Kairouan & El Jem from Sousse or Monastir — Private Day

What is this tour?

Kairouan & El Jem from Sousse or Monastir — Private Day: 8.5 hours from Sousse/Monastir, 2 places, with a car and driver for your group only — from €118 per vehicle for up to 4 travellers.

One of the classic Tunisian days. Kairouan first: the Great Mosque — the Maghreb’s oldest, its courtyard paved in marble and its columns carried from Carthage (non-Muslim visitors see the courtyard, not the prayer hall — we say so up front); the carpet looms and covered souks of the medina; makroudh, the town’s date-filled sweet; and the vast 9th-century Aghlabid basins that watered the capital. Then south to El Jem, where the third-largest amphitheatre of the Roman world rises out of a small farming town: walk the arena floor, climb the tiers, descend into the underground galleries — usually with no queue at all.

The vehicle is yours alone: no coach, no strangers, no detour to the souvenir shop. You leave at the hour that suits you, stay longer wherever you want to, and the price is agreed before you leave the hotel — no deposit, nothing added on arrival.

What you see

• The Great Mosque of Kairouan — the Maghreb’s oldest, with columns from Carthage in its courtyard
• The carpet looms, souks and makroudh of Kairouan’s medina
• The Aghlabid basins — a capital’s 9th-century waterworks, open to the sky
• El Jem — the Roman world’s third-largest amphitheatre: arena, tiers and underground galleries
• Two UNESCO sites, genuinely private — your vehicle, your pace, rarely a queue

The day, hour by hour

1. 08:30
   Pick-up From your hotel in Sousse, Port El Kantaoui or Monastir — door to door.

   • The day ahead: two UNESCO giants — Islam’s fourth-holiest city, then Africa’s Colosseum
2. 09:30
   The Great Mosque of Kairouan The oldest mosque of the Maghreb, mother of them all.

   • Founded in 670, rebuilt in the 9th century — columns reused from Carthage itself
   • The vast marble courtyard and the three-tiered minaret
   • Non-Muslim visitors see the courtyard and the prayer-hall doorways — the hall itself stays closed, and we say so up front

   Everything Kairouan is radiates from this courtyard.

   
3. 10:45
   The medina — carpets, wells and sweets Tunisia’s carpet capital, at working pace.

   • Knotted carpets on the looms — Kairouan is THE carpet city, and you can watch the knots being tied
   • Bir Barrouta and the covered souks
   • Makroudh — the date-filled semolina sweet the town is famous for

   
4. 11:30
   The Aghlabid Basins The 9th-century waterworks of a capital.

   • Vast open-air reservoirs, fed by aqueduct from the hills
   • Engineering the city depended on — and a favourite viewpoint at the rim

   
5. 12:30
   Lunch in Kairouan Local and unhurried.

   • A simple restaurant near the medina
   • Finish with makroudh and mint tea
6. 14:00
   El Jem — the amphitheatre Africa’s Colosseum, rising out of a small town.

   • The third-largest amphitheatre of the Roman world — about 35,000 seats
   • Walk the arena floor, climb the tiers, then descend into the underground galleries
   • The olive plains all around paid for every stone of it

   Gladiator scale without Rome’s queues — you will often have whole tiers to yourselves.

   
7. 16:15
   Return through the olive plains A relaxed drive back north.

   • Optional photo stops on the way
8. 17:00
   Drop-off At your hotel in Sousse, Port El Kantaoui or Monastir.

Who this tour suits

A good fit for

• Travellers who would rather not share a coach with thirty strangers
• Short stays and cruise calls — out and back the same day
• Families and small groups up to 4 in one vehicle, at your own pace
• Anyone who does not want to rent a car or drive in Tunisian traffic

Probably not for you if

• You cannot manage uneven ground — ruins and medinas mean stone, steps and slopes
• You are looking for the cheapest seat on a shared bus rather than a private car

Best time to visit

Best months

April to June and September to October — mild, long days, sites uncrowded

Also good

November to March — cooler and green, occasional rain, very few visitors

Hardest months

Late July and August — hot and at its busiest along the coast

We run this tour year-round. In summer we start early so the walking is done before the heat, and in winter we simply start an hour later.

Common questions

Optional extras

• Makroudh workshop with Halima Bakaar — knead, fill, fry, take yours home 20 EUR

Places on this trip