Best Things to Do in Tunis

Tunis pairs three thousand years of Mediterranean history with living North African craft traditions and breezy seaside suburbs. Alternate your days between the dense historic lanes of the capital and the open coastal air of the Gulf of Tunis.

1. Marvel at the Roman mosaics inside the Bardo National Museum. Set inside a 19th-century Husainid Beylical palace with painted wooden ceilings and Moorish stucco, the Bardo holds the largest and finest collection of Roman floor mosaics in the world, brought from Dougga, El Jem, Utica and Carthage.
2. Get lost in the guild souks of the Medina of Tunis. Enter through Bab el-Bhar and follow Rue Jamaa ez-Zitouna into vaulted alleys dedicated to perfume distillers (Souk el-Attarine), red felt chechia cap makers (Souk ech-Chaouachine), goldsmiths and carpet weavers.
3. View the 9th-century courtyard of Zitouna Mosque and climb a Medina rooftop. Peek into the colonnaded marble courtyard of the Olive Tree Mosque from the visitor gallery, then sip mint tea with pine nuts on a panoramic roof terrace overlooking the minarets.
4. Explore the Antonine Baths and Byrsa Hill in Carthage. Ride the TGM coastal train to inspect the seaside ruins of the largest Roman thermae built in Africa, then climb Byrsa Hill for Punic foundations and sweeping views across the Gulf of Tunis.
5. Wander the cobalt-blue and whitewashed lanes of Sidi Bou Said. Stroll up cobbled Rue Habib Thameur past studded blue doors and wrought-iron window grilles (moucharabiehs) to watch sailboats in the bay below.
6. Tour the musical palace of Ennejma Ezzahra in Sidi Bou Said. Step inside the early-20th-century Neo-Moorish villa of Baron Rodolphe d'Erlanger, home to the Centre for Arab and Mediterranean Music, zellij courtyards and terraced sea gardens.
7. Step inside Dar Lasram, Tourbet el-Bey and the Medina medersas. Admire Italian marble and Qallaline ceramic tiles inside the aristocratic townhouses and 17th-century student colleges (such as Medersa Slimania and Medersa Bachia) of the old city.
8. Stroll down Avenue Habib Bourguiba and the Cathedral of St Vincent de Paul. Join evening promenaders under the ficus trees between the Clock Tower and Bab el-Bhar, stopping at the 1897 Romano-Byzantine cathedral and the wrought-iron Marché Central.
9. Eat fresh grilled sea bream and brik in the port of La Goulette. Hop off the TGM train at the harbour town where the Lake Tunis canal meets the sea to pick whole Mediterranean fish straight from the ice display.
10. Spot winter flamingos on Lake Tunis or swim at La Marsa. Watch greater flamingos wading beside the TGM causeway in the cooler months, or continue to the end of the line at La Marsa for seaside cafes and corniche walks.