Tunisia

Medinas, Mosaics and Roman Grandeur

The UNESCO-listed medina of Tunis is a living labyrinth of souks, mosques and courtyard mansions unchanged in their essential character for centuries. At Bardo National Museum, one of the world's greatest collections of Roman mosaics fills room after room with vivid colour. Inland, Dougga's hilltop Roman theatre and the Great Mosque of Kairouan, one of Islam's oldest and most revered places of worship, reward those who venture beyond the coast.

A Coast Built for Slow Days

The Gulf of Hammamet and the island of Djerba have drawn Mediterranean travellers for generations, offering long sandy beaches, whitewashed villages and seafood pulled straight from the sea. Sidi Bou Said, the clifftop blue-and-white town perched above the Bay of Tunis, is the kind of place that makes afternoon coffee feel like a lifestyle. Between beach towns, the Cap Bon peninsula produces some of the country's most celebrated wines and table grapes.

Into the Desert and the Deep South

South of the Chott el-Jerid salt lake, Tunisia transforms into a lunar landscape of rose-coloured canyons, troglodyte villages carved into cliffsides and vast erg dunes rising near Douz. The oasis town of Tozeur serves as a gateway to this surreal interior, where Star Wars location scouts famously found their Tatooine. Camel treks, 4WD desert crossings and overnight camps beneath impossible skies make the Tunisian south a journey worth every kilometre.