Activities Calendar Coverage Get a plan Sign in Join free

Coverage / Tunisia

Tunisia

Northern Africa

North Africa's smallest country, wedged between Algeria and Libya on the Mediterranean, with a long history layered from Carthage and Rome through the Arab, Ottoman and French eras. The north holds the capital Tunis and its Bardo mosaics, the forested Coral Coast at Tabarka and the Roman sites of Carthage, Dougga and El Jem. The centre keeps the holy city of Kairouan, and the south runs from the oasis towns of Tozeur and Douz out into the dunes of the Grand Erg Oriental.

6 activities · 6 pairings · 9 verified providers

What you can do in Tunisia

Museums & Galleries

TunisMar Apr May Oct NovThe Bardo National Museum is the reason to plan a museum day in Tunis, a former Husainid beylical palace on the edge of the city that holds the largest collection of Roman mosaics in the world. The floors and walls carry more than five thousand square metres of mosaic lifted from Carthage, Dougga, Hadrumetum and Utica, so you walk through room after room of chariot races, sea gods, hunting scenes and the famous panel of the poet Virgil seated with his muses, the only known ancient portrait of him. Beyond the mosaics there are Punic stelae from Carthage, a Christian and Islamic wing, and the Chemtou treasure of gold coins, all set inside the carved and tiled palace itself. The museum reopened in September 2023 after a long renovation, and it makes sense to pair it with the nearby ruins of Carthage and the medina to read Tunisia's layered history in one trip.

Music & Culture Festivals

Festival International de Musique Symphonique d'El JemEl JemJul AugThe Festival International de Musique Symphonique d'El Jem puts world-class orchestras inside a Roman amphitheatre, and the venue is the whole point. El Jem's amphitheatre is one of the largest and best preserved anywhere, a three-tier sandstone oval that once held around thirty-five thousand spectators and is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. Through July and August the festival stages international symphony orchestras, soloists and conductors under the open sky within the ancient walls, the stone catching and carrying the sound the way it once carried the roar of the crowd. The programme leans classical, from full symphonies to opera galas, and the setting, a floodlit colosseum rising straight out of a quiet farming town, turns a concert into something closer to a pilgrimage. It has run every summer since the mid-1980s and reaches its 39th edition in 2026.

Overlanding / Expedition Driving

DouzJan Feb Mar Apr Oct Nov DecDouz is Tunisia's gateway to the Sahara, the last real town before the Grand Erg Oriental, the vast sand sea that runs on into Algeria. Its palm grove gives way within a few kilometres to open dunes, which makes it the classic launch point for desert expeditions: multi-day 4x4 crossings, camel treks with nomad guides, and overnight bivouacs under some of the darkest skies in North Africa. Routes head for landmarks like the isolated hot-spring oasis of Ksar Ghilane on the edge of the erg, the Tembaine dune fields, and the ruined desert ksour, with camps set up among the dunes for the night. The town has been a caravan and market hub for the Mrazig nomads for generations, and the desert culture is still living rather than staged. Reputable operators keep to the established southern circuits and steer clear of the remote Algeria and Libya border zones.

Photography Expeditions

TozeurJan Feb Mar Apr Oct Nov DecTozeur sits on the edge of the Chott el Jerid, a vast salt lake that flashes white, pink and mirage-blue under the sun, and it is the base for the most photographic corner of the Tunisian Sahara. Within a short drive are the mountain oases of Chebika, Tamerza and Mides, palm-filled gorges and waterfalls tucked under bare ochre cliffs, and the old ksar villages above them. The dunes near Nefta and Ong Jemel hold the Star Wars film sets: the sculpted mud buildings of Mos Espa, still standing in the sand, and the ridge at Ong Jemel used as the exterior of Luke Skywalker's home world. Add the golden light on Tozeur's own brick-patterned old town and palm groves, and a single expedition covers salt flat, oasis, canyon, dunes and film history. Reputable guides keep to the established southwest circuit and avoid the remote border areas to the west and south.

Scuba Diving

TabarkaMay Jun Jul Aug Sep OctTabarka is Tunisia's dive capital, a small Mediterranean port on the Coral Coast where forested hills meet a rocky, coral-rich seabed. The reefs sit minutes from the marina and are built around dramatic granite architecture rather than tropical reef, with the signature site, the Tunnels, a labyrinth of some twenty swim-throughs, caves and arches at moderate depth. The headline residents are big dusky groupers of forty kilograms and more that approach divers without fear, alongside moray eels, barracuda, red coral and gorgonians, and there are Second World War wrecks for qualified divers. The clubs cluster at the marina and run on the CMAS and French-federation model, handling everyone from first-time try dives to certification, with equivalencies for PADI and other cards taken as routine. It is easy shore-and-boat diving in warm summer water with good visibility.

Witness / Attend

Festival International du Sahara de DouzDouzDecThe Festival International du Sahara de Douz is Tunisia's oldest and best-known desert festival, held every December on the sand-rimmed arena at the edge of Douz where the palm grove meets the dunes. Over four days it gathers Saharan communities from across the Maghreb for camel and saluki racing, mounted Bedouin displays and traditional games, alongside poetry, music, a craft market and a re-enacted desert wedding. It grew out of the old camel market of the Mrazig nomads and took its modern form in 1967, and it is as much a real gathering of southern tribes as a show for visitors. Coming for the festival pairs naturally with a few days in the surrounding erg, and it is the busiest and most atmospheric time to be in Douz.

Best months at a glance

	J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Museums
Music Festivals
Overlanding
Photography
Scuba Diving
Witness / Attend

Upcoming events in Tunisia