Tunis & Carthage
Tunisia
A Roman capital, an Arab medina, and a blue-and-white village on the cliff
Photo by Noelle Guirola on Unsplash
Photos by Ayoub Chebbi, Martin Casagrand, Brahim Guedich and Alex Vasey on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Tunisia
April to June, September to October
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 60mm in Dec
Where it is
36.80°N, 10.18°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Walk the medina early, before the shops open and the touts start
- Spend a morning at the Bardo among the best Roman mosaics anywhere
- Take the TGM to Carthage and walk the Antonine baths
- Have lunch in Sidi Bou Said above the sea
- Day trip to Dougga, which almost nobody visits
Tunis & Carthage travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Tunisia
Very cheapThe dinar is a closed currency: you cannot buy it before arriving and you cannot legally take it out. Exchange at the airport or a bank, keep every receipt, and reconvert what is left before departure — the receipts are what let you.
ATMs & cards
BIAT, Amen Bank and Attijari machines are reliable and widespread. They run out over long weekends. Cards are accepted in hotels and the larger restaurants but almost nowhere in the medina.
Avoid these
- relying on cards inside the medina — almost nowhere takes them
Use these instead
- BIAT
- Amen Bank
- Attijari
- BNA
The dinar cannot leave the country. Keep every exchange receipt: they are what let you convert what is left back before departure.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Tunisia
Reasonably safeTunis is comfortable to walk in daylight and the tourist areas are policed. Persistent carpet-shop touts in the medina are the daily friction, not a danger. Check your government travel advice before booking, since parts of the country near the Libyan and Algerian borders and the south are advised against, and standard travel insurance often follows those lines.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (7 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- Tunis Medina — after dark
- Carpet-shop "just look" invitations, which end in a two-hour sitting
- The TGM train late at night
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Tunisia visa rules
No visa neededup to 90 days
Stamped on arrival. Proof of accommodation is sometimes asked for.
Other passports
Visa required in advance
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Tunisia
Good but costlyRequired to enter
- Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
- Rabies for longer or rural stays
Getting treated
Private clinics in Tunis and the coastal resorts are decent and inexpensive by European standards, and are used to treating visitors. Public hospitals are stretched. Pharmacies are excellent and dispense a great deal without a prescription.
Tap water is chlorinated but most people drink bottled. Stomach upsets are the most common complaint. Summer heat inland is severe.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodBrik à l’oeuf, couscous on Fridays, and lablabi for breakfast in winter. Harissa is on every table and is hotter than the Moroccan equivalent. Mint tea with pine nuts in Sidi Bou Said is the ritual worth doing.
Nightlife
A capital that drinks quietly and a seaside suburb that does it properly, twenty minutes apart on a little train.
- La Marsa — the seaside suburb, and its bars
- Sidi Bou Said — blue and white, mint tea, and sunset
- Avenue Habib Bourguiba — the cafés, and the evening promenade
Closing: 01:00–02:00.
A beer in a bar: TND 5–12
Getting around
Easy- BoltWorks here
- inDriveWorks here
- From the airport
- Tunis airport to the centre 10–20 DT
- Against a taxi
- Level with a metered yellow taxi, which is already cheap. The app is about the meter being used.
Time zone and your working day
Africa/Tunis — 5 hours ahead of you
3 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–12:00 your time, 14:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 04:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 04:00–12:00 on yours.
Friday afternoon is quiet — offices close early for prayers and many reopen after.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Tunisia
What these numbers mean
Home broadband — Basic. Email, browsing and one video call if nothing else is running. Broadband here runs at 21% of the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fair. Maps, calls and streaming; tethering a laptop works for an hour, not a day. Mobile runs at 78% of the global median of 109 Mbps.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Tunisia, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Arabic
- Helloمرحبا — MarhabaMAR-ha-ba
- Pleaseمن فضلك — Min fadlakmin FAD-lak
- Thank youشكرا — ShukranSHOOK-ran
- Yes / Noنعم / لا — Na’am / LaNA-am / la
4 more phrases
- Excuse meعفوا — AfwanAF-wan
- How much is it?بكم — Bikam?bi-KAM
- The bill, pleaseالحساب — Al-hisabal-hi-SAB
- Welcomeأهلا وسهلا — Ahlan wa sahlanAH-lan wa SAH-lan
Inshallah, meaning God willing, follows nearly any statement about the future and is conversational rather than religious.
Religion
Sunni Muslim
Islam is the state religion, though Tunisia is among the most socially liberal countries in the Arab world. Non-Muslims may not enter most mosques; the Zitouna courtyard is one exception. Ramadan changes daily rhythms considerably.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Greet with as-salamu alaykum, or bonjour — French works everywhere
- Cover shoulders and knees away from beach resorts, and more so in Kairouan
- Haggle in the souks, starting around a third of the asking price, and keep it good-humoured
- Use the right hand for eating and for handing anything over
Don't
- Do not follow anyone who offers to show you a "special" workshop or a festival that happens to be today
- Do not photograph police, military or government buildings
- Do not eat or drink openly in the street during daylight in Ramadan
- Do not discuss politics with people you have just met
Where to stay in Tunis & Carthage
No Holistay rentals in Tunis & Carthage yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Tunis & Carthage on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Carthage TUN
20 minfrom the airport· 7 km as the crow flies
20 min to the centre.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
