A driver and a guide are two different jobs, and in Tunisia they are two different qualifications. Plenty of listings blur them. Ours does not: our drivers are employed, local, and speak your language, and a licensed national guide is a separate person we add to the booking when the day is better for having one.
The driver is responsible for the vehicle and the day running properly — the route, the timing, the flight that landed late, where to park at El Jem and which gate at Dougga is open. A good one has driven the road hundreds of times and knows which stop is worth an extra twenty minutes in the light you have.
The driver-guide is the same person talking about what you are passing. This is the commonest arrangement in the country and it is perfectly legitimate for most days out. What it is not is a licensed guide, and it should not be sold as one.
The licensed national guide holds a card issued after training and examination, covering history, the archaeology and the languages. At some sites a card-holding guide is the only person permitted to lead a commentary. Museums and the major Roman sites are where the difference shows.
Our tours are priced with the driver included and the guide optional, at €60 for the group rather than per person. That is the honest structure, because most days do not need one and some very much do.
Worth it: Carthage, Dougga, Bulla Regia, El Jem, the Bardo — anywhere the interest is in what you are looking at rather than the fact of being there. Not worth it: the Chott crossing, the dunes at Douz, Sidi Bou Saïd, a transfer. Those are places to be, not to be told about.
They are employed by us rather than sourced per job, they are Tunisian and local to the routes they drive, and between them they work in French, English, Italian, German and Arabic — the language is matched to the booking, not left to chance. We have been doing this since 2009. Vehicles are our own and carry insurance for paying passengers.
What we will not do is decorate that with certifications we cannot show you. If you want the driver's languages confirmed for your date, or a licensed guide arranged for a specific site, ask before you book and we will put it in writing.
All 23 day trips, with prices →
No. The driver is included. A licensed national guide is an option at €60 for the group, not per person, and is worth adding for the archaeological sites and the museums rather than for the desert or the coast.
Yes, and French, Italian, German and Arabic across the team. The language is matched when the booking is made rather than left to whoever is free, so tell us which one you want on the day.
Within reason, and most do — they have driven these roads for years. For a proper commentary at Carthage, Dougga or El Jem, add a licensed guide, who is trained and examined for exactly that and is permitted to lead where a driver is not.
Employed. We are a Tunisian travel agency running its own cars, not a marketplace matching you to whoever bid lowest for the job. It is the reason we can tell you in advance who is driving and in what language.
Distances are straight-line, measured between the coordinates on our map of the sites; road distances are longer. Prices are per vehicle and come from the same database the 34 tours and 1,392 transfer fares.
