Why North Africa?

North Africa has a rich, multi-cultural history and is full of beautiful landscapes, incredible stories, and really truly amazing people. From ruins of empires re-shaped over centuries to mountains yielding to deserts to the most incredible chickpea stew you’ll ever eat, this is not a place to underestimate. As a bonus, many of the really incredible historical sites have very little tourism, so you can experience all the authenticity of the region without crowds and hassles.

Morocco

Morocco has become a much more popular tourist destination in the past decade, and for good reason! It has all the charm of the Maghreb region with a welcoming attitude towards tourists. Morocco has several cities with rich culture, arts, and food scenes, as well as scenic and meaninlturally experiences in the desert and Atlas mountains.

Algeria

Algeria is still a mystery to many tourists, as the country was closed for tourism for many years and the tourist industry has only recently started to rebuild. The tourism infrastructure remains poorly developed, so visiting with a knowledgeable guide is key, but the reward of coming is well worth the slight added effort of going through the visa process. As the largest country in Africa, Algeria includes a variety of landscapes, from ocean, to mountains, to desert. The people are, in general, friendly, proud, and resilient.

Tunisia

Tunisia exists at a nexus of historical cultural influences over the past several centuries and includes within it a variety of vacation experiences… from the iconic blue and white village to the various ruins to the Saraha desert

A note on safety concerns

For anyone worried about safety in North Africa- you should always approach traveling with a sense of appropriate caution and awareness, I absolutely support that. The last thing you want in any moment, vacation or otherwise, is to inadvertently put yourself in a precarious position because you didn’t have an appropriate amount of situational awareness.

That said, I would like to share my own experience, which was overwhelmingly positive, even more so than several trips I have taken in Europe or more “typical” vacation destinations. I felt exceedingly safe and comfortable in all three of these countries, as a female traveler.

I never felt unsafe for a moment in any of these countries, in either the cities, in smaller villages, or out touring the historical sites. People were friendly but non-intrusive. Most people acknowledged me warmly but only when I initiated an interaction, and otherwise did not approach me on the street, look at me in a way that made me feel out of place, etc. I felt very much like I was a part of the landscape in the best way; despite very clearly not “blending in” based on my physical appearance, I felt relatively similar to as if I were in any other city, where everyone around me was living their own lives and really wasn’t very concerned about my presence.