15-Day Complete Tunisia: Nine UNESCO Sites

The circuit, day by day

Day 1Tunis → Carthage → Sidi Bou Saïd → Tunis Medina

• Pick-up — From your hotel or the airport, at a time that suits you
• Carthage — The Punic capital Rome destroyed and rebuilt — baths, ports and villas above the sea
• Sidi Bou Saïd — A clifftop village of blue doors and whitewashed walls above the Gulf of Tunis
• Tunis Medina — A UNESCO-listed maze of souks, mosques and palaces, still trading as it has for centuries

Day 2Tunis Medina → Bardo → Bizerte Old Harbour

• Bardo Museum — A beylical palace holding the richest collection of Roman mosaics in the world
• Bizerte Old Harbour — The oldest port in Tunisia, its fishing boats still moored under the kasbah walls

Day 3Bizerte Old Harbour → Ghar el-Melh → Tabarka

• Ghar el-Melh — Three Ottoman sea forts above a lagoon and its floating gardens
• Tabarka — A Genoese castle on a rock, cork forests behind and coral diving offshore

Day 4Tabarka → Bulla Regia → Dougga → Testour

• Bulla Regia — A Roman town that built its villas underground, mosaics still on the floors
• Dougga — The best-preserved Roman town in North Africa, standing almost alone in the hills
• Testour — Founded by Andalusian exiles, its minaret carrying a clock that runs backwards

Day 5Testour → Kerkouane → Nabeul

• Kerkouane — The only Punic town never rebuilt by Rome — its streets and pink bathtubs are Carthaginian
• Nabeul — Tunisia’s pottery town, with a Friday market and workshops open to visitors

Day 6Nabeul → Zaghouan Water Temple → Thuburbo Majus

• Zaghouan Water Temple — The Roman nymphaeum that fed Carthage through a 132-kilometre aqueduct
• Thuburbo Majus — A capitol and forum standing in open farmland, usually with nobody else in them

Day 7Thuburbo Majus → Kairouan → Sbeitla → El Jem

• Kairouan — Islam’s fourth holy city, built around the Great Mosque and its vast cisterns
• Sbeitla — A Roman forum with three golden Capitoline temples standing side by side
• El Jem Amphitheatre — One of the largest Roman amphitheatres ever built, and among the best preserved anywhere

Day 8El Jem → Medina of Sousse → Monastir Ribat

• Medina of Sousse — A walled Aghlabid port town whose ribat and great mosque still face the sea
• Monastir Ribat — An 8th-century coastal fortress guarding the lagoon, and a famous film location

Day 9Monastir Ribat → Mahdia → Medina of Sfax

• Mahdia — A Fatimid capital on a narrow cape, with a silk-weaving quarter and quiet beaches
• Medina of Sfax — The least touristed great medina in the country, walls intact and still working

Day 10Medina of Sfax → Djerba → Tataouine → Chenini

• Djerba — An island of white villages, ancient synagogues and a coastline that stays warm late
• Tataouine — The town of fortified granaries that lent its name to the Star Wars desert planet
• Chenini — A Berber village stacked on a ridge, cave houses around a white hilltop mosque

Day 11Chenini → Ksar Ouled Soltane → Matmata

• Ksar Ouled Soltane — Four storeys of vaulted grain cells around two courtyards, the best-kept ksar of all
• Matmata — Berber pit dwellings carved into the earth, familiar from the Star Wars films

Day 12Matmata → Toujane → Ksar Ghilane

• Toujane — A stone village spilling down the mountainside above the Matmata plateau
• Ksar Ghilane — A hot-spring oasis at the edge of the great dunes, reached where the tarmac gives out

Day 13Ksar Ghilane → Douz → Chott el-Jerid → Tozeur

• Douz & the Dunes — The gateway to the Sahara, where the tarmac stops and the erg begins
• Chott el-Jerid — A salt lake so flat and bright it produces mirages across the whole crossing
• Tozeur — A desert oasis of patterned brickwork, its palm grove fed by hundreds of springs

Day 14Tozeur → Nefta → Mides

• Nefta — A Sufi oasis town above the Corbeille, a bowl of palms below the houses
• Mides Canyon — A sheer-walled gorge on the Algerian border, used more than once as a natural film set

Day 15Mides → Tamerza → Chebika → Tunis

• Tamerza Canyon — A deserted mountain village beside a canyon and a year-round waterfall
• Chebika — A mountain oasis where a spring runs through a gorge above the salt flats
• Return — Drop-off at your hotel

Every stop on this tour, explained one by one →

What you see

• Carthage — the Punic capital Rome destroyed and rebuilt — baths, ports and villas above the sea
• Sidi Bou Saïd — a clifftop village of blue doors and whitewashed walls above the Gulf of Tunis
• Tunis Medina — a UNESCO-listed maze of souks, mosques and palaces, still trading as it has for centuries
• Bardo Museum — a beylical palace holding the richest collection of Roman mosaics in the world
• Bizerte Old Harbour — the oldest port in Tunisia, its fishing boats still moored under the kasbah walls
• Ghar el-Melh — three Ottoman sea forts above a lagoon and its floating gardens
• Tabarka — a Genoese castle on a rock, cork forests behind and coral diving offshore
• Bulla Regia — a Roman town that built its villas underground, mosaics still on the floors
• Dougga — the best-preserved Roman town in North Africa, standing almost alone in the hills
• Testour — founded by Andalusian exiles, its minaret carrying a clock that runs backwards
• Kerkouane — the only Punic town never rebuilt by Rome — its streets and pink bathtubs are Carthaginian
• Nabeul — Tunisia’s pottery town, with a Friday market and workshops open to visitors
• Zaghouan Water Temple — the Roman nymphaeum that fed Carthage through a 132-kilometre aqueduct
• Thuburbo Majus — a capitol and forum standing in open farmland, usually with nobody else in them
• Kairouan — Islam’s fourth holy city, built around the Great Mosque and its vast cisterns
• Sbeitla — a Roman forum with three golden Capitoline temples standing side by side
• El Jem Amphitheatre — one of the largest Roman amphitheatres ever built, and among the best preserved anywhere
• Medina of Sousse — a walled Aghlabid port town whose ribat and great mosque still face the sea
• Monastir Ribat — an 8th-century coastal fortress guarding the lagoon, and a famous film location
• Mahdia — a Fatimid capital on a narrow cape, with a silk-weaving quarter and quiet beaches
• Medina of Sfax — the least touristed great medina in the country, walls intact and still working
• Djerba — an island of white villages, ancient synagogues and a coastline that stays warm late
• Tataouine — the town of fortified granaries that lent its name to the Star Wars desert planet
• Chenini — a Berber village stacked on a ridge, cave houses around a white hilltop mosque
• Ksar Ouled Soltane — four storeys of vaulted grain cells around two courtyards, the best-kept ksar of all
• Matmata — Berber pit dwellings carved into the earth, familiar from the Star Wars films
• Toujane — a stone village spilling down the mountainside above the Matmata plateau
• Ksar Ghilane — a hot-spring oasis at the edge of the great dunes, reached where the tarmac gives out
• Douz & the Dunes — the gateway to the Sahara, where the tarmac stops and the erg begins
• Chott el-Jerid — a salt lake so flat and bright it produces mirages across the whole crossing
• Tozeur — a desert oasis of patterned brickwork, its palm grove fed by hundreds of springs
• Nefta — a Sufi oasis town above the Corbeille, a bowl of palms below the houses
• Mides Canyon — a sheer-walled gorge on the Algerian border, used more than once as a natural film set
• Tamerza Canyon — a deserted mountain village beside a canyon and a year-round waterfall
• Chebika — a mountain oasis where a spring runs through a gorge above the salt flats

Optional extras

• Private licensed guide 75 EUR / per group / per day
• Traditional lunch 15 EUR / per person
• 4x4 with driver, full day (Chebika, Tamerza & Mides) 200 EUR / per group
• 4x4 with driver, half day (Chebika, Tamerza & Mides) 110 EUR / per group
• Traditional camp night in Tozeur (dinner + breakfast) 75 EUR / per person
• Entry tickets for the sites of the circuit 40 EUR / per person

Common questions