen? Only Alger port or also border crossing up north (Malloula or other)??

thanks for help

We entered at Maloula, in 2019. Without agency and guide. Traveled independently to Alger, staying in Annaba, and some other places, along the way

You should probably read this thread: https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hu...algeria-103794

But in short all tunisia -> algeria border posts are open to EU citizen (as far as I know)

I have red this few times. I back few days ago from Djanet and Tam. Second time with the same guide. It is ok, but driving independent is a better sort of travel. Of course we have to take guides on desert tracks, but on transit we really don't need them. So if I can enter from Tunisia without guide I can see north part of Algeria and then move south as far as it will be possible and then rent a guide. It is my "secret "plan.

So the latest information on the ground is that you might not need a guide any longer - a small but growing number of people have made it down to the south without one, albeit mainly on motorbikes rather than cars or vans.

For my own trip, on a motorbike, I was able to explore desert tracks though I was careful about not telling the gendarmes when I planned to do so.

Read more here: https://wherenextbarney.me/algerian-...outh-off-road/

Ed

We drove down to Djanet in 2009 in our own vehicle.
Came in at Bou Chebka, which is just west of Kasserine and Djebel Chambi Natl Park, later a stronghold for jihadists and perhaps not the best route to take even today. But an easy crossing.
We nighted in Tebessah which was a spooky town, carried on to Oued where we needed to exchange our USD. Our presence worried the local police so much that their boss personally took us to a bank which was closed, woke up the sleeping president and let us do the exchange and then escorted us to the city limits.
We did get renseignements from the gendarmes in Ouargla and Hassi Messaoud but noone asked us for a guide until we came to Illizi, where the chief of police came out to greet us at the first rondpoint.

This really interesting to hear, that this was possible as late as 2009. Did the police insist that you have a guide after Illiizi?

It will be interesting to see if the current relaxation of rules continues. When the gendarmes were concerned about me not having a guide, they rang their HQ and I was always allowed to proceed without one.

From speaking to at least one Algerian guide in-country, their perspective was that when the VOA was introduced last year, the government also relaxed the guide rules for travelling in your own vehicle.

That said, the majority of guides I did meet were still surprised to see me there without one. I know that when I arrived in Djanet, the guides were going as far as sharing passport details of their group members with the gendarmerie prior to their arrival.

It also sounds like the non-VOA visa application process has changed too - for example in London, there is no longer anything in the process about declaring by what form of transport you will be travelling, just a customs type section in the visa form about 'equipment'. I didn't mention my motorbike in this for obvious reasons.

Ed

During my trip last month I noticed that atmosphere is more calm than during my last trip in 2017. There wasn't any escort from Djanet to Tam (it was supposed to be obligatory). Most of the posts we passed without guide and many times before guide who drove behind us.
It looks like you can drive independent and only stay for night on post or in city. And you can travel free.
I will back there in February and will test it.

Yep that was also my experience in September to November this year, with no guide.

Ed.


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When we arrived at Illizi we asked the chief of police if we could carry on without a guide as we had had no problems so far. He curtly replied "ici c'est le grand Sud".
He said we were the first to arrive on our own since the kidnappings of 2003.
So we had to find a quick guide to Djanet. There we found two excellent guides and spent a wonderful week driving around the desert and on to Tamanrasset, avoiding all gendarmes.
In Tam we waited eleven days for a visa to Niger, which was ultimately denied. And so we had to drive to Mali, which became an eventful trip. The guide we were assigned (by the name Rasta) we found untrustworthy and he later actually went to jail for staging a kidnapping. We asked around town for the best guide to go to Kidal, and found the perfect one - an old warrior who was well known to everyone we met all the way to Gao. His name was Zroufi.
Overall one of the best trips I have ever made.

Brahim and Abdellah from Djanet
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-gm?authuser=0https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...4-h395-s-no-gm

Zroufi from Kidal
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-gm?authuser=0

Magical Tanezrouft
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-gm?authuser=0
Coming home I started planning for the next trip to Algeria, but as the situation deteriorated over the following years, it never happened. Alas.