Tunis
This mosque dates from the 19th century (though the minaret was added only in 1970), when Halfaouine was an emerging fashionable quarter. It forms part of…
Must-see attractions in Tunisia
Northern Tunisia
La Basilique is a Roman cistern turned into a church by French missionaries at the end of the 19th century. Delicate and airy it’s not – inside you can…
Tunisia
This lavishly tiled 17th-century complex northwest of the medina comprises a mosque, madrassa (school for study of the Quran) and mausoleum. The last is…
Douz
Not that you’re counting, but the palmeraie here is one of the largest of all the Tunisian desert oases, with almost half a million palm trees. A…
Southern Tunisia
The parched and barren landscape around Tataouine can seem ancient, and it doesn't take a lot of imagination to picture dinosaurs wandering the area. This…
Southern Tunisia
Run by local women who have displays of carpet-making and traditional keys, this is an option for viewing the pit dwellings of Matmata. Because doors are…
Sousse
Driven by passion and a healthy ego, local sculptor Taïeb Ben Hadj Ahmed has turned his large villa in a leafy residential neighbourhood into a gigantic…
Sousse
Standing at the high point of the medina, the kasbah was built onto the city walls in the 11th century. It incorporates the imposing square Khalef tower,…
Tunis
The winning entry in an architectural contest held in 1911, this concrete building with a huge Star of David on its facade was designed by French-Tunisian…
Northern Tunisia
This cemetery is a serene field of 396 graves, 87 of them unidentified; most perished between December 1942 and January 1943, when the Axis powers sent a…
Tozeur
This incongruous, trippy park is a testament to the vision of the former mayor of Tozeur. Scattered around gorgeous grounds is what amounts to a 3D…
Tunis
Built at the beginning of the 19th century for the son of Mahmud Bey, the seventh leader of the Husainid Dynasty, and then gifted to M'hamed El Monastiri,…
Tunis
This mosque was built in 1717 for Hussein Ben Ali, founder of the Husseinite line of beys (provincial governors). It has an adjoining madrassa (school for…
Douz
A visit to the small folk museum provides some perspective and context for the desert lifestyle. It has a collection of regional costumes, a mock nomad…
Tunisia
Founded in AD 866 by Mohammed Bin Kairoun El Maafri, a holy man from the Spanish city of Cordoba, this mosque has an elaborate facade exhibiting strong…
Carthage
This area along Rue Septime Sévère is a few blocks south of the Antonine Baths. Excavations have uncovered a small area of Roman workshops superimposed on…
Southern Tunisia
This 13th-century ksar (fortified granary) overlooking a picturesque valley 14km northwest of Beni Kheddache has a series of sympathetically restored…
Tunisia
Identifiable by its seven white cupolas, this zaouia (complex surrounding the tomb of a saint) was built in 1860 to commemorate Sidi Amor Abbada, a local…
Bizerte
This squat little fort, facing the kasbah, was modified by the Aghlabids in the 9th century, who added the attractive arched skifa (gate) and a courtyard…
Tunis
Barrel-vaulted Souq El Berka dates from Ottoman times: this was the slave souq where prisoners of Muslim corsairs were sold from a wooden block. Later,…
Northern Tunisia
This beach begins at the marina and stretches eastward around the bay, past the big hotels of the Zone Touristique. The further from the marina you go the…
Northern Tunisia
This neatly tended cemetery contains the graves of 500 Allied soldiers who died in the winter of 1942 following the Axis landings in Tunisia. Sixty of the…
Tunisia
Built in the 9th century, this Aghlabid building is a severe, fortress-like structure whose facade is only enlivened by graceful horseshoe arches at the…
Bizerte
Remel Plage, a long stretch of sand with a backdrop of pine groves, is a popular beach with locals, and it even has its own dramatically wrecked ship in…
Tunis
Ali Pasha, ruler of Tunisia from 1735 to 1756, commissioned this religious building as a memorial to his murdered son Suleiman. Entered from the street…
Southern Tunisia
Just outside Nefta, you'll find this shrine to Sidi Merzoug, an important Sufi saint. The followers of Sidi Merzoug, known colloquially as the Black…
Cap Bon
Off the beaten track for most travellers but lurking in plain sight, the town beach in Menzel Temime stretches for several kilometres. This slice of…
Northern Tunisia
The Great Mosque has a square minaret with terracotta tiles on the sides and candy-striped Moorish arches up top. About 150m northwest is the fish-scale…
Sousse
The rooms surrounding the courtyard of this funduq (caravanserai) contain naff mannequin displays of day-to-day life under the Ottomans. The building is…
Southern Tunisia
This huge ksar (traditional fortified granary) sits on a low hill just east of the modern village of Debbab. It was occupied until several years ago, and…
Southern Tunisia
The Romans pools are Gafsa’s main attraction, and it’s a pleasant spot although you’ve seen all there is to see after a few minutes. Apart from the…
Tunis
Named after the palm tree in the courtyard, this Ottoman Quranic school was constructed in 1714 on the site of a funduq (caravanserai or travellers’ inn)…
Djerba
Built in the 13th-century by the Aragonese, this fort was captured by the Ottomans in 1560 and has been allowed to slowly crumble in recent times – be…
Tunis
This mosque dates from the early 13th century. Its minaret has a lozenge design that pays tribute to Moroccan Almohad style and was hugely influential,…
Tunisia
This large fortress stands on the highest point of the peninsula, rising above Mahdia's medina with a brooding and unadorned severity. It was built in the…
Bizerte
Built in 1652, this mosque has an octagonal, stone-built minaret decorated with blue-and-white tiling. Non-Muslims are not permitted to enter, though at…
Tunisia
This museum in the Office National de L'Artisanat headquarters houses a collection of rugs. This is the organisation that accredits all carpets sold in…
Tunis
Souq El Attarine leads into the Souq El Trouk (the Turkish Souq), traditionally the tailors’ souq, and still selling some outfits among the souvenirs. It…
Musée de l’Architecture Traditionnelle de Sfax
Tunisia
Originally built by the Aghlabids as a watchtower and steadily expanded into a kasbah, the fort built into the southwest ramparts of Sfax's medina walls…
Cap Bon
Around the coast from Plage de la Mansoura, Petit Paris is a smaller beach but still clean and loved by locals. A number of restaurants vie for space a…
