Agadez

Agadez was the great caravan city of the southern Sahara, and its old quarters of mud brick still surround a mosque whose tapered minaret has stood since the sixteenth century, inscribed as world heritage for exactly that survival. Silversmiths still work the Tuareg cross into pendants sold from the same lanes traders once used for salt and slaves. The sultanate's palace stands nearby in the same material. This city was once the gateway to desert expeditions across the Air and Tenere, but kidnappings of foreigners here in 2026 mean it cannot currently be recommended as a place to visit.