You do not need to hire a car in Tunisia, and for most visitors it is the wrong choice. Sites are far apart, signage is inconsistent outside the cities, and parking at the medinas is difficult. A private car with a driver is priced per vehicle, not per person, so for two or more people it is often close to the cost of a rental once fuel, tolls and insurance are counted — and nobody has to navigate. 1,392 fixed fares are published, and 33 tours run from €74.
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| Way | What it is good for | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Private car with driver | Door to door, sites included, any distance. Priced per vehicle, so it gets cheaper per head as the group grows. | More than a shared seat if you are travelling alone. |
| Louage (shared taxi) | City to city, cheaply. Vans and cars leave from the louage station when full, at a fixed fare per route. | They serve towns, not sites. No timetable, and the last leg to a ruin or a village is yours to arrange. |
| Train | Tunis to the coast: the network mostly follows it. Comfortable and cheap between the big towns. | It does not reach most archaeological sites, the interior or the oases. |
| Intercity bus | Long distances at the lowest price, including the far south. | Slow, few departures a day, and again it stops in towns rather than at the sites. |
The daily rate is the smallest part. Add fuel, motorway tolls, parking at the medinas and the sites, the security deposit most companies hold on a card, the excess on the insurance, and a one-way fee if you want to end somewhere else. Then add the part with no price: someone has to read the road signs (in Arabic and French, and thinner outside the cities), find a place to leave the car, and drive it — which in Tunisian city traffic is a skill of its own.
A private car with a driver is priced per vehicle, from €74 for a full day. For one person a rental can be cheaper on paper. For two or more, once fuel, tolls and parking are counted, the difference is small — and the driver is included in one and not in the other.
It is legal and many visitors do it. The things worth knowing: police checkpoints are routine on main roads, so keep your licence, passport and the rental papers within reach; junctions are poorly signed outside the cities; animals and pedestrians use rural roads at all hours, and night driving is where most people regret the decision; and in the south there can be a hundred kilometres between fuel stations, so fill up when the gauge is at half. Motorways are tolled and far quicker than the older coast roads.
Works: Tunis to Sousse or Monastir by train; Tunis to Sfax by train or louage; and the best cheap trip in the country, the TGM light railway from Tunis Marine through La Goulette and Carthage to Sidi Bou Saïd and La Marsa, which puts you at three of the most visited places in Tunisia for very little money.
Does not: Dougga, Bulla Regia, Thuburbo Majus and Zaghouan (no scheduled service to any of them), the mountain oases, the Star Wars sets, Ksar Ghilane, the ksour around Tataouine. For those you get to the nearest town and then hire a local driver — which is a private car with a driver, arranged on the spot and at a price you negotiate. Booking it ahead at a published fare is the same thing without the negotiating.
The first decision of the trip is usually the one people make worst: the taxi from the airport, priced at the kerb. Fixed fares for the three airports — Tunis, Enfidha and Monastir — to the resort areas are published on the transfers page, 1,392 routes in all, so the price is known before the flight lands.
All 22 day trips, with prices →
It is legal and many people do it. The difficulty is not danger so much as navigation: junctions are poorly signed outside the main cities, and the desert roads have long stretches with no fuel.
Less than most people expect, because the price is for the vehicle rather than per seat. A day tour starts at €74 for the whole car, so a couple pays half that each and a family of four a quarter.
It is not included and it is not expected, but it is normal to round up if the day went well. Nothing on this site is priced on the assumption of a tip.
Take the TGM light railway from Tunis Marine station. It runs through La Goulette and Carthage to Sidi Bou Said and La Marsa, and is the cheapest and simplest way to reach all three. Sites in Carthage are spread out, so allow time to walk between them.
You can reach Tozeur or Douz by long-distance bus or louage from Tunis, but the mountain oases, the film sets and the camps are off any scheduled route. Once you are there you arrange a local driver, usually with a 4x4.
It is how most Tunisians travel between towns. You go to the louage station for your destination, give your name to the office and wait for the vehicle to fill; the fare is fixed per route and shown at the station. It suits travellers who are comfortable without a timetable.
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 33 tours and 1,392 transfer fares.
