Digital Nomad Reports from Algeria

What people are saying about being a digital nomad in Algeria

Anonymous from Reddit says;

Being a digital nomad in Algeria is fun, good for your own culture and education, very tiring, expensive and not suitable for those with a basic salary, and the YouTube videos about working from the beach and all that instagram-perfect lifestyle is a load of waffle.

First of all when you say nomad — do you mean 1 month to 6 months in a place at a time? Or 1 day to 1 week in a place at a time?

There’s a big difference between the logistics of the two. Long-term stays are easier. I will be talking about my experience with short-term stays (1-7 days per Wilaya and then move somewhere else.)

Time management

You need really good time management, you can’t mix work and exploring. Separate them. I don’t believe anyone can actually work at the beach or in a café — unless it’s like a 15 minute task, or unless your work is just texting people.

To work you need a calm, comfortable, and personal space like an office or a desk at your hotel room.

You need to carefully plan your work hours and “exploring” hours. You can easily get distracted from your work by exploring the new city. Don’t lose track of work, and forbid yourself from exploring places during work hours.

Destinations

To save yourself some stress, if you have multiple destinations, plan ahead during weekends.

You don’t have to be too detailed with your plan, I personally like a bit of “just go with the flow” but at least plan the main cities you’ll be visiting.

I suggest not fully planning the exploring down to every last detail. That’s boring and just feels forced.

Expenses

Your biggest expenses are: Hotels/AirBnBs, taxis, food. In Algeria I prefer and mostly use hotels, and the occasional AirBnB.

Accomodation

The Hotels you stay at will make or break your trip. Internet, security, comfort. You will be WORKING from the hotel, not just sleeping there, so you are different from a normal traveler who can go out and explore all day. The hotel will be your temporary home, choose wisely.

I tried everything from very cheap (literally found them to be houses of ill repute, for lack of formal terms) to luxury hotels. The cheap hotels usually ruin my experience. I stay away from them. The luxury hotels can be overkill.

Sometimes I stayed at multiple hotels per Wilaya just to find the best one, and it’s not always the most expensive. I’ve stayed at 10.000da/night hotels that were waaay better than 15.000/night ones, and not so different from a 30.000da/night hotel.

You can’t really know unless you ask someone who has experienced staying there.

My advice is to stay on the safe side and go for higher-end hotel chains, or a nice brand hotel you can get with your budget. Stay where a foreigner would stay for security.

I have a good experience with Marriott and all its brands. Hotel brands / chains are usually good since they are held accountable for any mistakes by higher management.

Outside of les grandes villes (Oran, Algiers, Constantine, Setif, etc.) the good hotels are cheap. Like 6000/night for a great room and great service, on par with Marriott. Les grandes villes, expect to pay around 10.000/night+ for the quality and internet you need.

Budget

That being said; since I live in Algeria (I have a permanent place to stay in Algiers), and since hotels are important for me but expensive, and since “digital nomading” can be very tiring, here’s what I do:

I go to 1-3 wilayas for 1-3 days each (1 week max in total) every month. Then I go back home to Algiers. Rest, continue working, get paid, travel again the next month, repeat.

It’s a good way for me to travel locally comfortably and in nice hotels without going bankrupt.

I would NOT rent a car if I don’t have one. Waste of money, imo, especially in small cities. You will miss out on the opportunity to explore cities by foot (a great way to explore) and you would miss out on the opportunity of just finding a way to make it work and meeting locals and taxi drivers who can become friends that will help you, tell you stories, show you around, etc.

If you have your own car, bring it if the City you’re going to is big. I’m personally not going to bring a car anymore.

Laundry

Not having enough clean clothes can push you to end your trip early — rule of thumb: whenever you’re at a hotel for more than 2 days, have them clean any dirty laundry you have in your bag (don’t do this during your checkout day, you need to wait for your clothes to be cleaned and need time to pack dry clothes before leaving).

Company

Traveling alone is boring and can make you sad. Bring company if you can. If you can’t, try to make friends at the hotel lobby and when you go out exploring.

Taxi drivers

hotels will have a list of taxi drivers that are used to taking tourists around to explore. With fixed pricing for each destination. Try hiring them, make friends with them and just go exploring together.

Or, when you’re going around the city in a taxi / Heetch / Yassir, if you liked chatting with the driver, ask for a “day rate” (to book them for a full day) they can drive and show you around the city.

Pack light

but pack smart. You can always buy clothes while there.

I usually travel with 1 bag that has my laptop, money and essentials (kept at the hotel) and 1 bag with clothes.

Locla online marketplace Ouedkniss is a fantastic resource for those staying long term in Algeria