10 Tips for Your First Visit to Tunisia

Tunisia is the northernmost country in Africa, known for its abundance of historical monuments and seaside resorts.

The country is often overlooked by travellers who flock to nearby destinations in North Africa, such as Morocco or Egypt. However, Tunisia’s rich history, coastal towns, and endless kilometres of Mediterranean coastline has much to offer of its own.

In this article, I’ll share with you 10 tips for your first visit to Tunisia based on my recent visit to help you make the most of your trip.

1. Fly in from Europe

Air links into Tunisia are most plentiful from Europe, particularly France. You’ll find ample daily flights from Paris, as well as convenient connections from other French cities like Lyon, Nantes, Lille, Nice, and Marseille.

Air France operates quite a few daily flights, although they charge quite a premium compared to Tunisair, Novelair Tunisie, and Transavia.

Given that the flight times are likely to be in the range of one to two hours, a cheap economy class ticket from a European hub might well be the best way to access Tunisia.

Tunisia and Novelair also offer links to Germany, Italy, Spain, and other European countries, though with less frequent service. Lufthansa’s services from Frankfurt are also worth a look, especially if you’re redeeming Aeroplan points.

And if you’re visiting Tunisia as part of a larger trip to the Middle East and North Africa region, you can look for flights on Royal Air Maroc, Egyptair, Qatar Airways, and Emirates from their respective hubs as well.

In my case, I flew into Tunis (TUN) from Frankfurt on a Lufthansa ticket booked with Aeroplan, and then booked a departing flight from Monastir (MIR) to Nice for about €150. 

2. Hire a Driver

When travelling across Tunisia, hiring a driver is likely the best form of transportation. Many of the country’s sights and sounds are spread across large distances, even within the same city.

For example, Tunis, the capital, is a sprawling metropolis befitting of any that settlement that has existed since ancient times. To explore the city comfortably, your best bet may well be to hire a driver for the day.

You can expect to be quoted around 30–40 Tunisian dinars ($12–16 CAD) per hour when hiring a driver; however, you can definitely try to negotiate a lower rate if you’re hiring for a longer period.

I’d recommend hiring a driver over renting a car – we had friends who…