Palais Bayram

Palais Bayram is the Tunis medina hotel where you sleep in a real palace: an 18th-century residence whose suites keep their antique tiles, marble and painted ceilings, at 6 rue des Andalous in the Bab Menara quarter. The palace has sixteen rooms and suites, each furnished individually, a three-room hammam and two walled gardens.

A suite for every story

The suites are named after a figure or a decor, and that guides the choice more than the category. The palace groups them into three families: traditional suites, the most numerous; historic suites, in the reception rooms; and grand historic suites, the most spectacular. A couple who love rooftop views will pick Didon, facing the domes of three madrasas, the old Koranic schools; an art lover, Iznik, decorated with early 17th-century tiles; and for a once-in-a-lifetime stay, Cheikh Bayram, the former apartment of the Grand Mufti, keeps its original painted ceiling.

The palace publishes neither sizes nor capacities, so Sabaro checks them with the hotel for each request. The suites are cooled by a silent water-based air-conditioning system, sheets are percale and toiletries come from Maison Amarante.

The hammam and El-Skifa spa

The Oriental hammam has three traditional rooms and a marble pool beneath a dome. El-Skifa spa adds two treatment rooms.

El-Makhzen and Surya tea house

El-Makhzen restaurant sits beneath the palace vaults and serves either Tunisian or European cuisine. Upstairs, Surya tea house overlooks the garden: breakfast is served here, followed by afternoon tea and pastries.

In the oldest part of the medina

Bab Menara is one of the oldest quarters of the medina, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. The Zitouna Mosque, the great mosque of Tunis, and Kasbah Square are a few steps away, and the palace lies on the way to the Tourbet el-Bey, the mausoleum of the beys of Tunis. Tunis-Carthage airport is about 12 km from the palace, around ten minutes without traffic. The Bardo Museum and its Roman mosaics, and the ruins of Carthage, each make a half-day visit. For the city, see our Tunis page.

Open all year, with a few precautions

The palace announces no seasonal closure. In Tunis, daytime highs top 34 °C in July and August and are 16-17 °C in winter: April, May, October and November are the most pleasant months for walking the medina. The palace can be booked in its entirety for a wedding or a meeting, and has a conference room opening onto the garden, so for fixed dates Sabaro confirms that the hotel has not been taken by a group.

Prices

In October 2026, for two nights in March 2027, the cheapest room was offered at about €150 a night for two adults, room only and non-refundable, all taxes included. Tourist tax is extra and paid on site: TND 12 per person per night in 4- and 5-star hotels, about €3.60, and TND 8 in 3-star hotels; the amount that applies to the palace is confirmed with the offer.

Sabaro's view

Who it suits: lovers of art and architecture, couples who want an extraordinary room, travellers who prefer a historic setting to standardised comfort.

Highlights: original decoration, including Iznik tiles and painted ceilings; the domed hammam; a location at the heart of the old medina.

Good to know: the palace website is rarely updated, so Sabaro confirms available suites directly with the hotel. Reviews are more mixed than for the other medina houses, at 4.1 out of 5 on Tripadvisor (149 reviews). For more hotel comfort, see Dar El Jeld; for a guesthouse rooted in the neighbourhood, Dar Ben Gacem.