Tunisia travel guide

2 minute summary Best time to visit Map & highlights Roman ruins Food & drink Responsible tourism

Tunisia travel guide

Tunisia comes at you in waves. There are the obvious Mediterranean ones, of course – the thousand-kilometre coastline, lapped by a gentle sea. But there are also waves of civilisations who have rolled over the country. Some, like the Berber, who remain; others: the Ottomans, the French, the Romans, who have gone – many leaving amazing ruins shipwrecked in their wake. Then, as the country plunges south, dagger-shaped, into the desert, there comes the Tunisian Sahara dunes, rising in successive humps, part of one of the largest sand seas on earth.

TUNISIA IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST FOR HISTORY AND CULTURE BUFFS LOOKING FOR DESERTED UNESCO SITES AND ROMAN RUINS.

On our holidays, it’s the Tunisian people who might stand out most – multilingual guides will show you the country’s famous hospitality. You might speak with a journalist about the 2010-11 Tunisian Revolution; visit troglodyte dwellings where people have lived for hundreds of years to escape the heat; or debate the relative merits of a hundred couscous recipes over dinner. The waves of realisation hit you fast: this country is a severely underappreciated gem for history, culture, and hosts with the most.

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Tunisia is...

where the Atlas Mountains, Sahara Desert and Mediterranean meet.

Tunisia isn't...

trying to be something else. It hasn’t been altered out of all recognition by tourism and offers an insightful North African experience.

Things to do in Tunisia...

Brush up on your French and Arabic. English isn’t widely spoken outside the high-rise hotels and all-inclusive resorts. The French occupied here for a long time and French is still the country’s second language, after Arabic. That’s one of the reasons that east coast Canadians have made Tunisia their Mediterranean country of choice. Try your hand at Arabic but don’t forget your French phrasebook. Make the most of the Med. When visiting the coast, our tour groups mainly stay in locally-owned boutique hotels, outside of the big towns and cities. Homestays with local people can also be arranged. These aren’t places with lots of tourists and swimming pools. The Mediterranean Sea in Tunisia is nearly always mild and calm and a much more enticing alternative to a chlorinated pool. Feel the Force. Star Wars fans should visit Tozeur, aka: Tatooine, the home planet of the Skywalkers. Also, the cave dwellings where Luke was raised by his step aunt and uncle, Owen and Beru Lars, can be found in the small Berber village of Matmata. And Ajim, on Djerba Island, is where you’ll find Obi Wan Kenobi’s house and Mos Eisley and its notorious cantina.

Things not to do in Tunisia...

Visit without a guide. Our tours match you up with a main guide, and driver, as well as opportunities to visit cultural sites with local specialists. Travelling with a guide gives you that extra boost of confidence, and insider knowledge, as well as offering on-going employment and interaction with local people. Many of Tunisia’s tour guides speak several different languages. Ignore the Romans. Tunisia has hundreds of examples of ancient Roman architecture. The extensive archaeological site at Carthage is exceptional; the Amphitheatre of El Jem is almost as large as its counterpart in Rome; and the original mosaics in the Bardo Museum in Tunis are incredibly well preserved. Stay in an all-inclusive enclave. The high-rise hotels on the coast are often foreign-owned and keep tourists and local people apart. Not only will you miss out on the country’s culture but local people won’t benefit from your stay. Which is a real shame as the food is amazing and the staff in locally-owned guesthouses and restaurants are always super friendly.