Tunisia Travel Guide

Browse the Tunisia Photo Gallery

Top Things to See

• Find your way to Tunis’ Zitouna Mosque. Accessible to non-Muslims, a sudden peaceful expanse of space arises in the midst of the medina’s frantic souks.

• Visit the one of the world’s greatest collections of Roman mosaics at the Bardo Museum (website: www.di.com.tn/museebardo). Situated in a 17th-century palace, the museum includes archaeological riches from the Carthaginian, Roman, early Christian and Islamic eras.

• Explore the remains of a great ancient civilization: founded by the Phoenicians in 814BC, Carthage was razed by the Romans who rebuilt it into the third-largest city in the Roman Empire, before it was again destroyed by the Arabs in AD692.

• Get pleasantly lost in the whitewashed medina of the holy city of Kairouan (website: www.kairouan.org), where there are more than 50 mosques. The Great Mosque of Sidi Oqba in the medina’s northeast corner is North Africa’s oldest mosque and holiest site.

• See the magnificent Roman site of Dougga, which enjoys a lofty setting 96km (60 miles) southwest of Tunis. The hilltop city had a population of up to 10,000, and its well-preserved ruins give a tantalizing glimpse of how the Romans lived.

• Wander around the remarkable remains of UNESCO-listed Kerkouane (website: ww w.kerkouane.net), the world’s best preserved Punic site. The ruins lie on a beautiful, remote stretch of coast, 8km (5 miles) north of Kélibia. Destroyed in 236BC, it was unearthed in 1952.

• Imagine the roar of the crowd at UNESCO-listed El-Jem, a Roman colosseum to rival that in Rome. It had a capacity of 30,000, more than the population of the wealthy town (ancient Thysdrus) it dominated.

• Go underground at Matmata. Here the Berbers found an ingenious way to beat the summer heat, by burrowing into the earth. Many of the troglodyte houses - cave complexes surrounding underground courtyards - are still inhabited, and some are now hotels.

• See another subterranean world at Bulla Regia, a Roman site. Here the Romans also used underground architecture as a way of keeping cool when the sun was hot. The site offers a rare chance to explore complete Roman rooms.

• Spend a day in Sousse, formerly one of the Phoenicians’ great coastal cities, falling to Arab invaders in the seventh century. Of the new city, constructed by the Arabs in AD790, several remnants remain, including the Great Mosque and its Ribat.

Top Things to Do

• Follow the stars to the sands. Tunisia’s desert has featured in The English Patient and the Star Wars films. Tour operators in Douz and Tozeur offer desert safaris visiting the locations where these famous blockbuster movies were shot.

• Go desert trekking from Douz, either by camel or in 4-wheel drive vehicles; trips can last from an hour to three weeks. You can also go dune skiing, desert go-karting or take a flight in a light aircraft over the dunes.

• Experience the eerie otherworldliness of 5000 sq m (53,819 sq ft) Chott El Jerid, part of a series of lakes that stretch into Algeria. In summer, the surface is dry and blisters in the heat, while in winter the lakes flood with water.

• Take a hammam (Turkish bath). There are baths all over Tunisia, where you can steam with the locals; many of the natural hot springs have been used for this purpose since Roman and Punic times.

• Stroll through the bustling Tunis medina, honing your haggling skills. Try the 13th-century Souk el Attarine (the perfume-makers’ market), which still sells scents and oils, or the Grand Souk des Chechias, the place to buy traditional handmade red felt caps.

• Play a round of golf (website: www.tunisiagolf.com) - there are excellent courses for all abilities at Port el Kantaoui near Sousse, Monastir, Tabarka, Carthage at Tunis, Tozeur, Djerba and Hammamet.

• See kaleidoscopic coral beds and sea life by scuba diving in Tunisia’s clear waters, Tabarka Yachting Club, the International Diving Center at Port el Kantaoui and SAAM Diving in Monastir are recommended centers.

• Cross the causeway or take a ferry to the island of Djerba, with its soft beaches lapped by Mediterranean waters, whitewashed, palm-shaded small towns and craft, carpet and souvenir-shopping.

• Explore the ksour in the Tunisian south: these hilltop granaries molded from mud look as if they were built by aliens - it’s no surprise that Star Wars was filmed around here.