Flight time
2h 45m
Best season
March–May & September–November
Budget
Budget
Best for
Medina, Roman ruins, value, authenticity
Overview
Why Tunis for a city break?
Tunis is the most underrated North African city break available to UK travellers — a city of 2.7 million people where the medieval medina (a UNESCO World Heritage Site of extraordinary completeness) functions as a fully alive urban neighbourhood rather than a tourist attraction, where the ruins of Carthage are 20 minutes from the city centre, and where the Bardo National Museum holds the world's finest collection of Roman mosaics. It is genuinely and significantly cheaper than Marrakech, less touristy, and rewards visitors with a depth of North African culture and history that the more heavily marketed Moroccan cities sometimes obscure.
From London and several UK regional airports it's around two hours forty-five minutes — direct Tunisair and Transavia flights make it one of the most accessible North African destinations from the UK. Tunis-Carthage International Airport is 8km from the centre (taxi, around 20 TND, under £5). Go in spring (March to May) or autumn (September to November): the Mediterranean climate is perfect, the medina is comfortable to walk, and the Roman sites are at their finest. Summer can be very hot but the beach resorts of Hammamet and Sousse are 60-90 minutes south if sea and sand are the priority.
Where to stay & explore
Tunis's best neighbourhoods
Medina of Tunis
The UNESCO medieval city — 700 mosques, 200 mausoleums, 25 palaces and the great Zitouna Mosque at its centre. A complete medieval Arab urban system still in daily use.
Ville Nouvelle & Avenue Bourguiba
The French colonial town — the tree-lined boulevard with its café terraces, the Art Nouveau and Beaux-Arts buildings and the most comfortable walking in the city.
La Marsa & Sidi Bou Said
The coastal suburbs north of the city — Sidi Bou Said (a blue-and-white hilltop village above the Gulf of Tunis) and La Marsa (the finest beach suburb) are 30 minutes by TGM train.
Things to do
What to see in Tunis
1
Bardo National Museum
The world's finest collection of Roman mosaics — the floors and walls of Roman North Africa's villas, baths and basilicas, reassembled in a 19th-century palace. The Virgil Mosaic (showing the poet with the Muse of History and the Muse of Tragedy), the extraordinary hunting and marine mosaics from Carthage, and the collection of bronze sculpture make this one of the most important museums in the Mediterranean world. Allow three hours. Take a taxi (20 TND from the centre).
2
Medina of Tunis
The UNESCO medina — 700 hectares of medieval Arab urban fabric, inhabited by 100,000 people and functioning as a complete city. The Zitouna Mosque (the oldest mosque in Tunisia, 731 AD, one of the great monuments of Islamic architecture — non-Muslims can view the courtyard from the entrance), the souks arranged by trade around the mosque (the perfumers' souk, the chechia hat-makers' souk, the gold souk), the Tourbet el Bey (the mausoleum of the Husainid beys, extraordinary tilework and carved plaster), and the Dar Ben Abdallah museum (a 19th-century palace courtyard, free) are the highlights.
3
Carthage ruins
The ancient Phoenician and Roman city — destroyed by Rome in 146 BC and rebuilt as the capital of Roman Africa — is spread across the northern suburbs of Tunis, 20 minutes by TGM train. The Byrsa hill (the acropolis, with the National Museum of Carthage and the finest view of the Gulf), the Antonine Baths (the third-largest Roman baths in the world, directly on the sea), the Tophet (the Phoenician sacred precinct where child sacrifice occurred — deeply debated, powerfully affecting), and the amphitheatre are all covered by a single combined ticket.
4
Sidi Bou Said
The blue-and-white hilltop village above the Gulf of Tunis — 30 minutes by TGM train from Tunis Marine station, a Tunisian artists' colony of whitewashed walls, cobalt blue doors and window grilles, bougainvillea and the most photographed street in Tunisia (the Rue Habib Thameur). Paul Klee, August Macke and the Blue Rider artists came here in 1914 and were transformed by the light. The café at the top of the hill serves the finest mint tea in Tunisia. Free to wander.
Food & drink
Where to eat in Tunis
Dar El Jeld
Fine Tunisian / medina palace
The finest restaurant in Tunis — a restored 18th-century palace in the medina serving traditional Tunisian haute cuisine: brik à l'œuf (pastry with egg and tuna), brick au fromage, lamb with harissa, couscous with merguez, bastilla. The courtyard setting — zellige tiles, carved plaster, a central fountain — is one of the most beautiful in Tunis. Book ahead.
Le Baroque
Modern Tunisian / Ville Nouvelle
The finest modern restaurant in the Ville Nouvelle — a menu of updated Tunisian dishes with French-influenced technique. The sea bass with chermoula and the lamb tajine are both excellent. The wine list focuses on Tunisian viticulture, which is more interesting than most visitors expect. Book ahead for dinner.
Medina street food
Street food / souks
The definitive cheap Tunis lunch — a fricassée sandwich (a small fried bread roll stuffed with tuna, olives, harissa, capers and hard-boiled egg, the Tunisian street food snack) from any of the medina's sandwich stalls (under 2 TND, about 50p), followed by a glass of fresh orange juice and a makroud (date-filled semolina pastry fried in oil) for dessert. Eaten standing in a medina lane. The most Tunisian meal possible.
Itinerary
3 days in Tunis — a suggested itinerary
Day 1
Medina, Zitouna Mosque, souks, café in Sidi Bou Said
Taxi from the airport to the Ville Nouvelle (20 TND, under £5). Walk through the Bab el Bhar (Sea Gate) into the medina — the transition from French colonial boulevard to medieval Arab city happens in a single step. The Zitouna Mosque courtyard from the entrance. The perfumers' souk (concentrated essence of rose, jasmine and oud), the chechia hat-makers' souk (the red felt cap that has been made in Tunis since the 16th century). The Tourbet el Bey mausoleum and the Dar Ben Abdallah palace courtyard. Fricassée sandwich for lunch from a medina stall. TGM train from Tunis Marine to Sidi Bou Said (30 minutes, under £1) in the afternoon — the blue-and-white lanes, the café Sidi Chaabane terrace for mint tea and pine nut confection (kaak warka). Dar El Jeld for dinner (booked).
Day 2
Bardo Museum, Carthage, Gulf of Tunis
Taxi to the Bardo Museum (20 TND) — three hours for the mosaics, the bronze sculpture, the prehistoric collection. Back to the city for the TGM train north to Carthage (30 minutes). The Byrsa hill and the National Museum of Carthage first, then the Antonine Baths (the sea view from the Roman baths is extraordinary), then the Tophet and the amphitheatre. The combined Carthage ticket covers all sites. TGM on to La Marsa for the beach and a late lunch at one of the seafront restaurants. Return to Tunis by early evening. Le Baroque for dinner.
Day 3
Medina depths, the Hafsia Quarter, one last brik
Return to the medina for the parts not reached on Day 1 — the Halfaouine neighbourhood in the north (the most residential and authentic part of the medina, away from the tourist souks), the Great Mosque of the Kasbah (exterior only), the Place de la Kasbah for the city panorama. The Rue des Libraires (book market, extraordinary if you read French or Arabic) and the Souk des Étoffes (silk and textile market, the finest in Tunisia). Brik à l'œuf for a final lunch at any of the medina's traditional restaurants — the crispy pastry shell, the liquid egg inside, the capers and tuna. Taxi to the airport.
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