Land in Tunis and give it two days: the walled medina, the Bardo mosaics, and Carthage and Sidi Bou Said at the end of the same commuter line. Then pick a direction. North is green and Mediterranean, with Bizerte, the cork forests behind Tabarka and the Roman town at Dougga inland. South along the coast is the Sahel: Sousse for its medina and ribat, El Jem for the amphitheatre that seats more than most stadiums, Sfax for the least touristed old city in the country. Inland from there, Kairouan is the fourth holy city of Islam and the one stop that changes the trip. Keep going and the country turns to desert: Tozeur and Douz for the palm oases and the dunes, Matmata for the underground houses, Djerba for a beach at the end. Two weeks does the loop comfortably. One week does the north and the Sahel.
3 Tunisia city guides
Fun fact
Africa ends in Tunisia. Ras ben Sakka, the tip of Cap Angela on the coast north of Bizerte, has been recognised as the northernmost point of the continent since 2014, when it displaced Cape Blanc eight kilometres along the same shore.
Stereotypes, sorted out
The realityIt is sold that way in northern Europe, and the resorts at Hammamet, Sousse and Djerba are real. They are also a thin strip of a country holding nine UNESCO World Heritage sites, the best preserved Roman small town in North Africa at Dougga, an amphitheatre at El Jem that rivals anything in Italy, and a Saharan half almost nobody on a beach week ever sees.
The realityThe north is Mediterranean, green in winter and covered in cork oak and olive. The Sahara begins well south of the middle of the country, past the salt flats, and the drive from Tunis to the first dunes takes most of a day. Tunisia's problem in spring is rain in the north, not sand.
The realityCarthage is a suburb of Tunis spread across a hillside above the sea, and the site is scattered rather than walled: the Antonine baths, the Punic ports, the theatre and the hilltop museum sit a walk or a short hop apart on the TGM line. Give it half a day and pair it with lunch in Sidi Bou Said above it.
The realityYou need neither Arabic nor much planning. French runs through schooling, business, menus and signage, so a French speaker is entirely at home, and English is widely spoken in Tunis and the resort towns. A few words of Derja are still the fastest way to change the temperature of a conversation.
The realityThe Tunis medina is a working neighbourhood, a UNESCO site, and the place the city does its shopping. The stretch around the main gate is set up for visitors. Two turns off it are the wool market, the perfume sellers and the courtyards, and the pressure to buy drops to nothing.
Cultural notes that actually help
- Greet before you transact. Aslema, or bonjour, and a moment of small talk come before the question, and skipping to the question reads as brusque however friendly the tone.
- Bargaining is expected in the souk and nowhere else. Shops with marked prices, cafes and restaurants are fixed. In the medina, a counter-offer is part of the conversation, and walking away politely is a normal move rather than an insult.
- Dress is relaxed on the coast and more conservative inland. Beachwear stays at the beach, and covered shoulders and knees are the right call in Kairouan, in any medina and around religious sites.
- Mosques are mostly not open to non-Muslims, with a few exceptions where the courtyard is. The Great Mosque of Kairouan is one of those: the courtyard is visitable, the prayer hall is viewed from the doorway, and shoulders and knees stay covered.
- The left hand is not used for eating or for passing food. Bread is torn rather than cut, and shared dishes are eaten from the section in front of you.
- Photograph people only after asking, and expect a refusal sometimes, particularly from older women and inside markets. A police station, a military site and a government building are all firm no.
- Friday midday slows the country down for prayers, and Ramadan reverses the day entirely. Neither stops a visitor doing anything, but both are worth knowing before you plan a lunch.
- Politics is discussed openly and often with visitors, and the 2011 revolution is a live subject rather than a historical one. Listening is welcome. Pronouncing verdicts on it is not.
Famous Tunisian faces
Habib Bourguiba
Ons Jabeur
Ibn Khaldun
Claudia Cardinale
Azzedine Alaïa
Kaouther Ben Hania
Anouar Brahem
Oussama Mellouli
Abdellatif Kechiche
Moufida Tlatli
Hend Sabry
Emel Mathlouthi
Latifa
Saber Rebaï
Habiba Ghribi
Wahbi Khazri
Farhat Hached
Hannibal
Must-try Tunisian food
Couscous
The Friday dish and the national one, steamed over a broth of lamb, fish or vegetables. Listed by UNESCO in 2020 alongside Algeria, Mauritania and Morocco.
Brik
A whole egg wrapped in thin malsouka pastry with tuna, parsley and capers, then fried. Eaten with the fingers, and the yolk is meant to run.
Ojja
Tomatoes and peppers cooked down with harissa, eggs cracked in at the end, merguez or prawns added depending on the kitchen.
Salade mechouia
Peppers, tomatoes and onions grilled until the skins blister, then chopped with olive oil and garlic. The first thing on almost every table.
Chorba
A thin, peppery soup of frik wheat with lamb or fish, drunk more often in winter and every evening through Ramadan.
Mloukhia
Jute leaf ground to powder and cooked slowly with beef until it turns almost black. Deeply savoury, and a dish families argue about.
Koucha
Lamb shoulder baked long and slow in a clay dish with potatoes and plenty of paprika. The Sunday and celebration roast.
Lablabi
Chickpeas in a garlic and cumin broth poured over torn stale bread, finished with olive oil, harissa and an egg. Breakfast, and the cheapest good meal in the country.
Kafteji
Peppers, potato, courgette, tomato and egg fried separately then chopped together on the board in front of you. Served in a roll or on a plate.
Fricassé
A small fried roll packed with tuna, potato, olives, egg and harissa. The sandwich Tunisians eat standing up.
Merguez
Thin lamb and beef sausage red with harissa, grilled over coals and served in bread with chips and more harissa.
Complet poisson
The coastal plate: grilled fish with rice, salad, chips and a fried pepper. Ordered by the name of the whole spread rather than the fish.
Grilled daurada
Sea bream over charcoal with lemon and olive oil, the default order in any port from Bizerte to Djerba.
Poulpe salad
Octopus boiled tender and dressed cold with olive oil, lemon and parsley. A Sfax and Kerkennah habit that travelled up the coast.
Harissa
Sun-dried chillies pounded with garlic, caraway and olive oil. UNESCO listed the knowledge and practice behind it in 2022, which tells you how seriously it is taken.
Olive oil
Tunisia is one of the largest producers in the world and the oil is in everything, poured rather than measured. Buy it at a co-operative rather than at the airport.
Deglet Nour dates
The translucent honey-coloured date from the oases around Tozeur and Kebili. Sold on the branch, and worth the weight in your bag.
Makroudh
Semolina pastry stuffed with date paste, fried and soaked in syrup. Kairouan is the town that made its name on it.
Bambalouni
A ring of fried dough rolled in sugar, sold hot from the stall at the top of the steps in Sidi Bou Said and best eaten within a minute.
Zlabia
Loops of batter fried and drenched in syrup, bright orange and everywhere during Ramadan.
Assidat zgougou
A dark cream of Aleppo pine seed under a layer of custard and nuts, made for the Prophet's birthday and sold in glasses for weeks around it.
Samsa
Layered pastry triangles of almond and sesame in syrup. Small, dense and not really shareable.
Mint tea with pine nuts
Strong green tea, heavily sweetened, with a spoonful of pine nuts floating on top. The cafe order, and the reason to sit for an hour.
Boukha
A clear spirit distilled from figs, Tunisian in origin and drunk cold in a small glass. Older than most of the country's other exports.
Citronnade
Lemon blended whole with sugar and ice until it goes cloudy. Ordered at every beach cafe between May and September.
