The walls of the mighty Roman amphitheater of El Djem dwarf the surrounding modern town.
This incredibly well-preserved Roman relic is Tunisia’s big sightseeing highlight, one of the most popular things to do on day trips from the coastal resorts, and one of the best examples of amphitheater architecture left standing in the world.
If you’re looking for the picture-perfect beach escape, then the island of Djerba checks all the right boxes.
The island town of Houmt Souk is the main point of interest off the beach, with an old town district that is a muddle of whitewashed houses.
Once Rome’s major rival, Carthage was the city of the seafaring Phoenicians, forever memorialized in the Punic Wars.
The atmospheric ruins of this ancient town now sit beside the sea amid the suburbs of Tunis, a warning that even the greatest cities can be reduced to rubble.
If you only have one day in Tunisia’s capital, Tunis, this museum should be high up on your to-do list.
Even non-museum fans can’t fail to be impressed at the massive haul of beautiful mosaics exhibited inside the Bardo.
Impossibly cute, and amazingly photogenic, Sidi Bou Said is a clifftop village of petite dimensions that seem to have fallen off an artist’s canvas.
Unsurprisingly, artists have feted this little hamlet, now a high-class suburb of the capital Tunis, for decades.
Tunisia’s vast Sahara covers much of the country’s interior, and the most beautiful corner of the desert is the field of sand dunes known as the Grand Erg Oriental.
These poetically beautiful dunes are a surreal and gorgeous landscape of huge waves, shaped by the ever-shifting desert sands.
Tunisia has no shortage of Roman ruins, but Bulla Regia near Tabarka is the country’s most interesting and intriguing site.
Here, the Roman inhabitants coped with the harsh summer climate by ingeniously building their villas underground, which has left the city houses incredibly well-preserved today.
With mosques, madrassas, and tombs aplenty, Kairouan has more than its fair share of monuments as the fourth most important city for those of the Muslim faith.
The Arabic architecture here is truly inspiring, and the skyline is full of skinny minarets and bulky domes. But it’s probably the back alleys of the city’s medina that steal the show.
Overlooked by the mighty fortifications of the ribat and kasbah, the medina in Sousse just begs to be explored.
This lovely old town district is a warren of looping lanes, rimmed by whitewashed houses, and a shopping paradise with a tempting selection of ceramics, leatherwork, and metalwork on display.
This sprawling salt pan (most easily reached on a day trip from the desert town of Tozeur) is a desolate and otherworldly scene that wows all who visit with its stark and brutal beauty.
The scenery here depends on the season you visit.
Hammamet is all about the beach. This laid-back town on the Cap Bon Peninsula is Tunisia’s top sun-and-sea resort, dedicated to easygoing beach vacations.
The town itself, with its pretty white buildings set beside a bright blue sea, has bundles of Mediterranean charm, which woos all who come to sunbathe on the soft, white sand.
Easily reached on a day trip from both the Tunisian capital of Tunis and the northern beach town of Tabarka, Dougga is one of the most important Roman sites in North Africa.
The site is feted by travelers both for the well-preserved state of its main monuments and its tranquil rural setting amid rolling countryside.
Although Tunisia’s capital is mostly visited to view the two major tourist attractions of Carthage and the Bardo Museum, the medina district of central Tunis is well worth spending an extra night in the city for.
The winding alleys of this old town neighborhood, with their souks (shopping streets), mosques, and monuments, are fun to explore.
Tozeur is a desert oasis town, sitting in the country’s southeast.
For many visitors, it’s a practical base for the tourist attractions of the Sahara with the chott el djerid salt pans, sand dune vistas, and the oases of Tamerza and Chebika all within day-tripping distance from town.
This Berber village, with its troglodyte housing, was made famous when one of the dwellings (the Hotel Sidi Driss) was used as a location during the filming of the original Star Wars movie.
One of Tunisia’s most recognizable monuments, the Ribat of Monastir was the earliest fortress built in Tunisia during the 8th-century Abbasid conquest, and one of the earliest in the entirety of North Africa.
The Roman ruins of Sufetula in the small town of Sbeitla are too out of the way to attract the tourist crowds, but it’s well worth making the journey.
Known for its exceptionally well-preserved Roman Forum building, as well as numerous preserved Roman-era public buildings, including a triumphal arch, public bath, and temples, Sufetula is one of the best places to visit in Tunisia to imagine the Roman world.
