Roman ruins, medinas, the Sahara and Mediterranean beaches: Tunisia is history and sunshine at affordable prices.
Tunisia is the smallest country in North Africa and probably the one that gives you the most per kilometre: in a week you can explore a medieval medina listed as a World Heritage Site, the ruins of Carthage, a Roman amphitheatre almost as big as the Colosseum with far fewer people, a white-and-blue village above the Mediterranean, and sleep among the dunes of the Sahara. All of that just over an hour's flight from Italy.
It's also one of the most affordable destinations in the Mediterranean: prices are low compared with the European shore, it has sandy beaches and warm water, and the tourist infrastructure works well. Much of Europe uses it as a cheap sun destination, but the country has much more than resorts: Tunisia's Roman heritage is among the best preserved in the world and almost empty of tourists, especially at sites like Dougga.
For Latin American travellers it has two concrete advantages: the sales pressure is considerably lower than in Morocco —it exists, but it's easier to handle— and since it isn't part of the Schengen Area, the days you spend here don't count towards the European ninety-day allowance, so it works very well as a side trip during a long journey through Europe.
The local currency is the Tunisian dinar (TND). It's a good idea to carry some cash, let your bank know before you travel and check the day's exchange rate.
Full converter for TND →Tunis-Carthage (TUN) is the main gateway, while Enfidha (NBE) and Djerba (DJE) handle European charter and low-cost flights. The TGM, a light rail line, links the capital with Carthage, Sidi Bou Saïd and La Marsa, which is the classic day trip and very cheap. SNCFT trains run down the Sahel to Sousse, Monastir and Sfax at reasonable frequencies. For the interior and the south —Kairouan, Tozeur, Matmata— the real way to get around is the louage, a shared car that leaves when it fills up and reaches almost any town. You can also arrive by sea, on ferries from Genoa, Marseille and Palermo to the port of La Goulette.
Spring and autumn are clearly the best times: from March to May the country is green, temperatures are pleasant everywhere and the desert isn't scorching yet; from September to November it's much the same, with the sea still warm enough for swimming well into October. These are the ideal windows for combining Roman heritage, medinas and a trip to the Sahara in a single journey.
Summer, from June to August, is peak beach season: the coast works very well, with warm water and everything open, but the interior and the south become very tough —the desert easily tops forty degrees— and visiting ruins at midday is simply not advisable. Winter is mild on the coast, with pleasant days and cool nights, and very cold at night in the desert; it's low season, with low prices and empty sites. Check the dates of Ramadan before booking, because they change every year and alter the country's opening hours and pace.
Tunisian cuisine is the spiciest in the Maghreb and its signature is harissa, a paste of chilli and spices that goes with almost everything and is served with bread and olive oil as soon as you sit down. Couscous is the national dish, served here with fish on the coast. Brik is a must: a paper-thin fried pastry filled with a whole egg —eating it without the yolk running is an art— plus tuna and parsley. There's also chorba soup, lablabi, a chickpea dish with soaked bread eaten for breakfast, and ojja, eggs scrambled with tomato and harissa.
Tunisia produces excellent olive oil —it's one of the world's biggest exporters— and deglet nour dates, considered among the best on the planet, which you can buy in Tozeur straight from the palm groves. To drink, there's mint tea with pine nuts floating in it and fruit juices. Unlike other countries in the region, Tunisia produces its own wine and beer, reasonably available in tourist areas and hotels, though much more restricted in the interior. And a practical warning: always drink bottled water, and be careful with raw salads during the first few days.
Tunisia is a calm destination on the usual tourist circuit, and the sales pressure is noticeably lower than in Morocco, although it does exist in the souks and at the most visited sites. The problems are minor: taxis that don't switch on the meter —ask for it when you get in—, inflated prices for tourists and the odd pushy vendor. It is worth keeping up with the current official travel advice: the border areas with Libya and Algeria and some parts of the mountainous interior have restrictions and aren't part of any tourist circuit. The coast, the north and the southern desert operate normally.
Health-wise there are no major complications: it isn't a malaria zone and no vaccines are required to enter, though it's worth asking about hepatitis A and typhoid, as for any trip involving street food. The most common issue is traveller's diarrhoea, which you can prevent with bottled water, no ice for the first few days and care with raw food and unpeeled fruit. The sun in the south is very strong, and in the desert dehydration is the real risk: hat, sunscreen and plenty of water. Private healthcare works well in the big cities and you have to pay for it, so travel insurance is a must. Emergencies: 197 police, 190 ambulance.
Tunisia is one of the cheapest destinations in the Mediterranean: local food, transport and accommodation cost much less than on the European shore, and in several areas less than in Morocco too. The big coastal hotels offer all-inclusive packages at very low prices in season, and the medinas have dars —traditional houses turned into guesthouses— that are far more charming than a standard hotel for a similar price.
There's a currency detail you need to be very clear about, because it causes real problems: the Tunisian dinar is a closed currency. You can't get it outside the country and it's forbidden to take it out when you leave, so you have to exchange money on arrival and plan to spend what's left before you go. Keep your exchange receipts: with them you can convert part of it back into foreign currency at the airport, but without them you can't. As for haggling: in souks and with taxis without a meter it's normal and expected, done with good humour and knowing you can always walk away; in supermarkets, restaurants with a menu, museums and stations the price is fixed.
Tunisia is a Muslim country, though one of the most secular and liberal in the region in everyday life: in the coastal cities you'll see a wide variety of dress, and women have a strong public presence. Even so, modest clothing —shoulders and knees covered— is advisable away from beaches and resorts, especially in the interior, in Kairouan and in villages. In mosques that admit visitors you enter covered and barefoot, and several only allow access to the courtyard.
Tunisian Arabic and French are spoken, the latter very widely because of the colonial history: if you have some French you'll get around very comfortably, more so than with English outside the hotels. The hospitality is genuine and tea turns up in any conversation. People eat and greet with the right hand, you don't photograph people without permission, and during Ramadan eating, drinking or smoking in public during the day is avoided out of respect, though it's tolerated from foreigners. One detail: here the weekend is Saturday and Sunday, not Friday, unlike other countries in the region.
The history of Tunisia is the story of a corner of the Mediterranean where the sea of Europe meets the sands of Africa, and where every great civilisation of the basin left its mark. This small country holds an arc of almost three thousand years: the Berbers who lived here before anyone else arrived; Phoenician Carthage, founded by Elissa-Dido, which became the greatest maritime power in the West; Hannibal's wars to the death against Rome; the total destruction of Carthage in 146 BC and its rebirth as the heart of Roman Africa, the Africa of the colossal amphitheatre of El Jem and marble Dougga; the land where Saint Augustine preached and died; the Arab conquest that founded Kairouan, the fourth holy city of Islam; and the dynasties that made Ifriqiya a brilliant kingdom.
But Tunisia is not just ruins. It is also the country of the corsairs and of three centuries of Ottoman rule, of the French protectorate imposed in 1881, of the independence won in 1956, and of Habib Bourguiba's modernising, authoritarian project, which gave Tunisian women the most advanced rights in the Arab world while he ruled without opposition for thirty years. Above all, it is the country where, in December 2010, a young street vendor in an inland town set himself on fire and lit the spark that brought down a dictator and opened the Arab Spring. It was the only one of those uprisings that managed to build a democracy, however fragile and disputed. Travelling through Tunisia (the medina of the capital, the columns of Carthage facing the gulf, the blue and white of Sidi Bou Said, the Sahara oases, Djerba with the oldest synagogue in Africa) means passing through all those layers of a small country with an immense history.
Read the full history of Tunisia →Pick a region and open each destination to see what to do, prices and how to get there.
These are the sources we cite most across this country's guides, with how many times each appears. Hard data —tickets, opening hours, requirements, transport— comes from the official source and carries the date we checked it. Restaurant and hotel picks come from guides and reviews, and we say so on each page.
