Tunisia Travel Guide
North Africa

Why holiday in Tunisia?

This sliver of sensible Islamic republic kick-started the Arab spring of democracy and got into all sorts of mayhem in the process but still offers an attractive combination of probable sunshine, good beaches and superb ancient ruins.
The country appears to be primarily targetting package tourists, so hotels are well set up to host and entertain that kind of clientele.
History? Hannibal grew up here, Carthage is in the suburbs of Tunis, and Star Wars was partly filmed at Matmata.
Tired of Roman ruins and beaches? Sahara dunes and a thousand grumpy camels await your pleasure...
And all this comes at a reasonable price, with fair and varied food that's mostly better than north African neighbours.

Downside:
- A very large, central chunk of Tunisia is visually dull. Driving the classic six/seven hours (one way) from Tunis down to Matmata/Sahara the view is flat and featureless, offering little more than 55 million olive trees and a few shabby, half-built towns, though seaside towns like Sousse and Mahdia have impressive forts, gem.
- Souk (market) sellers can be aggressive and unpleasant. Don't show interest unless you really want to haggle...
French is widely spoken, English - outside main tourist areas - is not.

Tunisia Weather

Best: May, June, September
OK: April, Oct (variable weather, could be windy, chilly, wet) and July, Aug (excessive heat and crowds)
Worst: Oct-March (rain, chilly) and Ramadan (Muslim fasting month, dates depend on full moon so may differ by one day depending on location. 9 July-7 August 2013.

Length of stay:
Minimum worthwhile stay, not incl. flights:
1 week for some culture, some beach life.
Pleasant: 2 weeks - visiting ancient sites and traditional towns, doing the dune thing and having a beach ball.

Main attractions:

**Tunis has a walkable city centre with a World Heritage 7th century old town of narrow streets and nail-studded doors, an interesting souk (market), a pretty French zone, a superb museum (the Bardo), the pathetic remnants of magnificent old Carthage on the outskirts and a lovely, classic Mediterranean village - Sidi Bou Said - on the clifftop nearby. Finally there's a good beach in the upmarket La Marsa suburb.
The last three locations are easily accessible by the TGM, the Tunis suburban train line.

**Hammamet is the country's biggest tourist destination, a lively beach town only 60km from Tunis, but more European culture than local, with prices to match. Excellent beaches, naturally, but also golf courses.
**Sousse is an attractive seaside town with a large fort, mosque, massive city walls, relatively relaxed Medina and an excellent museum specialising in 3rd century mosaics.

*Kairouan is one of Islam's top four holy places, with an impressive Great Mosque and some other fine buildings.

*Tozeur and Chott el Jerid salt lake. This is a palm-packed oasis town near the Chott el Jerid with a maze of streets in the old quarter and a good traditional culture museum, but mostly not very attractive. The 5,000sq.km salt lake ranges from dull to technicolour depending on the weather.

**Djerba island is a totally different experience from cosmopolitan north Tunisia, with the same cute souks and narrow streets but a much slower pace, fewer tourists and less dinars required.

**Matmata's bleak and blasted landscape and 'underground' Berber homes attracted Star Wars location scouts and now attracts mobs of tour buses, though they do tend to visit different establishments. Guide probably needed.

*Douz, 'self-styled 'Gateway to the Sahara', is a relaxed town with a famously colourful Thursday market and lots of desert activities on offer, from biking to quad bikes to camels. The desert in the immediate vicinity tends to be awash with large groups of learner camel drivers in fake Berber costumes.
Better trek companies take tourists at least 20km out to the Grand Erg Oriental by 4WD, then off you go...Guide needed.

*Ksar Ghilane is a cute oasis 140km south of Douz with a swimming hole, a few cafés, a collection of magnificent dunes and little else. 4WD desert nomads hang out here.

**Tatouine/Ksour. Tatouine is uninteresting but a good base to visit the hilltop Berber villages around it and the stunning ksour (fortified granaries).

**Roman Ruins:
**Dougga's hilltop site has the best preserved Roman ruins in Tunisia - and a lot of them - particularly the Capitol structure.
*El-Jem houses nothing much of interest save for the massive Roman Colosseum.
*Sbeitla (aka Sufetula) more great, well-preserved Roman temples.

Activities

Watersports: a good, varied selection at some excellent beaches, especially on the north coast e.g Tabarka or Bizerte, or down south at Djerba.

Camels: into the Sahara, especially from Douz and Zaafrane near Chott el Jerid salt lake, in the south.

Hiking: in the beautiful, wooded Kroumirie Mountains, in the northwest, but poorly marked trails. Organised treks are offered from Tabarka.

Golf: good courses at Hammamet, Djerba, Tabarka, Tunis and Port el- Kantaoui.

Bird watching: migrating birds stop off in large numbers at Ichkeul National Park - not far from Tunis, from autumn to springtime. Including: eagles, hawks, storks and numerous water birds.

Festivals:
n.b. Ramadan (dates above).
March, Octopus Festival, Kerkennah.
June/July, Moulid al Nabi, celebrating Mohamed's birthday with feasts and parades.
July, El-Jem International Music Festival, (orchestral), El-Jem's ancient colosseum.
early July, Tabarka Jazz Festival, Tabarka.
July, Festival of Malouf (trad music), Testour.
July-Aug, Dougga Festival of classical drama, Dougga.
July-Aug, Carthage International Festival (music and dance), in Carthage's ancient sites, Tunis.
early Nov, Sahara Festival, Douz, camel racing and other colourful desert events.
Nov, end of Ramadan (Eid el Fitr), much feasting and celebration nationwide.

Money:
No big problems here though Tunisian dinars are not supposed to be available/taken out of the country.
Travellers cheques are commonly accepted, as are credit cards, but carry some local currency too - theft is rare.

Tipping:
Locals don't tip much, and it's not obligatory, but, as usual, waiters in tourist establishments and taxi drivers have learnt to expect a 10% tip.

Cuisine:
Tunisian food is good, healthy, good value, varied and often extremely spicy. Bread (especially in baguette form) and couscous (semolina) are staples, while salads, soups and fruit are popular. Most main courses, however, contain some kind of meat (particularly turkey or lamb) or seafood (expensive).

Shopping:
Like other north African cousins, carpets, copper, brass and gold jewellery are the main offerings here, though good quality doesn't come cheap.
Market vendors can be extremely pushy and difficult, using tricks such as...'You have see festival near here?' - then taking you to see a woman weaving a carpet inside a shop.
It's important to develop an aura of untouchability when cruising the medina, with an assured, uncontestable 'Non, merci!' being your first line of defence.

Hint:
Brush up on a few useful French phrases - Bonjour, bonsoir and merci at the very least, with the occasional inshallah (God willing)!

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