Rules for overlanding in Algeria

An International Driving Permit on either the 1949 Geneva or the 1968 Vienna model is accepted; a national licence works only within a year of the holder transferring residence to Algeria. Check what applies to the licence you hold.

At the entry customs post you fill in and sign a "Titre de passage en douane / certificat d'admission temporaire" with the vehicle's make, type, engine size, chassis and plate numbers and your addresses, which customs completes with your passport and visa details. It lets you circulate for the period granted, generally 90 days at most, and has to be handed back at the customs post on the way out before it expires. The vehicle must be re-exported at the end of your stay.

Cover has to be bought at the border: taking out an Algerian motor policy valid for the length of your stay is compulsory at customs.

The permitted blood alcohol level is 0.10 g/l. Driving under the influence of drink or drugs is a criminal offence, punished with up to two years in prison and a fine of around 2,000 euro.

At police and Gendarmerie checkpoints slow down, and after dark switch your headlights off and turn the cabin light on.

The ministry advises against using a car outside the main cities at night, and on peripheral roads. Crashes are frequent both in towns and on the open road, and rise during Ramadan; Algiers itself is heavily congested in the early morning and the afternoon.

The trans-Saharan axis from Ghardaia to Tamanrasset is monitored by the Algerian military, but banditry can still happen at its most isolated points.

Algeria closed the land border with Morocco long ago; it cannot be used as a crossing.

Carry communications equipment for the remotest parts of a route and check that your local guide has a satellite device. The extreme climate demands specific preparation, suitable equipment and being physically fit for the trip.

Bringing in video cameras, binoculars, GPS units, drones, computer servers, fax and transmission gear, telephone exchanges, firearms, gold and coral is restricted, temporary import included, and needs authorisations the ministry describes as extremely restrictive. Check with Algerian customs before you load any of it.

Since 1 January 2026 every traveller in or out must declare any sum above 1,000 euro, along with other bearer payment instruments, securities, precious metals and stones — including what is carried in the vehicle, not just on you or in luggage. Customs have reinforced powers to ask where the money came from and where it is going, and can seize it. Cards work in very few hotels and restaurants and ATMs are scarce, so work out how much cash you need beforehand and change it only at banks or authorised bureaux.

Taking Algerian dinars out is prohibited, as is exporting goods belonging to the national heritage, certain antiques among them. Travellers who buy bulk coral, raw or worked, are increasingly being stopped at the border, fined, having it confiscated and being expelled.

Drug offences carry severe penalties, even for minimal quantities for personal use. Photographing government or security buildings is strictly prohibited, and same-sex relations are a criminal offence.

Algerian Customs states that every traveller entering or leaving the country with a vehicle must subscribe to a Titre de Passage en Douane (TPD), a simplified declaration for the temporary import of road vehicles registered abroad. For foreigners it is valid for three months, extendable up to six months, and is issued on presentation of a valid passport and the vehicle registration certificate. It can be subscribed online through the customs platform ALCES, before arrival and/or exit. (Direction Générale des Douanes algériennes — Titre de Passage en Douane (TPD) pour véhicules (dépliant 2025))