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Created November 2, 2025 11:55
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tunisia.md

Tunisia

This is really a 3rd world country.

From the moment you get off the plane people are trying to scam you left and right, we were warned about this by several locals - that as soon as they see foreigners they are just thinking about how to get money off them - starting with the taxi drivers overcharging my multiples, to people just walking up to you to beg in the streets.

It's the sort of place people go on package holidays to a resort and stay in the managed experience for good reason, with just trips to the odd historical site like Carthage.

Most people do not speak English - as it's a former French colony it's more common for their second language to be french, even on menus.

Restaurant staff are not careful with people's allergies as they gave my friend a banana juice based on milk despite being warned that he is lactose intolerant.

At least 2 restaurants card machines broke, forcing us to pay with cash, which in hindsight is either bad infrastructure or an excuse to get cash to dodge taxes or something.

Even the pharmacists are not careful, we went into several different pharmacists to try to buy lactose tablets, showing the existing container, only for several pharmacists to give sweeteners back!

  • Greeting - Salam-Alaikum - meaning Peace Be Upon You
  • Thank You - Shkran (shook-ra)

I used the Saily eSim in Tunisia after my Airalo failed to activate.

Tunis-Carthage Airport

This airport is incredibly slow for passport control.

When your airline notification tells you to turn up 4 hours in advance, they are telling you for good reason.

Go to departures passport control at least 90 minutes before your flight's departure time if you don't want to miss it or be stressed out about potentially missing it.

As of 2025 the toilets are very 3rd world, there aren't even toilet seats or toilet paper holders, never mind toilet paper in the cubicles. Airplane toilets are luxury by comparison. You are advised to plan to go to the toilet elsewhere.

Taxis in Tunisia

The taxi drivers will rip you off worse than most countries.

Not only will they overcharge you, they have tricks to rack up the meters by pushing a button when you're not looking to jack up the price, as we were warned by locals.

  • InDrive - taxi app where you make offers for the trip and wait for drivers to send you their offers to accept - very much like the app version of haggling! This works in the big cities like Tunis and Sousse, but there was no drivers in the smaller town of Hergla, so we had to take louage to Sousse, and once in Sousse, taxi drivers were not willing to drive us to Tunis, we again had to find a louage. Often the InDrive amount is actually more than the meter in the taxi would have charged, but that's assuming the taxi driver hasn't set the wrong rate to overcharge you, so it's safer to just have the price capped and agreed up front

Minibuses in Tunisia (Louage)

Take a louage (pronounced loo-ah-zh) minibus instead for like 1-2 dinars instead of 20 - 70 dinars for a taxi, which is extremely expensive by local standards of earnings.

Travelling from Sousse to Tunis

To get to Tunis from Sousse we had to first louage into Sousse, then taxi to Louage Station Taffala Sousse (using InDrive app above), and then take a minibus with a red strip for 14 dinars each, plus a few dinars for luggage, which takes around 2 hours.

Tunis

Tunis is probably one of the most undeveloped capitals you'll see, really not a tourist destination.

The centre of Tunis doesn't have much going on compared to other capitals around the world.

  • Carthage - the historical site of the rival empire to Rome, of Hannibal fame
  • Sidi Bou Said - the best tourist area in Tunis, gentrified neighbourhood on the east coast by Carthage, with upmarket coffee shops. Recommended by many Tunisian locals
  • La Marsa - beach town area with some restaurants and upmarket villas by the sea
    • The Kitchen Restaurant la Marsa - upmarket meat restaurant with a good selection of meats and salads, and good decor including this instagram illuminated wall writing. The steaks here are very expensive at 100 dinars per 100g (minimum 300g order), so if you're not in the mood to pay the same as upmarket western prices, then the burgers and chicken are very good too. The half chicken is served with rice, potatoes, grilled vegetables and salad, as well as two dips, one truffle and the other a pepper sauce. The pulled BBQ beef burger is very good too, served with fries. Overall very good, but it's mere 4.1 Google rating is probably due to the price of the steaks which they will try to upsell you on. We went a second time but unfortunately they messed up the order, served the wrong thing and refused to change it (probably English language barrier). The venetian steak was also overdone, although the potato gratin was decent but too small. A neighbouring tourist also complained their steak was tough, so perhaps a bit high risk for their steak prices. They served us a small complimentary fillet steak medium, and that was decent though, so just make sure not to ask for well done as my friend did. The kitchen burger we had the second time is also not as good as the BBQ burger from the second visit - the marrow they put in it is like eating lumps of fat. The basil ginger lemonade also came out too bitter on the second visit too. The half chicken remains our favourite dish overall. Has wifi
  • Ville Nouvelle - Habib Bourguiba Avenue is the city’s main boulevard, tree-lined central walkway and a couple grand colonial-era buildings like the art nouveau Municipal Theatre and ornate Cathedral of St. Vincent de Paul - this is where you will some find coffee shops and eateries but nothing to write home about. The highest rated restaurant I would find, Com Art Restaurant, was completely dead in the evening, so we went elsewhere
  • Medina - the historical centre of Tunis with bazaar, but the bazaar is dead and creepy by nightfall and there is rubbish everywhere, we were not impressed, it was very ghetto
  • Cité Les Palmeraies - residential neighbourhood further out to the east with restaurants, a better area than central Tunis, and closer to Carthage
    • RED Castle L'aouina - good lebanese restaurant with very good decor, but the staff don't speak English and the menu is only in Arabic & French so get your Google Translate app ready. The Red Castle mixed platter was decent, but I preferred the 4 skewer platter which is slightly better for those focused on lean meat. Both come with salad and fries. Doesn't have wifi
  • Elbarkoun - food was ok, but the hygiene could have been better, I had to get the cutlery and plate replaced, and even the replacement wasn't washed properly in the corners of the fancy dish. The shrimp brik starter was very crispy fried, worth a taste at only 10 dinars. The mechouia "salad" is basically grilled green pepper and tomatoes with garlic, pepper and lots of olive oil so it's like a dip, not a "salad" as a westerner would understand. Many places outside of Tunisia have a similar dish. The fish couscous was pretty standard. The Oja is basically what westerners call Shakshuka. The octopus Kammounia is similar to a Morrocan tagine - a Tunisian tajine is actually an omellette - but the octopus was all long tentacles with small heads, it reminded me of Klingon gagh - except it wasn't live and wriggling. Regardless, my friend took one bite and left the rest of it. Interesting dish if you're a little adventurous. Their card machine was broken, had to pay in cash

TODO:

Sousse

You probably don't need more than a day for Sousse, perhaps 2 days if you want to be thorough.

  • Kasbah Citadel - the main historical landmark. Unfortunately they don't have planning permission so there is a mish-mash of modern buildings of different heights inside it
  • [Great Mosque of Sousse](Great Mosque of Sousse) - nice historic architecture
  • Restaurant Café Seles - top rated Tunisian food with moderate prices, within the Kasbah Citadel. The Couscous Royal has a mix of three meats, and is well complimented by a fish tagine. The harissa is home made and probably the most standout thing, I ate way too much bread because of their harissa/ Their card machine was broken, had to pay in cash
  • Fleur d'orient - decent menu, reasonable prices. The chicken skewer platter was good served with chips and salad, as well as complimentary bread and dips. We actually ate here twice. Beware the banana juice is based with milk if you are lactose intolerant, the staff did not pick up on this leading to my friend having stomach cramps for days. Language barrier of the staff is an issue like usual across Tunisia and they are simply not careful with people's allergies
  • Sousse Palace Hotel & Spa has is a nice hotel with a good swimming pool and lounge deck area, and was full of Brits. Unfortunately the sky lounges didn't have fresh squeezed orange juice and their prices were very high by Tunisian standards

TODO:

Hammam Sousse

Medium sized coastal town - the Kantaoui area is where people come for nightlife, but if you've got international standards, you can safely skip this town.

  • Hannibal Park - amusement park with rides and a few food stalls restaurants. The fact that this is the height of the nightlife in the area should tell you all you need to know
  • Bar Golf Bräu - lounge requiring reservation, mainly couples who go there
  • Platinum Metalika Sousse - don't bother, overpriced nightclub at 40 dinars entry per person (€12) - which is outrageous by local standards - and it's all guys who go there

Hergla

Small quiet one-donkey seaside town, the beach line isn't developed though and the restaurants are closed by 9-10pm.

There is nothing to do here, so you might want to skip this one.

  • Kmayra coffee shop - very nice gentrified coffee shop, open late to midnight. Very good drinks menu, including a variety of coffees, smoothies, milkshakes, even matcha, all around 9-10 dinars each (€3). They sell crepes from morning until 4pm, and have a selection of cakes and cookies too. A cookie for 8 dinars (€2.50) is expensive by local standards given you can get a proper food grilled chicken wrap around the corner for the same price
  • Banque de Tunisie - ATM worked but had a withdrawal limit of 300 dinars, not enough to pay for 2 nights of my overpriced hotel room, with no option to withdraw more via any free form amount, necessitating two withdrawals incurring a fee each time
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