If this is your first time visiting Tunisia, then exploring the capital city first might be a good idea. Tunis is a laid-back capital city that serves as an excellent introduction to Tunisia before actually venturing out to start exploring the nation even further. There are plenty of cool places to visit in this city and here are some of them:
The Medina
This city’s cultural heart, the medina district, is overflowing with tourist spots. This historic district is filled with crumbling buildings and traditional homes. Bab el Bahr is the main entrance gate that comes at the end of the new city and the starting of the old. The majority of the souvenir shops are centered between “Rue Djemma Zitouna” and “Rue Kasbah”.
Visitors need to go to Souk of Chechias, which has been home to the makers of Tunisia’s traditional woolen hats for generations. Here in the medina, Half the entertainment is getting lost while wandering and stumbling upon some fantastic monumental piece of history.
The new town
Tunis’s new town was built during the French colonial era, a world away from the traditionality of the medina. Avenue Habib Bourguiba, a brilliantly wide main street planted with palm trees and eucalypts, serves as its main focal point.
The “St. Vincent de Paul” Cathedral is the most important surviving structure from Tunisia’s French colonial era. Architecture enthusiasts must take a look at the wonderful mix of colonial and post-colonial structures across Avenue Habib Bourguiba.
The Bardo museum
This luxurious museum houses one of the world’s three most famed mosaic art collections. This museum displays gloriously complex and still vibrantly fresh illustrations of mosaic art dug up from sites throughout Tunisia.
The building’s ground floor contains some interesting non-mosaic displays from the Neo-Punic, Christian, and Islamic historical periods. It is worth spending a visit.
Sidi Bou Said
In 1914, Paul Klee, August Macke, and Louis Moilliet painted the whitewashed houses and blue doors. Since then, Sidi Bou Said has become a bohemian artists’ zone and a popular weekend hangout for Tunisians. The perfect white-and-blue streets, cliffside cafés, and postcard-perfect coastline can’t help but enchant you.
This is a place for leisurely walking, trinket shopping, sitting quietly with a coffee, and taking in the scenic beauty.
The ruins of Carthage
The ruins of ancient Carthage, the legendary rich and powerful Phoenician city, are spread across the Bay of Tunis. The hauntingly beautiful tumbled columns and piles of marble wreckage are surrounded by a view of the Mediterranean Sea.
The various sites are spread out along the bay area and are easily accessible by a combination of walking and taking the Tunis Light Railway. If you want to learn more about Tunisia’s history, you should visit these ruins.
