The reason most travellers come to Béchar is to push on south into the Saoura. Taghit, 90 km away on a paved road, is the spectacular dune oasis that pairs a palm grove and a ksar against the towering Erg Occidental — one of Algeria's most photogenic places and an easy day trip if you have transport.
Further out, Beni Abbès (another 250 km south) sits on the edge of the same dune sea and has the chapel-and-hermitage of the French priest Charles de Foucauld. The rock art of the Djebel Béchar and the Pinacles de Béchar — strange wind-eroded sandstone columns in the desert north of the city — can both be done as half-day excursions with a local guide.
