Why this ride
From Algiers it runs 152 km to Algiers; allow about 2 h 28 of riding. On the way it passes Mausoleum Kbor er Roumia, Tipasa: Parc archaéologique est, Tipasa: Parc archaéologique ouest and Tipasa.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Algiers day out · Tipasa
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 152 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 28
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Algiers
Algiers climbs a hillside above the Mediterranean in a white amphitheatre, which is why it is called Algiers the White. The old quarter, the Casbah, is a maze of narrow lanes, stairways and blind alleys that drop steeply toward the sea, with houses leaning over the paths so closely that the sunlight hardly reaches the ground. UNESCO listed it in 1992 as an example of a North African Islamic city, with an Ottoman citadel, old mosques and palaces. Many of the buildings are in bad repair, and there is a long-running effort to save them, but the life of the quarter goes on, with children playing football in the lanes and cats on every wall.
Read the complete Algiers write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Algiers is where the day begins. Next is Mausoleum Kbor er Roumia.
2. Mausoleum Kbor er Roumia
On a low hill west of Algiers, above the farmland of the Mitidja plain and within sight of the sea, stands a great round tomb of pale stone that the French called the Tombeau de la Chrétienne and the Algerians call Kbor er Roumia, the tomb of the Christian woman. The name is a folk memory rather than a fact, since the monument was built in the first century BC for the Berber king Juba II of Mauretania and his wife Cleopatra Selene, the daughter of Mark Antony and Cleopatra of Egypt. A royal couple with that parentage, ruling a Roman client kingdom from the coast of Africa, is a story that sounds invented but is simply true.
Read the complete Mausoleum Kbor er Roumia write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mausoleum Kbor er Roumia comes up 23 km in. Next is Tipasa: Parc archaéologique est.
3. Tipasa: Parc archaéologique est
Albert Camus came to Tipasa as a young man and wrote about it in an essay called Nuptials at Tipasa, which describes the wild thyme, the sun on the ruins and the sea as a kind of marriage between a person and the world. He wrote that in spring, Tipasa is inhabited by the gods and the gods speak in the sun and the scent of absinthe plants. Anyone who has walked here on a bright day in April will know what he meant. The ruins lie scattered along the shore between pine trees and the water, with the great mass of the Chenoua mountain behind.
Read the complete Tipasa: Parc archaéologique est write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
At least 58 km in you reach Tipasa: Parc archaéologique est. Next is Tipasa: Parc archaéologique ouest.
4. Tipasa: Parc archaéologique ouest
Tipasa is the kind of ruin that gives you the sea in one direction and the mountain in the other. A Phoenician trading post on this stretch of the Algerian coast became a Roman colony in the first century, and by the later empire it was a prosperous town with a harbour, a forum, villas and, when the city turned Christian, several large basilicas. The remains spread along a rocky shore, among pines, wild fennel and cactus, with the dark mass of the Chenoua mountain rising behind. In the western park you walk among foundations, mosaics and column stumps with the surf rolling in beside you.
Read the complete Tipasa: Parc archaéologique ouest write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tipasa: Parc archaéologique ouest, about halfway. Next is Tipasa.
5. Tipasa
Planning note
Tipasa sits at 90 km, about halfway. Next is back through Tipasa: Parc archaéologique ouest.
6. back through Tipasa: Parc archaéologique ouest
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tipasa: Parc archaéologique ouest write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Tipasa: Parc archaéologique ouest comes up 113 km in. Next is back through Tipasa: Parc archaéologique est.
7. back through Tipasa: Parc archaéologique est
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tipasa: Parc archaéologique est write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
135 km in you reach back through Tipasa: Parc archaéologique est. Next is back through Mausoleum Kbor er Roumia.
8. back through Mausoleum Kbor er Roumia
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mausoleum Kbor er Roumia write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Mausoleum Kbor er Roumia, late in the day. Next is Algiers.
9. Algiers
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Algiers write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 152 km.
Leg by leg
Algiers to Mausoleum Kbor er Roumia
Algiers → Mausoleum Kbor er Roumia is 67 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Mausoleum Kbor er Roumia to Tipasa: Parc archaéologique est
Mausoleum Kbor er Roumia → Tipasa: Parc archaéologique est is 12 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tipasa: Parc archaéologique ouest to Tipasa
Tipasa: Parc archaéologique ouest → Tipasa is 10 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tipasa to back through Tipasa: Parc archaéologique ouest
Tipasa → back through Tipasa: Parc archaéologique ouest is 10 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Tipasa: Parc archaéologique est to back through Mausoleum Kbor er Roumia
back through Tipasa: Parc archaéologique est → back through Mausoleum Kbor er Roumia is 12 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mausoleum Kbor er Roumia to Algiers
back through Mausoleum Kbor er Roumia → Algiers is 67 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.