Things to do in Algiers

Landmark · Above the port, old city

The UNESCO-listed Ottoman citadel quarter — stepped alleys, palaces and terraces stacked down the hillside to the sea.

Local tip: It is a living neighbourhood in fragile condition, not a restored monument, and parts are genuinely unsafe structurally. Go with a local guide or a resident, which is also the only way you will get inside any of the palaces or onto a terrace. Photograph people only after asking.

Landmark · Bologhine, on the cliff north of the centre

A nineteenth-century basilica on a headland above the bay, with the inscription asking Our Lady to pray for Muslims and Christians alike.

Local tip: The view over the whole bay from the terrace is the best in the city and free. The inscription behind the altar — 'priez pour nous et pour les musulmans' — is the single most quoted thing about Algiers and worth reading in place.

Nature · Belouizdad, east of the centre

A vast nineteenth-century botanical garden climbing from the sea toward the Bardo, with avenues of dragon trees and ficus.

Local tip: One of the great botanical gardens anywhere and used as an ordinary park by Algerois families. The French garden at the bottom is the photographed part; walk up through the English garden to the museum at the top for the view back down the axis to the sea.

Neighborhood · The heights, south of the centre

The hillside commune where most foreign residents and much of the diplomatic corps live, with the Sidi Yahia shopping streets below it.

Local tip: This is the practical answer to 'where do foreigners live in Algiers'. Sidi Yahia is where the cafés and shops are and where you will actually spend time; Hydra above it is quieter and residential. Neighbouring El Biar and Ben Aknoun are the other two names you will hear constantly.

Culture · 70 km west along the coast

A Roman city on the sea, with basilicas and a forum overlooking the Mediterranean and the Chenoua mountain behind.

Local tip: The most beautiful Roman site in Algeria and an easy day trip west. Camus wrote about it, and the essay is worth reading before you go. Combine it with the Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania on the ridge above, which almost nobody visits.

Nature · About an hour south

Cedar forest and a national park in the Atlas above Blida, high enough to get snow in winter.

Local tip: Algerois go up here in summer for the temperature and in winter for the snow, and it is almost entirely unknown to foreigners in the city. The cedar forest and the views back over the Mitidja plain are the point. Check road conditions in winter — the approach is steep and the weather changes fast.