Uthina & Dar Zaghouan — Roman Ruins and Olive-Oil Tasting, Private Half Day

What is this tour?

Uthina & Dar Zaghouan — Roman Ruins and Olive-Oil Tasting, Private Half Day: 5.5 hours from Hammamet, 2 places, with a car and driver for your group only — from €74 per vehicle for up to 4 travellers.

Where this half day goes: Uthina (Oudhna) — a Roman colony an hour inland that almost nobody visits: an amphitheatre for sixteen thousand built into the hill, the capitol on its podium, a private villa and the small private baths with three mosaics still in place, an hour and a half with the site to yourselves; then Dar Zaghouan — a working farm at the foot of Djebel Zaghouan, half an hour on, where you taste the estate’s olive oils and its other products, and the farm’s own guide walks you round the animals and the workshops.

The vehicle is yours alone: no coach, no strangers, no shop that was not on the programme. You leave at the hour that suits you, stay longer where you want to, and you are back at the hotel for lunch. The price is agreed before you leave — no deposit, nothing added on the day.

What you see

• Uthina (Oudhna) — the hillside amphitheatre, the capitol, a private villa and baths with three mosaics, with almost nobody else there
• Dar Zaghouan — a working farm at the foot of the mountain: olive-oil tasting and the farm’s own products, at the source
• A walk round the farm with its own guide: the animals, the workshops, how the oil is made
• Half a day, your vehicle only — back at the hotel for lunch

The day, hour by hour

1. 08:00
   Pick-up From your hotel in Hammamet.

   • About an hour inland, through the orchards of the Cap Bon and the plain of Zaghouan
2. 09:00
   Uthina (Oudhna) An hour and a half, with the site nearly to yourselves.

   • The amphitheatre built into the hillside — walk the arena and the galleries beneath
   • The capitol on its podium above the plain
   • A private villa and the small baths with three mosaics still in place — and the hypocaust that heated them
   • The great vaulted cisterns of the Roman town

   Uthina gets a handful of visitors a day. That is the point of coming here rather than to a crowded site.

   
3. 10:30
   On to Zaghouan Half an hour towards the mountain.

   • Djebel Zaghouan ahead the whole way — the spring on its flank once fed Carthage
4. 11:00
   Dar Zaghouan A working farm at the foot of the mountain.

   • Olive-oil tasting: the estate’s oils, how to tell them apart, what to look for
   • The farm’s own products, the olive oils first among them
   • A walk round the farm with its own guide: the animals, the workshops, the crafts

   A farm visit, not a shop stop: you taste and walk first, and buying is up to you.
5. 12:30
   Return Straight back to Hammamet.

   • Home in time for lunch — the afternoon is yours
6. 13:30
   Drop-off At your hotel.

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

Places on this trip