We are three students travelling to Algiers next month.Some questions

Hi Joana,

Welcome to Expat.com!

I hope you get replies to your queries very soon.

I wish you good luck

hi i'm form algeria especially from oran....i can help you ..for your first questions i think you can smoke it's legal lol...but not in front of everybody there is some places where you can smoke......and i advice you to book a room because it's kind of hard to find at the last moment....you can take with you 500 euro will be good but if you want good hotels and everything you need around 800 or 1000 euro that's it .....and i'll be glad to meet you if you come in oran contact me on ramyhocine@hotmail.fr

ramyjohn wrote:

hi i'm form algeria especially from oran....i can help you ..for your first questions i think you can smoke it's legal lol...but not in front of everybody there is some places where you can smoke......and i advice you to book a room because it's kind of hard to find at the last moment....you can take with you 500 euro will be good but if you want good hotels and everything you need around 800 or 1000 euro that's it .....and i'll be glad to meet you if you come in oran contact me on ramyhocine@hotmail.fr

Thank you very much for your answers!
At the moment we are having big problems with getting visa for Algeria. We need confirmations from the hotels and it is nearly impossible to get written confirmations from them. We are working on it since several says. Often, the hotels have only faxes and no email. One hotel in Algers promised to send a fax confirmation, but it did not happen. The problem is that the embassy of Algeria wants us to send the confirmation immediately, but it is not in our hands. All we can do is call and send faxes...
So it does not look very good for our trip to Algeria, :-(. It seems like we are not getting visa and we cannot afford expensive hotel where it would be no problem to get reservation- confirmations.
Anyway, in case we are allowed to come to Algeria finally, we will be happy to write you because we planned to go to Oran as well for three days (13-16 September).
Have a nice day!
Joana

essalam alikom Hi

well first of all welcome to Algeria I hope you will enjoy your visit to our country my name is kamel I am an Algerian national living in Algiers and work for the ministry of finance  as for your questions I will start with the first one in fact you can wear light dresses ,jeans , T-shirt as well  but not too short or too open or too tight , not all women here wear "hijab" the veil so no problem just wear what doesn't attract too much attention  as for the behaviour  do as you you are used to, just avoid kisses in public  is case your lover is with you ,smocking for a woman is seen here as indecent act and not feminine so avoid smoking in public
avoid also going out at night

your second question : hotels there are so many hotels in Algiers of different categories 2 or 3 star ones so don't worry but the taxi drivers can be little bit greedy and take you for a long tour to see the city and look for a hotel with some extra money I mean not as he usually earns

your third question: the of use credit cards is very limited so you will have to use cash most of the time as for the amount of money you need here you have to know that Algeria is little bit expensive  compared to Tunisia or Morocco  so I recommend you to bring 700 Euro ear person  one more thing the current exchange rate is 1 Euro=103,75 DZD but in the street market outside the bank  you can get 140 DZD for  1 Euro  it is guaranteed I can help you with that as you need an Algerian national to help with that this way is the best way to get more money than bank

The fourth question: if your are looking for non-Algerian so I can't help you if the contrary I mean local people yea , my holidays starts from 4 Th of September to the 4 Th of October so feel free to contact me   see you soon best regards D.kamel

Dear Joana,

well, my point of view is completely different as a woman, I am a big smoker and used to smoke in my car, in coffees, restaurants and in oran even in some streets, pople will see that you are not Algerian, so that's ok, they might look at you as a curious thing but that's ok nobody will hurt you

for hotels, I know many of them in Oran, very nice, easy to find, and in safe areas for only 1.700 DA - 12/13 EU max.

as I was living not far from a night club in Algiers (20 Mn) I was used to go back home at 4/5 in the morning with friends, wlking on streets as we did not have cars, without getting any trouble.. it depends of the areas and kind of places.

My best friend is used to receive people from foreign countries to ensure to them a nice stay and for free so if u get  your visa please let me know, I will leave you his informations ( phone, mail ..) in private message, he would be happy to help !

as for the reservations, Al Aurassi Hotel is doing some reservations to get visa, otherwise, try with the hotels in Oran, usually they are more serious than hotels in Algiers.

for the dressing code, in Algiers it's a bit conservative, but short skirts, jeans, tops even tight ( Im a girl I know what Im talking about)

Regards,
Hanane