Things to Do in Atar

Atar's Friday market and old quarter

The market peaks toward the end of the week, when traders bring in dates, dried fish, slabs of rock salt, secondhand clothes and bright bolts of cloth. Wander the older lanes off the main square and you'll find low mudbrick houses, the odd carved wooden door, and the steady percussion of a metalworker hammering somewhere out of sight. Go in the first couple of hours after sunrise when it's busiest and coolest, and before the light gets too harsh for photographs.

Terjit oasis

Roughly an hour south, Terjit is the postcard everyone comes for - a narrow gorge where springs feed a ribbon of date palms and the rock walls drip with cool water, the temperature dropping noticeably the moment you step into the shade. You'll hear the water before you see it, an unlikely trickle echoing off stone in the middle of the Sahara. A tip worth noting: most tours visit midday as a lunch stop, so ask to arrive early or stay into late afternoon when the day-trippers have gone and you might have the pools almost to yourself.

Chinguetti's old libraries

The ancient caravan town of Chinguetti, a high-clearance drive northeast across the Amogjar pass, holds family-kept libraries of centuries-old manuscripts in a half-buried medieval quarter where sand laps at the doorsteps. The reading rooms smell of dust and old leather, and the silence is total. Travel with a guide who has standing relationships with the manuscript families, since access tends to depend on who you arrive with rather than fixed opening hours.

Desert and dune excursions from the Adrar

The country around Atar is classic Sahara - apricot dunes, black gravel plains, flat-topped mesas and the occasional prehistoric rock-art site tucked under an overhang. A night camped out, with the cold creeping in after dark and a sky absolutely crowded with stars, is the thing most travellers remember longest. As you'd expect, prices climb steeply once you add overnight camel support and crew, so settle exactly what's included before you commit.

A guetna date-harvest visit

If you come in high summer you can witness the guetna, when families decamp to the palmeries for the date harvest and the whole social calendar shifts under the trees. Expect sticky-sweet fresh dates pressed on you constantly, the drone of conversation, and an open-handed hospitality that's hard to refuse. Worth being upfront that this is peak heat, so plan excursions for the very early morning and treat the long afternoons as downtime.

Around the central market and main square. The most convenient base, within walking distance of the traders, eateries and the spots where excursions assemble. It's noisier and dustier. But you trade quiet for being in the middle of things.

The old quarter. Closer to the mudbrick lanes and traditional houses, this part of town has more texture and a slower feel; a good choice if you want to wake to the sounds of the neighbourhood rather than passing trucks.

The palmerie fringe. Out toward the date gardens on the edge of town, where a handful of guesthouses and auberges trade the bustle of the centre for shade, greenery and birdsong at dawn. Cooler in the evenings and noticeably calmer.

The airport road approach. Functional and spread out, with a scattering of larger compounds and auberges used by tour groups. Less atmospheric but practical if you're arriving or leaving by air or being collected by a desert operator.

The plateau side, against the rock. The streets that climb gently toward the escarpment behind town offer the best light at sunset and a sense of being on the edge of the desert proper, with quick access to walks up onto the Adrar.

Desert auberge camps just outside Atar. Strictly speaking beyond the town, a ring of tented and bungalow camps in the surrounding sands gives you the full Sahara silence within a short drive of supplies - ideal if you want stars over comfort and don't mind running into town for everything else.