Sousse and Port El Kantaoui

Sousse at a glance

Sousse is one of Tunisia's big beach resorts, and its seafront old town is a World Heritage Site. It suits a holiday that mixes swimming and sightseeing: the medina, the mosaic museum and Port El Kantaoui are a quarter of an hour apart, and both Kairouan and El Jem make easy day trips.

The medina, an Aghlabid naval base

The Aghlabids, the dynasty that ruled Ifriqiya, roughly today's Tunisia, from 800 to 909, made Sousse their trading and naval port. UNESCO listed the medina in 1988 as a model of a town of that period, with its kasbah, ramparts, Great Mosque, the small Bu Ftata mosque and the ribat, a link in the chain of coastal defences.

• The ribat, a fortified monastery manned by soldier-monks, was completed in 821. Climb the watchtower for the view over the medina and the port. It opens daily, 8 am to 5:30 pm in winter and 8 am to 7 pm in summer, local time; entry has been 10 Tunisian dinars (TND), about €3, since 1 April 2026.
• The Great Mosque, built in 851 by the Aghlabid emir Abu al-Abbas Muhammad, looks like a fortress and has no minaret. Visits are in the morning: 8 am to 1 pm in winter, until 3 pm in summer and until noon on Fridays. Entry: TND 5, about €1.50.
• The Archaeological Museum fills the kasbah at the top of the medina, below the Khalef tower. It shows Roman mosaics, partly in 2,000 m² of modern underground galleries. Closed on Mondays; open 9 am to 5 pm in winter and until 6 pm in summer; TND 10.
• The catacombs, underground Christian burial grounds, are only partly open: a section of the Good Shepherd catacomb is accessible, the rest having suffered collapses.

During Ramadan, expected from 8 February to 9 March 2027, opening hours are shorter; see our Ramadan and public holidays 2027 guide. Our sites and museums guide explains the tickets and the 2026 and 2027 prices.

Port El Kantaoui, the marina resort

Port El Kantaoui was built in one go, in Andalusian style, around a marina a few minutes north of Sousse. Restaurants line the quays, apartment hotels overlook the boats and a dive centre runs trips from the harbour.

El Kantaoui Golf Course has 36 holes on two 18-hole layouts, Sea and Panorama, open all year. An 18-hole green fee was listed at TND 156, about €46, weekdays and weekends alike.

The most popular outings from Sousse and Port El Kantaoui:

• a half-day pirate-boat cruise, from about €35 per person;
• a quad-bike ride followed by a camel trek, from about €53;
• a day trip to Kairouan and El Jem, lunch and entry fees included, from about €85.

Getting around

The Sahel metro, the electrified regional train run by SNCFT (Tunisia's national railway), links Monastir Airport station with Sousse Bab Jedid: 46 trains a day, one every 40 minutes on average, from 5 am to 10 pm. SNCFT main-line trains connect Sousse with Tunis, El Jem and Sfax. Kairouan, 56 km and 45 minutes away, is reached by road.

Nearby pages: Monastir, a quarter of an hour away; Kairouan, the holy city; Mahdia and El Jem, for the amphitheatre. Our getting around guide compares trains, louages (shared taxis) and car hire.

Seasons and festivals

Average highs range from 17 °C in January to 33 °C in August at Monastir, the nearest weather station. The sea stays above 23 °C from June to October. In July the Aoussou Carnival parades its floats along the Corniche; in late December the Kalâa Kebira olive festival celebrates the harvest in the nearby groves, where olives are pressed every winter.

Where to stay in Sousse and Port El Kantaoui

Three addresses chosen by Sabaro, for three kinds of stay:

Mövenpick Resort & Marine Spa Sousse, on the Corniche, 2 km from the centre: a large city beach resort with direct access to the sand, a thalassotherapy spa, four restaurants and a kids' club. From about €120 a night for two in March, breakfast included.

Iberostar Selection Diar el Andalous, facing the beach at Port El Kantaoui: pools in the gardens, a spa and a Star Prestige area for adults aged 16 and over, with its own reception. From about €115 a night for two in March, breakfast included.

Dar Antonia, in the medina: a guesthouse of suites around a fountain courtyard, with a butler and a chef's table. From about €85 a night for two in March, breakfast included.

Prices include taxes; the tourist tax of TND 12 per person per night in 4- and 5-star hotels is paid separately at the hotel. See also our beach, family and golf pages.

Safety

On 26 June 2015, a terrorist attack killed 38 foreign tourists, 30 of them British, on a beach at Port El Kantaoui. Today none of the European foreign ministries Sabaro follows advises against travel to the area. The country remains under the state of emergency in force since November 2015: keep away from places where security forces are stationed and from demonstrations, which are most likely at weekends and on 14 January and 17 December. The "Travel advice" table on this page gives the advice for your country, and our Tunisia safety guide sets out the situation.