Tunis and Sidi Bou Said in 4 days

In short

Tunis is made for a short break: Tunis-Carthage airport is 8 km from the medina, about ten minutes by car, and Tunis is a few hours' flight from Europe's main cities, direct or with one stop. In four days you see a World Heritage medina, one of the largest collections of Roman mosaics anywhere at the Bardo Museum, the ruins of Carthage and the blue-and-white village of Sidi Bou Said above the bay.

You will not need a car. The TGM, the suburban railway linking Tunis with Carthage, Sidi Bou Said and La Marsa, covers its 19 km in about 45 minutes for less than one dinar a ride in second class. The first two nights are in the medina, the third by the sea.

Day 1: settling into the medina

Your base is Dar Ben Gacem, a fifteen-room guesthouse spread across two restored medina houses, Dar Pasha and Dar Kahia, four minutes' walk apart. Every room is different, set around courtyards and roof terraces, and a Tunisian breakfast is included. The house is a social enterprise whose profits fund the restoration of the medina's heritage. In the basement of Dar Kahia, the Dehliz El Zliz displays more than 400 pieces of Tunisian ceramics. Rates start at about €105 a night for a stay in March 2027.

In the late afternoon, get lost in the lanes. The Tunis medina, listed by UNESCO in 1979, holds some 700 monuments, palaces, mosques, mausoleums, madrasas and fountains, mostly from the Almohad and Hafsid periods, between the 12th and 16th centuries.

Day 2: the Bardo and the souks

Morning, with a guide

A four-hour guided tour combines the Bardo Museum and the medina. The museum fills a 19th-century beylical palace that became a museum on 7 May 1888 and gained a modern wing after works from 2009 to 2012. Its collections run from prehistory to modern times over three floors, and the Triumph of Neptune greets visitors in the hall. It is closed on Mondays. Admission for non-residents is TND 30, rising to TND 45, about €13, from 1 January 2027.

Afternoon, on your own

Walk back to the Zitouna Mosque, the great mosque of the medina and a former religious university: you can see inside from the courtyard, as the prayer hall is closed to non-Muslims. The Dar Ben Abdallah museum of folk arts and traditions occupies a medina palace; entry is free and it closes on Mondays. Dar Ben Gacem can also arrange visits to craft workshops and cooking or calligraphy classes.

Day 3: Carthage, then Sidi Bou Said

Carthage

Take the TGM from Tunis Marine to Carthage Hannibal station, 250 m from the Antonine Baths. Carthage, founded in the 9th century BC, was destroyed by Rome in 146 BC and rebuilt as a Roman city. A combined ticket covers the Antonine Baths, the Roman theatre, the Roman villas park, the amphitheatre, the Magon quarter and the Palaeo-Christian Museum, which reopened with a modernised display on 3 December 2025. It costs TND 20, and TND 30, about €9, from 1 January 2027. The sites open from 8.30 am to 5 pm in winter and 8 am to 6 pm in summer, local time. The National Museum of Carthage on Byrsa Hill has been closed since 2018.

France Diplomatie notes that the area around the presidential palace in Carthage may be closed to traffic; follow any instructions from the police. Before you leave, check France Diplomatiediplomatie.belgium.beDFAE (eda.admin.ch)mae.gouvernement.luGOV.UK (FCDO)ireland.ie (DFA)Auswärtiges AmtRegeringen (UD)Udenrigsministeriet (um.dk)RegjeringenOdyseusz (MSZ)MZV ČRBMEIANederland WereldwijdViaggiare Sicuriexteriores.gob.esPortal das ComunidadesUlkoministeriö (um.fi).

Sidi Bou Said

Further along the line, Sidi Bou Said station sits below the village, a ten- to fifteen-minute walk uphill. The Ennejma Ezzahra palace, built from 1911 to 1922 by Baron Rodolphe d'Erlanger, a painter and musicologist, houses the Centre for Arab and Mediterranean Music: musical instruments, a painting studio, gardens and concerts. From September to June it opens 9 am to 1 pm and 2 pm to 5 pm local time; it closes on Mondays and admission is TND 10.

You spend the night at Maison Dedine, a five-room hotel facing the Bay of Tunis, for guests aged 16 and over. Its pool has a 12 m swimming lane looking out to sea, and the roof is stacked with four terraces. Breakfast is included and dinner can be served in the hotel. Rates start at about €280 a night. Check-in is from 2 pm local time.

Day 4: La Marsa and departure

In the morning, the TGM takes you in a few minutes to La Marsa, the end of the line, with its cafés, shops, seafront and beach. Check-out is by noon local time, and the airport is just 15 km away.

What the trip costs

The price shown covers the three nights and the guided tour of the Bardo and the medina. You will also need to budget for:

• site admissions outside the guided tour: in 2027, about €9 for Carthage and €3 for Ennejma Ezzahra per person;
• the TGM, under one dinar per ride in second class;
• transfers between the airport and the hotels;
• the tourist tax, paid at the hotel, of TND 12 per person per night in 4- and 5-star hotels.

On 19 October 2026, €1 was worth TND 3.36. Dinars can only be obtained in Tunisia; our money in Tunisia guide explains how to change money and convert it back.