Ghazaouet Ferry

Ghazaouet Ferry Port

Located in the north-west corner of Algeria, just a few miles from the border of Morocco, is the vibrant town of Ghazaouet. The town was originally the site of a collection of army barracks founded in 1845 by the then Marshal of France Thomas Bugeaud. He suggested that the area be turned into an army resupply point as he tried, and eventually failed, to conquer the African nation.

Today Ghazaouet is a pleasant seaside resort built upon the pine-covered hills that undulate across Algeria’s Tlemcen Province. It’s a town renowned for its pretty stretches of cliff-lined beaches, blue-water coves and its delightful selection of seafood made from fish reeled in from the warm waters of the Alboran Sea.

The port is located in the northern district of Ghazaouet, at the very centre of the town’s jagged coastline. It consists of three small piers that jut out into a shallow inlet of the sea protected by a long breakwater. The docks are largely used to serve the cargo ships that sail to and from the harbour, though a ferry terminal is located at the foot of the westernmost pier. There are a few facilities at the terminal, including toilets and a small car-park, but it largely consists of a vehicle departure bay on which passengers wait to board the incoming ships.

There are plenty of transport links leading to and from the port. The larger city of Tlemcen is just over 40-miles further inland along the N98 motorway that snakes through the mountainous region of Beni Menir. The Ghazaouet train station, located just a few minutes’ walk from the harbour on the banks of the Tleta river, also offers longer routes south to the clutch of settlements close to the Moroccan border.

One ferry route currently operates from the port in Ghazaouet. A Trasmediterranea line sails twice a week to the historic Spanish city of Almeria whose imposing stone walls and castle towers, their origins dating back to the 1st Century, dominate the coastal skyline.