Tunisia isn’t at all times related to magnificence, but I’ve now have a critical delicate spot for this intriguing nation. From sun-soaked seashores to atmospheric historic cities, it packs an unimaginable quantity right into a tiny footprint. After many journeys right here — from round-trip highway adventures to laid-back holidays with my spouse — these are my absolute favorite spots…
1. Hammamet
As soon as a humble fishing village we discovered this resort city was developed however nonetheless a relaxed gem with a superb assortment of whitewashed medina partitions, elegant Moorish arches, bougainvillea-draped villas and palm-lined boulevards set towards sandy seashores and calm turquoise bays. I actually preferred its mild mixture of old-world Tunisian appeal, laid-back seashore life and polished resort magnificence.
We landed at Tunis–Carthage and spent per week getting misplaced in its honey-gold Ninth-century medina and sea-top kasbah, hanging out at our favorite seashores (the family-friendly Hammamet and the shiny Yasmine Hammamet!), indulging in an outstanding marine Algae Bathtub ritual at Bio Azur Thalassa & Spa, and ending with a storybook flouka cruise at sundown!
Location: Northeast coast | Measurement: medium-sized resort city | Vibe: old-medina-meets-holiday-resort really feel | Actions: swimming, snorkelling, jet snowboarding, parasailing, windsurfing, golf, spas.
My favourite highlights…
2. Sidi Bou Stated
Fingers down my second-favorite spot, this Insta-worthy clifftop magnificence regarded like a postcard — white-and-blue homes stacked above the Gulf, embellished with ornate doorways, iron balconies, and splashes of bougainvillea. Add secret coves, wave-washed swimming rocks, sandy seashores towards La Marsa, and a creative café tradition that strikes on the standard Mediterranean snail-pace, and I used to be fully bought!
Only a one and a half hour drive from Hammamet we primarily based ourselves for one more week on the La Menara Lodge & SPA, falling right into a dreamy rhythm of lazy seashore days, and gradual wanders previous artist studios and boutiques on Rue Habib Thameur and trying out the ornate Ennejma Ezzahra. With its inventive soul, bohemian vitality, and rising assortment of chic guesthouses and historic villas, it felt each nostalgic and quietly upscale!
Location: North coast| Measurement: small cliff-top village | Vibe: creative and romantic | Actions: swimming, cliff-top wandering, café-hopping
My favourite highlights…
Sipping a candy mint tea at sundown on the blue-painted, mosaic-tiled terrace of Café des Délices, excessive above Sidi Bou Stated, because the solar sank into the Gulf of Tunis!
3. Djerba
Djerba was all white-on-white magnificence – menzel homes, historic mosques, palm-dotted villages and splashy souks, backed by lengthy silky seashores, clear turquoise shallows, and calm coves glowing below extensive open desert skies. I preferred its gradual and soothing really feel, with simply sufficient unique edge to really feel particular — half timeless island, half easygoing resort haven!
We landed straight into Djerba–Zarzis from London and gave ourselves 10 days to each chill and discover — meandering by way of Houmt Souk’s whitewashed streets and markets, hanging out on Sidi Mahrez’s delicate sands, stepping contained in the centuries-old El Ghriba Synagogue, and watching pale-pink flamingos wade by way of the lagoons at Ras Rmel.
Location: Southeast coast | Measurement: massive island | Vibe: relaxed and gently unique |Actions: Swimming, kitesurfing, biking, wildlife-spotting
My highlights…
4. Sousse
We discovered that this former navy port was a extra budget-friendly various to Hammamet and it was nonetheless easy-on-the-eye with its honey-gold medina partitions, spectacular ribat fortress, chalky white lanes and archways, a seashore full of delicate sand and turquoise water curling alongside Boujaafar to Port El Kantaoui. It was a heady mixture of historic historical past, beach-resort vitality, and simply on a regular basis Tunisian metropolis life!
After touchdown at Monastir Worldwide Airport and taking a 35-minute taxi, we stayed after which climbed the Eighth-century Ribat for sea views, wandered the UNESCO-listed Medina and spectacular Nice Mosque, swam within the clear shallows alongside Boujaafar Seaside, and browsed the spice-scented souks round Bab el Bhar.
Location: Central east coast | Measurement: massive coastal metropolis | Vibe: historic with a resort-beach vitality |Actions: medina, souk procuring, swimming, marina strolls
My private highlights…
Staying for per week on the gorgeous Jaz Tour Khalef, I liked the personal seashore, the Insta-worthy pool with fashionable white cabanas, and the fashionable Thalassotherapy spa—particularly their underwater hydrotherapy circuit with a saltwater floatation pool!
5. Port El Kantaoui
Goal-built but nonetheless picturesque, we found a marina village of whitewashed Moorish structure, blue shutters and domes wrapped round a yacht-filled harbour, with manicured promenades and extensive sandy seashores edged by calm turquoise water. The vibe was stylish, relaxed and subtly glamorous, particularly within the evenings.
A fast 15-minute taxi journey north from Sousse dropped us into full vacation mode — lazy dips on Port El Kantaoui Seaside, a glass-bottom boat spin alongside the coast, looking for Nabeul ceramics on the medina (which sadly wasn’t historic although!) and a cheeky spherical at El Kantaoui Golf Course.
Location: east coast | Measurement: medium-sized resort city | Vibe: polished, relaxed, and holiday-ready | Actions: swimming, yacht journeys, glass-bottom boat journeys, water-sports, golf
My highlights..
Staying on the 4-star Hasdrubal Thalassa & Spa Port El Kantaoui, I liked the wellness focus, the spacious visitor rooms, and the unimaginable spa with every kind of seawater remedies—my favourite was the detoxifying, iodine-rich Algotherapy wrap!
6. Nabeul
Nabeul was lovely however in a low-key approach – there have been whitewashed buildings with cobalt accents, ornate tiled courtyards, elegant mosques and cute little pottery workshops by the ocean, all lined up beside golden seashores, and clear turquoise shallows – it was breezy, salty-aired and charmingly genuine, not shiny or over-styled in any respect. I preferred the way it felt like a laid-back, extra local-feeling various to close by Hammamet — and it was a lot kinder on the pockets too!
A 20-minute coastal taxi from Hammamet introduced us to CALIMERA Delfino Seaside Resort & Spa, with days cut up between Nabeul’s pottery souks, the attention-grabbing Neapolis Museum, soft-sanded Nabeul Seaside, tile-adorned Sidi Mahrsi Mosque, and sundown boat-spotting on the harbour.
Location: Northeast coast | Measurement: medium-sized coastal metropolis | Vibe: an genuine everyday-Tunisia really feel
My favourite highlights…
Nabeul’s Friday atmospheric souk — stalls clinked with hand-painted blue-and-green ceramics and merchants shouted out costs. I rapidly skipped the livestock space although, because it was a bit upsetting for me!
7. Bizerte
I discovered Bizerte to be far much less touristy, but nonetheless a complete gem – pastel partitions, previous harbours, arched doorways and a touch of Ottoman magnificence on one aspect, sandy seashores, secret coves and clear blue water on the opposite, and a gently bustling medina simply behind all of it. It was relaxed and refreshingly unpolished, it felt like residing like a neighborhood, removed from the crowds of the larger resorts.
A straightforward one-hour drive north from Tunis after which we kicked again for 2 nights on the charming Al Madina, conventional Riad. Our days have been full of boat-watching alongside the sea-to-lagoon canal, lazy hours on pale, powdery Sidi Salem Seaside, Insta-worthy sundown views from the historic Spanish Fort above the port and flamingo-spotting on the unspoilt Bizerte Lagoon!
Location: Northern coast | Measurement: medium-sized port metropolis | Vibe: historic with a relaxed native rhythm | Actions: swimming, water-sports and wildlife-watching
My favourite highlights…
Having fun with a steaming mint tea, crunchy pine nuts, and syrup-soaked baklava on the mosaic-topped Café Maure whereas people-watching within the Previous Port!
8. Tunis Medina
UNESCO-listed Tunis Medina was a wonderful sort of chaos – a winding maze of honey-coloured palaces, domed mosques, ornate madrasas, carved wood doorways and lantern-lit souks hiding cool courtyard homes behind heavy timber doorways. All my senses have been alive with color, incense-scented souks, an echoing name to prayer, and a buzz that felt historic, uncooked and intimate.
It was only a brief taxi journey from Sidi Bou Stated into central Tunis and we made the standard riad-style 4-star Dar el médina our base and spent two days wandering round photographing the putting structure, haggling with the stall homeowners and absorbing the intoxicating ambiance. I liked the way it provided me a vivid glimpse into the sheer opulence of Arabian life between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries.
Location: Central Tunis, northern Tunisia | Measurement: massive previous city district | Vibe: chaotic with a deep old-world character
My favourite highlights…
9. Monastir Ribat
With its golden fortress partitions planted proper on the water’s edge, glowing arches, lofty towers and wave-cooled ramparts, I used to be so impressed with how Monastir Ribat was simply pure drama – backed by small sandy coves and glowing turquoise sea, wrapped in salt air, silence and a timeworn stillness that makes it really feel extra like an unreal movie set!
We took a day journey right here on a 30-minute taxi from Sousse and climbed the spiral tower to gaze on the huge Mediterranean views, wandered the inside courtyard, prayer corridor and at last the ramparts because the solar disappeared into the ocean, and simply soaked up the unearthly silence!
Location: Monastir, central east coast of Tunisia | Measurement: massive historic coastal fortress | Vibe: dramatic, historic, and quietly highly effective
My private highlights…
10. Plage de Chaffar, Sfax
Right here there have been no resorts, no gloss, no fuss (and positively not a banana boat in sight!) – simply pale seaside homes, sleepy cafés, palms within the breeze and a ridiculously lengthy stretch of pale golden sand, glassy turquoise waters and quiet rocky corners and that wide-open-world feeling you solely get in locations that haven’t been polished to loss of life. I actually admired with the rawer, a lot much less developed really feel.
After touchdown in Tunis, we jumped on an inner flight to Sfax, checked into the splendidly distinctive Borj Dhiafa, and settled into seashore life for a lazy week – lengthy swims at Plage de Chaffar, sundown walks below the palms, recent seafood at tiny village cafés, and boats rocking gently on the horizon.
Location: South of Sfax on Tunisia’s central east coast | Measurement: lengthy, sandy seashore | Vibe: native and low-key seaside really feel
My favourite highlights…
Snacking on a paper-wrapped cumin-warm veggie Brik among the many wild, honey-coloured sand dunes behind the seashore.
11. Chebika
One minute all of it was blazing red-hued desert, after which the following it was palms, waterfalls and blue swimming pools – Chebika was a surreal cliff-top tangle of crumbling stone ruins and oasis gardens overlooking huge golden plains and salt flats, with an unearthly silence aside from the sound of trickling water and mild wind. It was so cinematic, it barely felt actual (significantly)!
We reached Chebika on a jeep tour from Douz by way of the Nefta–Tozeur area (it was a protracted however epic journey crossing the the Chott el Jerid) and spent two hours mountain climbing the principle Oasis Loop Path, passing palm timber sprouting from naked rock, cliff-top viewpoints, and funky spring-fed streams on the base of the mountains.
Location: Close to Tozeur in southern Tunisia, on the fringe of the Sahara | Measurement: tiny mountain oasis village | Vibe: dramatic, otherworldly, and peacefully distant
My favourite highlights…
Studying from our information that it had been used for scenes in The English Affected person!
12. The Sahara
Yep, the Sahara Desert actually was as gorgeous as I imagined! Sure, there have been countless sand dunes (stretching so far as the attention can see!), however we additionally stumbled throughout rocky plateaus, beautiful oases (Chebika, Tamerza, and Mides), extraordinary oasis cities together with the date-scented Nefta and the otherworldly Tozeur and the huge salt flats of Chott el Jerid, which was even used as a Star Wars filming location (and we acquired to wander across the set)!
We opted for a guided 4×4 three-day tour from Douz, I personally don’t like animals getting used for tourism and I’ve even seen some terrible movies on Instagram so we swerved the camel excursions on an moral foundation and we went for the jeep one as a substitute.
Location: Southern Tunisia (and throughout North Africa) | Measurement: huge desert area | Vibe: epic, silent, and otherworldly
My favourite highlights…
Staying in a single day in a standard white Bedouin-tent as a part of the tour – it was an genuine and really romantic expertise (we simply had our belongings coated by sand afterwards)!
13. Matmata and the fortified granaries of the Ksour
These have been each surreally lovely locations, Matmata had moon-like landscapes and sunken troglodyte houses—dwellings dug deep into the earth. Additional south, the surroundings shifted to the Ksour (fortified granaries), which appear to be mud-brick citadels stacked with arched “ghorfas” (storage chambers). Each areas felt fully historic, rugged, and untouched by the fashionable world!
We opted for a full-day guided journey from Douz, heading first to Matmata to step contained in the Lodge Sidi Driss, a standard underground residence that grew to become world-famous as Luke Skywalker’s childhood home. Then we went to discover the dramatic Ksar Ouled Soltane and Ksar Hadada with their honey-colored, vaulted honeycomb chambers!
Location: Southern Tunisia (Matmata & Tataouine area) | Measurement: small Berber villages and historic fortified granaries (ksour) | Vibe: historic, rugged, and really atmospheric
My private highlights…
Immediately recognizing the areas as a Star Wars fan! Our information defined that George Lucas used the troglodyte houses for the unique 1977 movie, whereas the distinctive “honeycomb” structure appeared in The Phantom Menace!
14. Kairouan
All heat stone, mild gentle and sleek geometry, Kairouan was serene and quietly majestic moderately than massively showy – however the grand mosques have been really unimaginable on this UNESCO-listed holy metropolis and made the go to worthwhile for positive. It was additionally residence to quiet streets and sun-washed courtyards that felt scholarly, sacred and splendidly historic.
A 1 hour quarter-hour taxi journey inland from Sousse dropped us into Kairouan, the place we wandered wide-eyed by way of the unimaginable Nice Mosque of Okba (one of many largest and oldest mosques within the nation), the Mosque of the Three Doorways, and the buzzing medina souks piled excessive with handwoven rugs and conventional crafts!
Location: Central Tunisia | Measurement: medium-sized metropolis | Vibe: sacred old-world really feel
My highlights…
Attempting the signature candy pastry, Makroud within the souks of the medina – the tasty treats have been made out of semolina, dates, and native honey and have been scrumptious!
15. Ichkeul Nationwide Park
The UNESCO-listed park was all shimmering clear water, emerald hills, glowing reeds, open marshland and skies dotted with birds – Ichkeul was a type of uncommon locations the place mountains, wetlands and water collide in probably the most peaceable, goosebump-inducing approach!
We took a day journey (it was simply over an hour’s bus journey) with a tour operator from Tunis and spent it strolling and photographing the lakeside trails round Lake Ichkeul, mountain climbing up Jebel Ichkeul, recognizing flamingos within the wetlands, trying out the pure sizzling springs (hammams) on the base and staying for the wonderful sundown when the lake spectacularly changed into a mirror!
Location: Northern Tunisia close to Bizerte | Measurement: 126 km² | Vibe: peaceable and wild | Wildlife: water buffalo, wild boars, otters and jackals. hundreds of migrant birds together with flamingos and white storks, shiny ibises
My private highlights…