Carthage, Sidi Bou Said and Gammarth

Carthage, Sidi Bou Said, La Marsa and Gammarth make up the northern suburbs of Tunis on the gulf, and they are the best base for a stay in northern Tunisia. Tunis-Carthage Airport is 15 km from Carthage and La Marsa, 16 km from Sidi Bou Said and 19 km from Gammarth, a quarter of an hour to twenty minutes by road without traffic. The ruins of Punic and Roman Carthage, on UNESCO's World Heritage List since 1979, are scattered among the villas; Sidi Bou Said looks down over the bay; Gammarth lines its big hotels along the beach. Central Tunis and its medina are half an hour away.

Along the TGM line

The TGM, the Tunis – La Goulette – La Marsa suburban railway, links these districts with Tunis Marine station in central Tunis. The line is 19 km long and takes about 45 minutes end to end; the 2026-2027 winter timetable runs one train every 45 minutes. Tickets cost TND 0.500 to 0.800 in second class and TND 0.900 to 1.250 in first, a few tens of euro cents. The station called « L'Aéroport » does not serve the airport.

Our getting around Tunisia guide covers the other ways to travel.

Carthage: a thousand years on one ticket

Carthage was founded in the 9th century BC by the Phoenicians and grew into the capital of a Mediterranean trading empire. Rome destroyed it in 146 BC, then built a Roman Carthage on its ruins. The remains are spread across a residential district, so you visit by car, by taxi, or by combining the train with walking.

A combined site ticket covers the main sites: the Antonine Baths, the Roman theatre, the Park of Roman Villas, the amphitheatre, the Magon quarter and the Paleochristian Museum. It costs TND 20 (about €6) since 1 April 2026 and rises to TND 30 (about €9) on 1 January 2027. The joint ticket with the Bardo Museum costs TND 45 in 2026 and TND 70 in 2027. The sites open 8:30 am to 5 pm in winter, 8 am to 6 pm in summer and 8 am to 5 pm during Ramadan (local time).

The Antonine Baths, by the sea, are the largest Roman baths in Africa: 17,850 m², nearly 20,000 m² including the lower-level rooms. Opened in 157 or 159 and completed in 162, they worked normally until the vaults of the frigidarium (cold room) collapsed at the end of the 4th century. What you see today is mostly the ground floor, which held the service rooms and furnaces.

The Roman theatre, excavated between 1901 and 1956, has staged performances again since 1906. Built for 10,000 spectators, it is now the stage of the Carthage International Festival in July and August: in 2026 its 60th edition ran to twenty evenings from 16 July to 19 August, with seats from TND 100 on the terraces (about €30).

The amphitheatre, at the western entrance to the ancient city, measures 156 by 128 metres, among the four largest in the Roman Empire, and could hold 30,000 spectators. A column and a chapel put up in 1893 commemorate the martyrdom of Perpetua, Felicity and their companions, thrown to the beasts in the early 3rd century.

Two museums, two situations. The Roman and Paleochristian Museum at Dermech reopened on 3 December 2025 after two years of closure, with a modernised display; it is included in the combined ticket. The Carthage National Museum on Byrsa Hill has been closed since 2018: an international tender for work on the acropolis and the museum was launched in June 2026, with no reopening date.

A six-hour guided tour of Carthage and Sidi Bou Said is sold from about €90 per person; a ten-hour day that adds the Tunis medina from about €80.

Sidi Bou Said, above the bay

Sidi Bou Said looks down over the Bay of Tunis, a few minutes from Carthage. Its two houses open to visitors tell two different stories.

Ennejma Ezzahra Palace was built between 1911 and 1922 by Baron Rodolphe d'Erlanger, a painter and musicologist. The house, about 3,300 m², became in 1989 the first monument listed since independence. It is home to the Centre for Arab and Mediterranean Music: a collection of instruments, the baron's painting studio, gardens and concerts. It opens daily except Mondays and public holidays: 9 am to 1 pm and 2 pm to 5 pm from 1 September to 30 June, 9 am to 3:30 pm in July, August and during Ramadan (local time). Admission TND 10, about €3, reduced rate TND 5.

Dar El Annabi, a late-18th-century house, shows the interior of a traditional Tunisian family home; the entry fee, about TND 5, includes a mint tea.

La Marsa and Gammarth, the hotel coast

La Marsa, the end of the TGM line, is a lively centre of cafés and shops with a seafront promenade and a beach. Gammarth carries the coast on northwards: this is where the area's big seafront hotels stand, two of them chosen by Sabaro. The sea reaches nearly 26°C in July, 27°C in August, and is still 23°C in October.

Where to stay

Sabaro has chosen four addresses: two boutique hotels and two large beach hotels.

• Villa Didon, on Byrsa Hill in Carthage above the Punic ports: 10 suites facing the bay, a suspended pool and a marble hammam. From about €220 a night for two, breakfast included.
• Maison Dedine, in Sidi Bou Said, facing the bay: 5 rooms for guests aged 16 and over, a 12-metre swimming lane facing the sea and four rooftop terraces. A member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, a network of independent luxury hotels. From about €280 a night for two, breakfast included.
• The Residence Tunis, at Les Côtes de Carthage in Gammarth: 161 rooms and 9 suites, an 18-room thalasso centre (seawater spa) with a seawater pool at 30°C, and an 18-hole golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones II between the sea and a salt lake. The beach is open only from mid-May to mid-October. From about €250 a night for two, breakfast included.
• Four Seasons Hotel Tunis, in Gammarth: 203 rooms and suites opened in December 2017, a 500-metre beach, an 11-room spa and a Forbes Travel Guide four-star rating. From about €375 a night for two, room only.

Prices were checked for March 2027 and include taxes; the tourist tax of TND 12 per person per night in 4- and 5-star hotels is paid separately. Our honeymoon, adults-only and golf pages place these hotels alongside others in the country, and the golf and thalasso guide covers both activities.

A day trip to Bizerte, Ichkeul and Utica

To the north-west, 65 km from the airport on the A4 motorway, about 50 minutes, Bizerte and its surroundings make a full day out.

• Bizerte. The old port is overlooked by the kasbah, whose military walls enclose houses and a mosque; you can walk its ramparts. On the heights, the Spanish Fort keeps its old cannons and a view over the town. Both are free to enter.
• Ichkeul National Park, a World Heritage site since 1980, covers 12,600 hectares around a lake and wetlands, the last remnant of a chain of North African lakes. Hundreds of thousands of migrating birds stop here: ducks, geese, storks and flamingos. The best time is November to February; an eco-museum stands on the hill.
• Utica, a Phoenician and then Roman city, declined when silt from the Medjerda river pushed the sea back. You can see necropolises from the 7th to the 2nd century BC, the forum, baths and the House of the Cascade, 34 rooms around a colonnaded garden. The site opens 8:30 am to 5 pm in winter and 8 am to 7 pm in summer (local time), except Mondays; admission TND 8.
• Ghar El Melh and Cape Angela, north-west of Bizerte, often round off the day: a port on a lagoon and a cape on the north coast.

A nine-hour guided tour takes in Utica, Ghar El Melh, Bizerte, Cape Angela and Ichkeul, from about €100 per person.

Good to know

Reinforced security measures, including traffic bans, can close the area around the presidential palace in Carthage; follow police instructions strictly. Photographing official buildings and military sites is forbidden, including in Bizerte. Sexual harassment is reported, mostly in summer, at night in busy areas and by day on quiet beaches. The "Travel advice" table on this page gives the advice for your country, and our safety in Tunisia guide sets out the situation.

Average highs range from 16°C in January to 34°C in July and August. The sea is warm enough for swimming from June to October.