Roman Algeria and The Deep South

This cultural and historical tour to Algeria combines the country's finest Roman monuments with a circuit of the deepest Sahara.

This itinerary typically lasts fourteen days, and will take you from the capital Algiers and Algeria's triumvirate of Roman UNESCO World Heritage sites - Djemila, Timgad and Tipasa - to the far-flung expanses of of the Algerian Sahara, where the Tassili region around Djanet, including Tadrart, is known for its lofty dunes, stunning rock formations and ancient paintings and engravings.

Djemila, Timgad and Tipasa are among the finest monuments of the ancient world, perhaps even more impressive - and certainly less visited - than Libya's Leptis Magna.

Tipasa, nestling undisturbed amongst palm trees on the shores of the Mediterranean, once served as an inspiration to Albert Camus. Phoenician, Roman, palaeo-Christian and Byzantine ruins vie for attention alongside the nearby Mauritanian mausoleum.

The Roman remains in eastern Algeria, unheralded and unvisited, delight even the most worldly traveller: south of Constantine, on the northern slopes of the Aurès, lies Timgad, the "Pompeii of Africa": constructed under Trajan as a bulwark against the unruly Berbers, Timgad represents the embodiment of Roman urban planning.

Lambaesis is one of the most magnificent legionary camps in the whole of North Africa, whilst the wheel-rutted streets of Djemila - ancient Cuicul - are lined with two forums and a clutch of elaborate houses, churches and temples whilst Tiddis, clinging to the summit of an ochre-red hill, lies just outside Constantine, "City of Bridges".